No doubt you’ve already heard that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online, then help prospects get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a staff directory to your site can lead to increased trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects contacting you.
In this tutorial, we show you how to add an easy-to-update list of employees to your website.
Adding A Staff List Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your staff members on your site.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
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 team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings area …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter 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 section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter the group description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory category …
(Groups section)
If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups 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 on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Modify the slug for each staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address (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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: 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 at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Repeat the above process to add new entries to your employee or partner directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering 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 displaying all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the staff 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 employees, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff 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 main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List 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, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Employee profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with 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 lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options screen)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your team members. Here are a few other free plugins you can use to add a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team 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 sourced from Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, image and staff 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details go here:
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 website …
(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 above plugins 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create a simple and easy-to-update employee directory in your website.
Images of models used to depict sample 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