Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products online, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help boost your credibility online and get interested prospects contacting you.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff in your WordPress site.
Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily employee.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WordPress admin and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will be added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new staff member details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups panel …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in 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 to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a group description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new category …
(Groups screen)
If you run a business that employs many people, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for an item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done …
Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the staff member’s position
- Email: Enter your staff member’s email address into this field
- Phone Number: Enter your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add your staff member’s Facebook URL (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 a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
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 settings)
Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the person’s entry to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s 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 filling 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 the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this tutorial:
Continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding staff or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your directory items and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify individual entries, just hover over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize 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 main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Your directory entries will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need specific help with this plugin, go to the plugin faq page and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a faculty directory in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at to create an employee directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
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, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and member 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which 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 faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
If the above plugins 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an updatable directory of employees or faculty members to your website using a free plugin.
Images used to display sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com