Many business experts often raise the point that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction on your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff members using a staff list plugin.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of employees to your site using a free plugin.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial
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 WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(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 …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will display on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen opens up …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring directory groups is similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter your category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new directory category …
(Groups settings area)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want 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 entering each new item …
To change or reassign Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s role
- Email: Type in the person’s email
- Phone Number: Type in your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username (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 or team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your employee to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you 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)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating a group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Continue adding more entries to your employee or faculty directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table of all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items if required …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your staff entries show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your employee listings display on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired location …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
After adding your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, 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=”customer representatives”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use to add a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also use 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)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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.
This plugin includes 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 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 plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 sourced from plugin 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, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know you and your company better.
Images used to display fictitious staff members 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