Many business and marketing experts often raise the point that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online and increase user interaction with your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website can help to generate greater trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects contacting you.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in your web site using free plugins.
Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you employee.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the administration and from the admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will appear on the main WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups screen …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
- Description – Enter the group description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new directory category …
(Groups area)
If you work with a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for an entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit each staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Type the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff member 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 person to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using WP permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to add more entries to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employees display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your staff details display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your employee listings will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members data by going to your main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List site.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display an employee directory in WordPress. Here are a few other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone, 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 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 Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin 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 employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular 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, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create a simple and easy-to-update staff directory in WordPress.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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