Something that is often quoted in business and marketing circles, is that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding an employee directory to your website can generate more trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects considering using your services.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to add an easy-to-update list of employees to a WordPress site using a free plugin.
How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff members.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will have been added to your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin adding new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
- Description – Type in your category description in this field
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new directory category …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To change or reassign Groups for specific items, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected item will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Change the slug for your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email
- 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: Enter your company’s Twitter username (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 here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down 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 group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the employee’s 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 you have set up groups and get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, go here:
Continue adding new details to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit individual details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose 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 allows you to specify the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that entries show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List lets you create the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin 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 listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your directory listings will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin developer.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. Here are other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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 here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, 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 employee 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.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online staff directory …
(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 go 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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without touching code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum