No doubt you already know that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.
If your website runs on the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your faculty, or your employees using a directory plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add an easy-to-update directory of employees to a WordPress site using free WordPress plugins.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory: Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WP dashboard and from the admin menu section, choose 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 the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will be added to the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your 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 staff directory, you could start to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your groups. From your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This opens up the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in the group description in this field
- Click Add New Group when done to set up a new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each item …
To change Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can modify the permalink URL for each employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the person’s position here
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the employee’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or faculty member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you are done inputting details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting 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 drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
The new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign the employee’s details to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After filling in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, see this tutorial:
Keep adding more details to your employee directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your directory items and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to edit individual details, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to 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)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. 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 Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List 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 example. To make these fields appear in your 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 added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee entries will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List site and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo 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 learn 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 plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 source: plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 online employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
If the above plugins 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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create an easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your website.
Images of models used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"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