Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products online? Then help your prospects get to know your business better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects considering using your services.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create an easy-to-manage directory of staff members in WordPress.
Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily create a simple staff directory list for.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will appear on the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory groups. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen loads in your browser …
(Groups screen)
Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category name. 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 categories
- Description – Type in your group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new directory group …
(Groups screen)
If you work with a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To change or reassign Groups for a specific item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit the permalink URL for each employee if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: Enter the person’s email address
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username (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 employees 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 individual to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you have entered details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
To make changes to your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get an error like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all the staff profiles and any details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to edit individual details, just hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
If you have many names added to this section, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members 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 done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list)
After adding your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your employee 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 your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure 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 allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, 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=”sales reps”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data by going to the WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your team members. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, pic and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer 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 an online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer 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 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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members in WordPress.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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