Many business experts have successfully proven that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website can help increase your online credibility and get interested prospects considering using your services.
This tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in WordPress.
How To Add A Staff Directory To WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost plugin that lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will display on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could start to add new staff member details at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This opens up the Groups area …
(Groups settings)
Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter 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 to set up nested groups
- Description – Enter a group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new group name …
(Groups area)
If you are a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected group details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress 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 settings area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s position
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter 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 here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you are done entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating your group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
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 your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
To update your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:
Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding more members to your directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table with all your directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to individual details, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your employee profiles show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your employee listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to a desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
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 menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop 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] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Your directory details will now display as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can select 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings 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 page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, 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 plugin website.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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 – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile 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 list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic and member 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from 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:
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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a list of staff members to your site using a free WP plugin.
Models used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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