Something often said in business and marketing, is that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then help your visitors get to know your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to send you enquiries for quotes or more information.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to add an updatable list directory of staff members to your site using a free WordPress plugin.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you staff.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(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 the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new entry will show up in your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group. 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 your category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new group …
(Groups screen)
If you run a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups 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 categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To edit Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category 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 select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Type your staff member’s name
- Slug: Edit the slug associated with your employee if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the employee’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the 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 staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
The new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign the person’s listing to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
To edit your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have entered all staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the staff profiles and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate a member if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your directory items 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 Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be 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 around with 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can insert in 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=”Gold Level associates”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are some other plugins you can check out to create a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, 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 source: plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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 on plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
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 source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works 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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know your organization better.
Images of models used in this tutorial to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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