Something that is generally well known in business, is that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
If you own a WordPress website, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your business team, or your staff members using a WordPress directory plugin.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-update staff directory in your site.
Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff members on your site.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the administration and go to 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 search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will have been added to your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in your group description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new category …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a medium to large organization, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected group will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the staff member’s name
- Slug: You can edit the slug for each employee if you want (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: Add the employee’s position here
- Email: Enter the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or team member 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 will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
After you have finished inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit an 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 filling in your staff 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 the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to add more entries to your staff or faculty directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee 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 the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
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 Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your directory will now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can choose to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data by going to the main menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin faq page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, photo and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders 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 upon plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff/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: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately 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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of models used to portray staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now