Something that is often quoted in business circles, is that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your website can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to contact you.
This tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update staff directory in your website.
Adding An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List lets you staff.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu will appear in the main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new staff details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your directory categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Enter 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 categories
- Description – Enter the category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new category …
(Groups screen)
If you run a larger organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each item …
To edit Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: You can modify your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the staff member’s position here
- Email: Type in the person’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the employee’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
After you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding 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 for entering a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:
Continue adding more members to your employee directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile)
If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries show on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your staff profiles show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to a desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List 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 layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory listings will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Employee profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with template tags 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can select, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
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 Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options settings screen)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school 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)
Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic 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 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 uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon 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 device screen size.
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)
Learn more here:
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 an online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your web visitors can get to know you and your team better.
Images of models used to display sample 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