It’s often said in marketing that people will buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff using a WordPress staff list plugin.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff in your site.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you display information about your staff on your site.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will display on your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new employee entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by setting up your directory groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings screen …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding directory groups is similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group category name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group. 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 – Enter your group description
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories 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 creating each item …
To edit or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add your employee’s name
- Permalink: Modify the permalink URL for your employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
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 …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, 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 …
A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the list item to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff or partner directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list displaying all the employees and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its new position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your staff 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 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, below is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks 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 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, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”property managers”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and choosing Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin site and request help from the plugin developer.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
Learn more 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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, image and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 simple shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an 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.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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