Many business and marketing experts have successfully proven that people tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online? Then help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website can help to generate more trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects buying from your site.
In this tutorial, we show you how to easily create and add an easy-to-update simple staff directory in WordPress without coding skills.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you display basic information to visitors about your employee on your site.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will show up in the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start adding new employee entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups settings …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter a group description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s role into this field
- Email: Your employee’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your staff member’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …
Click View Post …
You can update the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:
Note: If a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:
Continue adding new details to your directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all your staff profiles and all details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual details, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items if required …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members details by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin author.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. For example, here are other free plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
This plugin helps you collect your team information and showcase it anywhere on your site in beautiful grids, columns and tables. This premium plugin features over a dozen presets and provides editors that make it easy to edit and update your directory.
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Responsive Templates)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update simple employee directory to your site using free plugins.
Models used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)