Business experts often raise the point that people often tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for simple ways to sell more products or services online, then help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
Adding a staff directory to your site will help personalize your business.
This tutorial shows you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff in your web site.
Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you build a basic staff directory list for.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WP admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will be added to your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Adding directory groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by typing in 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 – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter a group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your staff directory)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the employee’s name
- Permalink: Change your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Enter the person’s email address here
- Phone Number: Add your staff member’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’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 or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
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 …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field for creating your group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your list item to the group …
(Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an individual’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar here:
Note: If a page error shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding new entries to your directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the listing entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee profiles show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list)
After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The This code displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory listings will now display as as shown below …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page 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=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin website and contact the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your team members in WordPress. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at for creating a directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin was developed to provide 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and member 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
This 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 website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff members in a WordPress site with no coding skills required.
Models used in this tutorial to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum