Consumer behaviour research shows that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know your organization better.
If your website runs on the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you display information about your partners, your business team, or your employees.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of employees to your web site.
How To Add A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff members.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will have been added to the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin to add new employee details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups section …
(Groups area)
Note: Configuring groups works in the same way as configuring categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the slug 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 categories
- Description – Enter your group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to set up the new group …
(Groups settings area)
If you work with a larger organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, 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 build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change Groups for a particular item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group after making changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Edit the slug for your staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s role
- Email: The employee’s email address
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’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 in a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have finished inputting each staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
***
After entering your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have configured your site permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding new details to your staff directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate items …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which your staff profiles show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your staff 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 the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Your staff profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options screen)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin site and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can use:
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team 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 website)
Learn more here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin 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.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin uses custom post types for staff/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: 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, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your team better.
Models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum