Business experts have successfully shown that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can generate more trust, increase your online credibility and get interested prospects to get in touch with you.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory in a WordPress site.
Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily employee.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WP administration and in your admin menu, choose 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 search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will appear on the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new staff details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your groups. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring groups is just like adding categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
- Description – Enter your group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up the new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a larger organization, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, 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 categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category 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 your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding group names to 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)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: Edit each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the staff member’s role into this field
- Email: Enter the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your employee’s Twitter username (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. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(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 staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering your new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your listing to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. 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 or team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To edit your employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into 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 of all your employees and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to modify individual details, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if required …
(Search members)
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 …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the layout and style of your directory items 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 the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
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 …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you 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 staff entries will now display as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can select to display a list of employees or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the dashboard menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin author.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a staff directory in WordPress. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at for adding an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Learn more 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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
This plugin lets you add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, 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 read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual person 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, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
The Staffer 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 staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory in your website.
Models used to display sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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