Many business and marketing experts have successfully shown that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees.
This tutorial shows you how to create a simple and easy-to-update staff directory in WordPress.
Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will appear in the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your groups. From your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups screen …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding groups works just like categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in 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 to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a category description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory category …
(Groups area)
If you are a medium to large organization, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add your employee’s name
- Permalink: You can edit the slug associated with your staff member if you want (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: The staff member’s position
- Email: Type the person’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter 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 directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an employee’s details to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing someone’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 typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have added staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your employees and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit individual entries, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
If you have many employees, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose 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 lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your employees appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding all member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List lets you create the layout and style of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff entries will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …
(Staff profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around 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 allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details by going to your menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress 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 a profile in a widget area.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, photo and 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
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 sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go 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 staff or team member directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your company better.
Images of persons used to depict staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group