You have no doubt heard that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If you own a WordPress-powered site, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you add information about your partners, your team, or your staff.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to add an updatable list of staff members to your web site using free plugins.
Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WP admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will display on your main WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin adding new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualgroup members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like WordPress categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up your new category …
(Groups settings area)
If you run a larger organization, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build 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 selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit the slug associated with your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the person’s role
- Email: Type in your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username into this field (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 format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your employee to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
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 your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
After you have finished inputting your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for entering your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …
Your new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
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).
***
After filling in your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding more details to your employee directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your staff members and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify an individual’s entry, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
If you have many employees, your list can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your employee profiles show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the Default Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your directory 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 make these fields show up in the directory, 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 Staff Loop Template)
Your staff entries will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can add, 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=”technical engineers”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your main admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin website and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your employees. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use:
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)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
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)
The Company Directory plugin lets you add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, image and bio, allowing you to present 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer 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 website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage directory of employees or faculty members to your site using free WP plugins.
Images used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"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