Something that is often quoted in business and marketing circles, is that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online and get people to interact more with your site, then help visitors get to know you and your organization better.
If your website runs on WordPress, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your key people, your team, or your employees.
In this tutorial, we explain how to easily add a simple and easy-to-update list of employees in your site.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you employee.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP 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 the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will display on the main WP menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin to add new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups screen …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding groups works in the same way as adding 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. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Type in the category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory group …
(Groups area)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, 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 build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change Groups for an item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter the employee’s name
- Slug: Edit the slug associated with your employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s role
- Email: Add the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’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 employee or team member 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 person to a 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 your screen …
(Screen options)
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 …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering your new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
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 of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Keep adding more members to your staff or member directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the employees and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to modify individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update 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 the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that entries display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding all member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff list entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Your employee profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, 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=”partners”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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 about the plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 profiles in a widget area.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single person 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 that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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: Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff in your WordPress site.
Images of models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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