No doubt you’ve heard that people generally tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help to let visitors learn more about the people working behind the scenes in your organization.
This tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-update directory of staff members in your WordPress site.
Adding A Staff Directory To WordPress: Plugin 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)
Simple Staff List lets you easily display information about your employee on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will show up in your main WP menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin to add new staff member details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen in your browser …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring groups is just like configuring categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the slug 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 categories
- Description – Enter the group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for specific items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected category will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your staff directory)
Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can change the permalink URL for each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Type in the staff member’s email here
- Phone Number: Enter your employee’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the staff member’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see above 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 will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you have entered details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an employee’s details to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee or team 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 to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding new entries to your employee or partner directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all your staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
If you have many names added to this section, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate listing items if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding member details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory items 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 the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your staff details will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as shown below …
(Employee profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
A useful variation you can add, for example, to display a list of employees or team members belonging only to 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
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options screen)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This 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 about this plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
This plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin was developed to provide 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 go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo 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 uses a simple shortcode system.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets that let you 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 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff to your web site.
Models used to portray sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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