Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for simple ways to grow your business online and increase user interaction on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know your business better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can help personalize your business.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members in WordPress.
How To Easily Add An Employee Directory
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)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter your group description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new group name …
(Groups settings)
If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, 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 assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter your employee’s position
- Email: Type in the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type in 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 employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a specific 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 your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
The new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. 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 typing in your employee or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding new details to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have entered all staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide 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 choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employee listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding staff details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, 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 …
(Employee profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to 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, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can select, for example, to display a list of members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin faq page and request help from the plugin developer.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty. For example, here are some other free plugins you can use for creating a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 also uses shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets that let you 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 team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
This plugin uses custom post types for employee 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 source: Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team members directory in your site without messing around with code.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)