No doubt you already know that people will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to interact more with your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees or team members to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects buying from you.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an updatable list of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required.
Adding An Employee Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily staff.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress administration and in your admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will appear on your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage 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 how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin to add new staff members at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups area)
Note: Configuring groups is very similar to working with categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Type in 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 – Type in a group description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create a new directory category …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a larger organization, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To edit Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown 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 click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Permalink: Change the permalink URL associated with each staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s position here
- Email: Add the person’s email address into this field
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the employee’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 staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to 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 Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering a new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the entry to the group …
(New group added in Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’s details. To edit a group 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get errors like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get an error)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add more details to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done 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 Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to change individual entries, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory 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 the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list will now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS code and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
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, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to your page to display a list of staff or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options screen)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a faculty directory in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your website:
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, image and staff 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one 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.
Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each team 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff or faculty members in your site with no coding skills required.
Images of models used in this tutorial to portray 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