You have no doubt heard that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff members using a WordPress directory plugin.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily create and add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff members in WordPress without coding skills.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your staff on your site.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress dashboard and from the admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will have been added to your WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin adding new employee details at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups panel …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding directory groups works in the same way as configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group 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 – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in your category description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create your new group name …
(Groups area)
If you run a larger organization, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member section in your browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit the permalink URL for each staff member if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: Type in your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’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 (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 format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(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 fields)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add 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 display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
***
After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can update the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get an error like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all your staff members and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to edit individual details, just hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(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 a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your directory details will now display as as shown below …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, to display a list of members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])
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 your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options settings)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your dashboard menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin developer.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your employees. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out to create a staff directory on your website:
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)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, pic 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 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 Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory 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 on plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 source: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an updatable list of staff or faculty members to your web site using a free WordPress plugin.
Images of models used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"I love the way your email series "Infinite Web Content Creation Training Series" is documented and presented. It is very absorbing and captivating. The links and tutorials are interesting and educational. This has motivated me to rewrite my content following the concepts I am learning from the email series." - Mani Raju, www.fortuneinewaste.com