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It’s often said in marketing that people will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then help visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory to your site can generate more trust, increase your online credibility and get more prospects buying from your site.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory in your WordPress site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display basic information to visitors about your staff members on your website.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP admin and in your admin menu section, select 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 search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will appear on your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin to add new employee details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like adding categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for an item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings area in your browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit the slug associated with each employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Type in the employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (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: Enter a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …
Your new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get an error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Continue adding more details to your employee or faculty directory as described above.
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 Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. 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 that entries appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your employee listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff profiles will now display as as shown below …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with editing 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that you can use.
A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options screen)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your staff. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, image 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and 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: Employee Spotlight website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: 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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of persons used to portray staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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