Business experts have successfully shown that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products online? Then help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees or faculty members to your website will help humanize your organization.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members to your web site.
How To Easily Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site: Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP administration and from the admin menu section, select 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 the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will appear in the main WP menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start to add new entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your categories. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups panel …
(Groups area)
Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in the group description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new directory category …
(Groups screen)
If you are a larger organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected group details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member screen in your web browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter your employee’s name
- Slug: You can change the permalink URL associated with your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or team member 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 features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have finished entering your staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering a new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Continue adding more members to your employee or team directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate items …
(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 show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your employees appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding all staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also 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 style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable 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 Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List 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, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory listings will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to display a list of employees or faculty members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options settings)
Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin support page.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also includes 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)
This plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone number, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual 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 that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer 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 this 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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or team member directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know you and your organization better.
Images of persons used to display fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum