Business experts often raise the point that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction on your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can lead to greater trust, boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to consider using your services.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to create and add a list directory of employees to your WordPress site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To WordPress
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)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu will appear in the main WP 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 from this menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can start adding new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups settings area …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the slug 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 – Type in the group description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new category …
(Groups area)
If you run a larger organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: Edit the permalink URL associated with your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Type in the staff member’s email here
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username into this field (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. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group link)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an entry to the group …
(Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To modify your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, 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 WordPress permalinks, go here:
Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished adding staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your employees and any details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, just hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries if required …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your employee profiles appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your employee 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 your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
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 Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, 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 should now look like …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
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, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Options settings screen)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
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)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team 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 plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
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 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)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, photo and staff 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 employee 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 shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon 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 screen size of the viewer’s device.
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 website)
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 employee directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without using code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)