You have no doubt heard that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know your organization better.
Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects to get in touch with you.
In this tutorial, we explain how to add an updatable simple faculty members directory to WordPress using free plugins.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you create a basic staff directory for.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will show up in the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin adding new employee entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen opens on your browser …
(Groups area)
Note: Setting up groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group category 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 – Enter the group description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new category …
(Groups screen)
If you work with a larger organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
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 …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings opens up …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Change the permalink URL associated with your employee if you want (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: The staff member’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Type the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff or team member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
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 employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field will display 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 group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
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 admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Keep adding more members to your employee or member directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, hover over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries if necessary …
(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 …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that your employees show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown 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 …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can select, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options screen)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members info by going to your WordPress admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
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 – Plugin For WordPress)
With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
Learn more about the plugin 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 or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, 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 learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer 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 directory plugins listed above 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
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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