Consumer behaviour studies show that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If you run a WordPress-driven website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you display a directory containing information about your key partners, your faculty, or your staff members.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage list directory of staff or team members in your web site using free WP plugins.
Adding A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you build a basic staff directory for.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the dashboard and in your admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will appear in the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings panel …
(Groups settings)
Note: Setting up directory groups is just like adding WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
- Description – Type in your group description
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new directory category …
(Groups screen)
If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: Change your staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add your employee’s position here
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’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 members here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have finished inputting each staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group link)
A field for entering your group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
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 staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee or team 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 in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to edit individual entries, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
If you have many employees, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your staff details display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your employee listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff details will now display as shown in the screenshot below …
(Employee profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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 sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more:
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
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members 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)