No doubt you’ve already heard that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
If your site is built with WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that lets you display information about your partners, your team, or your staff.
This tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to your WordPress site.
Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff on your website.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your administration and go to Plugins > Add New …
(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 – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will be added to the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This loads the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in the category description here
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up your new directory category …
(Groups screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, 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 groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown 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 choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: You can edit each employees’ slug (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 role
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Type your staff member’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see above 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 each of your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you are done entering details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
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. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an employee’s details to the group …
(New group added via Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. 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 staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Not found error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add more details to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and all details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.
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 section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your employees display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.
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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around 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, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options settings screen)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your dashboard menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin faq page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. Here are a few other free plugins you can use to create an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
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 or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual member of your team 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, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin 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 online employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members to your web site.
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