No doubt you’ve heard that people tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website is a great way to personalize your organization.
This tutorial explains how to add a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory to your web site.
How To Easily Add An Employee Directory In WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you staff members.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the options and settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could begin adding new entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Adding groups is very similar to creating categories …
(Groups are like categories)
Create a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version 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 nested groups
- Description – Enter a group description here
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new group name …
(Groups settings)
If you manage a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, project teams, 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 organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The group details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group when done …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member area in your browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Type your employee’s name
- Slug: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Enter the employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(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 …
(Staff directory settings)
After you are done entering details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating your 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 directory category and click on Add New Group …
The new category will be added. 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).
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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have finished entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to modify an individual’s details, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile information)
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 find entries if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding staff details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which entries show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin allows you to 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 Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields appear in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory details will now display as as shown below …
(Directory with social media links added)
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 directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of staff members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options settings)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin support page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your staff in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can use for adding a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, image 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more about this plugin here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one single person 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 which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for staff/employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite employee directory …
(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.
More info:
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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory 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 in this tutorial to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I have used the tutorials to teach all of my clients and it has probably never been so easy for everyone to learn WordPress ... Now I don't need to buy all these very expensive video courses that often don't deliver what they promise." - Stefan Wendt, Internet Marketing Success Group