Consumer behavior research shows that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
If your online business is powered by the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you add a directory containing information about your key partners, your team, or your staff members.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add a simple team members directory in your site using a free plugin.
How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily build a basic staff directory list for.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WP admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, 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)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will show up in your main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can start adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups section …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups works just like categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the slug 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 groups
- Description – Type in your category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new group …
(Groups screen)
If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for an item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Change the permalink URL associated with your staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Add your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type your staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: 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 tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your list entry to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the 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 permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:
Continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your employees and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
If you have added many employees to this section, your table can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory items 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 Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields display in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee details will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
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
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, 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=”partners”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using 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 …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out to create a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details 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 a profile in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
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 on plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and 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 sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staffer
(Staffer)
This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go 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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know your company better.
Images of models used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is AMAZING! I had learnt about how to use WordPress previously, but this covers absolutely everything and more!! Incredible value! Thank you!" - Monique, Warrior Forum