No doubt you’ve already heard that people often tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online, then help your prospects get to know your business better.
Adding a staff directory to your site is a great way to humanize your organization.
This tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff to your web site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List 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 WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you display information to visitors about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WordPress admin and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu will show up in your main WP menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new staff entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory groups. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like setting up categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you are a larger organization, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To change Groups for an entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: You can edit the slug associated with your staff member if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Add your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your staff member’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your staff or team member here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
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 fields)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field for creating a group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(Groups feature)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. 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 typing in your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff or team directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many employees added to this section, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List site.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your faculty. For example, here are some other plugins you can use:
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, pic and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
If the above plugins 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, this tutorial has explained how to add an easy-to-manage employee directory to your web site.
Models used to display sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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