Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for simple ideas to sell more products online? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
If you have a WordPress-powered website, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you display a directory listing with information about your key partners, your team, or your staff members.
This tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update employee 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
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily display basic information about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to the main WP menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group category 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 your group description
- Click Add New Group when done to create your new directory group …
(Groups section)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding groups to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can change each employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: Type the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username into this field (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 into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group entry, 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 …
You can modify the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding more details to your directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
If you have added many employees to this section, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if required …
(Search members)
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)
Selecting a check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your directory profiles will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory 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 allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can choose to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need specific help with the plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use for adding an employee directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 this 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 churches, schools, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual member of your team 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 which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 online employee directory …
(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.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff in your WordPress site.
Images of models used to depict sample 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