No doubt you’ve already heard that people will mostly buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know your organization better.
Adding a directory to your site will help to personalize your organization.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory to your WordPress site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you create a simple staff directory for.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress 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 …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will display on the main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups panel in your browser …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups works just like categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter the group description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …
(Groups section)
If you manage a larger organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want 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 new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: You can edit your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your employee’s Facebook address here (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 employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign an employee or team member to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group 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 dropdown 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 …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a person’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
***
After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the WP admin toolbar here:
Note: If you get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add more entries to your employee or partner directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your listing entries and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many entries, your list can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that entries display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your staff profiles show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create 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 dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your directory should 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 with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of persons 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 using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and bio, allowing you to present 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one 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 this plugin, 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 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …
(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.
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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie
***
