No doubt you already know that people generally buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for simple ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to interact more with your site, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know you and your organization better.
If your website is driven by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-maintain staff directory to WordPress.
Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily create a simple staff directory for.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your admin and navigate to 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 the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will display on your main WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new employee entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups panel …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group name. 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 – Enter the category description in this field
- Click Add New Group when done to set up the new directory group …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, 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 assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To change Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Edit your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up 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)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have finished entering each staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering your group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
To make changes to your member 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 , go here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding more entries to your employee directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items if required …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your staff details show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(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
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your staff directory items 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 your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
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 Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Your staff profiles will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need help with this plugin, visit the plugin plugin site.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty. Here are some other plugins you can look at to create a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 a profile in a widget area.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, image 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 learn 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 shortcodes.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just an 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 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin 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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com