Something often said in business and marketing circles, is that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online or increase user interaction with your site? Then something you can do, is help visitors get to know you and your business better.
If your web presence is driven by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory in your site.
Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily display information about your employee on your website.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the admin and go 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 plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will have been added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start adding new staff entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory groups. In your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a category description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to set up a new group …
(Groups section)
If you are a business that employs many people, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group 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 over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done …
Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This opens up 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: Type your employee’s name
- Slug: Change each staff members’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the staff member’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your company’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 members here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field for creating a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
***
After filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
To update your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar, see this tutorial:
Note: If a page error like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your site’s permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Continue adding more details to your employee or team directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table with all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit individual details, just hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update 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 on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that your employee profiles display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the style and layout of your staff directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up 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 Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory entries will now appear with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need additional information about this plugin, visit the plugin faq page and contact the plugin author.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
This plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one individual member of your team in a 4-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 which display featured and recent employees, plus 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 an onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update list directory of employees in your website without editing code.
Models used to portray staff members in this tutorial 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