You have no doubt heard that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees using a WordPress staff list plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you employee (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP admin and from the admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will be added to your main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff members at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups section …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up nested groups
- Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you run a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The category details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Change each employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the person’s role here
- Email: Your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username here (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 employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a staff member to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee or faculty member’s 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 filling in your staff or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering employees into 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 table displaying all the staff members and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to modify individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries …
(Search Staff Members search box)
You can 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 unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List also lets you edit 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 the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed 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 above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above example. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory details will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS code and template tags or are not sure 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 main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations you can use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales trainers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Additional Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. Here are some other plugins you can look at for creating a staff directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This 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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Learn more here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well 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 learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders 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, 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about the plugin go here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain employee directory in your website.
Models used to depict sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)