You have no doubt heard that people generally tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products online, then help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding an employee directory to your site can help to humanize your organization.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple staff directory in a WordPress site without messing around with code.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you display information about your staff members on your website.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your dashboard and from the admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WP 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 …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear in the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start to add new employee entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups section …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter your group description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new category …
(Groups section)
If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected item’s details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Slug: Change your employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Add your staff member’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username here (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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have finished inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:
Keep adding more details to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all your staff members and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
If you have many employees, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee entries will now display as as shown below …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks 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 listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page and contact the plugin developer.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your staff in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, image 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite staff directory …
(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.
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your company better.
Images of persons used to display fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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