Something that is often quoted in marketing, is that people generally buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to engage more with your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff to your site can generate greater trust, increase your credibility online and get more prospects to get in touch with you.
This tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff to your web site.
How To Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily employee.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP admin and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu entry will display on your main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new staff members at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This loads the Groups screen …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding groups is just like adding categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group category name. 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 categories
- Description – Type in your category description
- Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …
(Groups section)
If you run a larger organization, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add your employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can edit your employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the staff member’s position here
- Email: Add your employee’s email address here
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your employee’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the employee’s Twitter username into this field (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. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign an employee or team member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you 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 tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you have finished inputting your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
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 above for details).
***
After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your directory entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your employee profiles appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin 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 can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Directory 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 unsure of 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 lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display only members belonging 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 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 page …
(Options screen)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need specific help with this plugin, go to the plugin support page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty. Here are other free WordPress 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)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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 profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, 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 source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon 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 screen size of the viewer’s device.
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 sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com