Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
If you have a WordPress-powered website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your team, or your employees using a staff list plugin.
This tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-maintain staff directory to WordPress.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you create a basic staff directory for.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new entry will appear in the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your groups. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up groups is very similar to working with categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group 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 groups
- Description – Enter the category description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new directory category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a larger organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories 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 groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for a specific item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Permalink: Here you can edit the permalink URL for each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- 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: Add your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff members here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you 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 your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you have finished inputting your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
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 the Add New Group button …
A new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’s details. 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
If you have many employees, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to create the style and layout of your employee directory items 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 your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as 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, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to 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=”technical engineers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options screen)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff. For example, here are other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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 a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, image and staff 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just an 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.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used in this tutorial to display sample staff members 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