Many business experts often raise the point that people will buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can help increase your online credibility and get interested prospects buying from your site.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your website with no coding skills required.
Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will 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 is free and lets you create a simple staff directory for.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the admin and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress 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)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will appear in your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This opens up the Groups screen in your web browser …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up your new group name …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories 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 entering each item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The group details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown 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 click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section 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: Here you can modify each employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s position
- Email: Type in your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address here (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 staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering your new group name will display, with a dropdown menu to 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 added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your list entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group 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 team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
You can update the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change an individual’s details, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
If you have many employees added to this section, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if necessary …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your staff entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that your employees display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on 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 you can use with the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can select, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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 profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, photo 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
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)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory 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 online employee directory …
(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.
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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage directory of employees to your website using a free plugin.
Images used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group