It’s often said in business and marketing circles that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for ideas to sell more products online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know your business better.
Adding a staff directory to your site can lead to increased trust, boost your credibility online and get interested prospects buying from your site.
This tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-maintain employee directory in your WordPress site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory
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 Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you display information about your staff members on your site.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WP admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will display on the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just begin adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups is very similar to working with categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version 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 if you plan to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in the group description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need 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 entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …
The item will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done …
Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area loads in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Type your employee’s name
- Permalink: You can change the permalink URL for your employee if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Enter the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username here (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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
If you 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 employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to 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 …
The new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. 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 filling in your staff or team member’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)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new members to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all your directory entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to change individual details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items if required …
(Search Staff Members search field)
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 …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff 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 your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your directory profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options settings)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your team members. For example, here are some other free plugins you can use to create an employee directory on your website:
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, image and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, 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 website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)
This 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 an onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more:
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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to your website.
Models used to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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