It’s often said in business circles that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online, then help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory to your site can help increase your online credibility and get more prospects to contact you.
This tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory to your web site.
Adding A Staff Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial
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)
Simple Staff List lets you staff.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your dashboard and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will appear in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups settings …
(Groups area)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to working with categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter a category description here
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new group name …
(Groups screen)
If you manage a larger organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change or reassign Groups for an item, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Change each employees’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the staff member’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type 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 employee here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign your staff member to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you are done inputting details, assign your new item 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 staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited 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 of the tutorial above for details).
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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
To make changes to your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:
Continue adding new details to your employee or member directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have added employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table with all your directory items and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, simply hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished 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 that your employees appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a new position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you create the layout and style of your directory listings 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 menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(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 the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default 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 the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”senior staff”])
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 main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin website.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your team members. Here are some other free 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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, 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.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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, this tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-maintain employee directory in your website.
Images of persons used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group