Consumer behaviour research shows that people will mostly buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that lets you add a directory listing with information about your key people, your business team, or your staff.
This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-manage directory of staff members in your web site.
Adding An Employee Directory: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(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 …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will appear on your main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups settings …
(Groups section)
Note: Adding directory groups is very similar to working with categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your 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 – Enter a category description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group …
(Groups area)
If you run a business that employs many people, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups 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 on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for a particular entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member screen …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Change the slug for each staff member if required (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Your employee’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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: Add a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you have finished inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group feature)
A field for creating a group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …
The new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your site’s permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using WP permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to add more entries to your employee or faculty directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have added employee details into 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 the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the item’s 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 Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
If you have many employees, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options)
Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your employees appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List 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 layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings 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 assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
For example, a useful variation you can decide to use 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”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your faculty in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin also lets you add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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.
Learn more here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, photo 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a 4-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 which 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 staff 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This 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 employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more here:
If the above plugins 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
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your website without editing code.
Images of models used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com