It’s often said in business and marketing circles that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online, then help prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.
If you run a WordPress-driven website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your employees using a WordPress staff list plugin.
This tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your WordPress site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you create a basic staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into your administration and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new menu will show up in your main WP menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
- Description – Enter a group description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for specific entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Modify the slug associated with your staff member if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s role
- Email: Enter the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address into this field (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 a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in 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 the previous section 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 can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
The new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your list entry to the group …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
***
After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Continue adding new details to your directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit individual details, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit 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 remove a list item from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
If you have many entries, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that entries display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
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 staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List 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 Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your directory profiles will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess 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 listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can select 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”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the main admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin support page.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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 here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
Learn more about the plugin here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more 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 upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which 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 circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory 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 source: plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
If the above plugins 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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage simple staff directory in your site without editing code.
Images used in this tutorial to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"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)