Something often said in marketing circles, is that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online and increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know your organization better.
If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your staff members using a staff list plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees in your site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory In WordPress
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)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP 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 …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will be added to your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This 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 employee directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding directory groups is very similar to creating categories …
(Groups work like 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 category. 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 – Type in a group description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create your new directory category …
(Groups screen)
If you are a medium to large organization, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for an entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done …
Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This area 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: The employee’s name
- Permalink: Modify the permalink URL associated with each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Type in the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the staff member’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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 staff members here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
After you are done entering details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
The new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(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 of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add more members to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished adding staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all the listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change an individual’s details, simply hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have many names added to this section, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your staff entries show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your employee details will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …
(Staff profiles 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
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful variation you can insert in 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the WP admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin faq page.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, 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 staff member 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.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one single 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 that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
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: plugin website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
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 online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works 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 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory to WordPress.
Images used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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