Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff to your site can generate greater trust, increase your credibility online and get more prospects getting in touch with you.
This tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of employees to your site.
Adding A Staff Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into your administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will appear on your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could start to add new staff entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups panel opens up …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
- Description – Type in your category description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new group name …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding names 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 settings area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Permalink: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the person’s role into this field
- Email: Enter the staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username into this field (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 or faculty member here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
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 your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
***
After entering your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding staff details 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 of all the employees and details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting 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 feature to find listing items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added staff details to the 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 allows you to arrange the order that your staff entries show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding all members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize 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 your main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The This code displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Your staff entries will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links 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 help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing 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 screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a faculty directory in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo and member 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 source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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 on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 source: Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or team member directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know your team better.
Images used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"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