No doubt you’ve heard that people will buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online or get people to engage more on your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory to your site can help boost your credibility online and get interested prospects to contact you.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members in your web site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To WordPress
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily create a basic staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the administration and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will show up in the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like configuring categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Enter the category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new category …
(Groups settings area)
If you manage a larger organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To change Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating 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 begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can change the permalink URL associated with your employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: Type the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- 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: Add the person’s Twitter username (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 member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field for entering a group name will display, with a dropdown 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 …
Your new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups section)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group 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 your directory …
Click View Post …
You can update your staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the 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 example below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …
(Not found error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to individual details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries if necessary …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
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 arrange the order that your staff details appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing 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 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 should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
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, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List site and request help from the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, pic and staff 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin 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 site …
(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.
For more details go here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage simple staff directory to in WordPress with no coding skills required.
Models used to display fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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