No doubt you already know that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
Adding a directory to your website can help to generate more trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects to consider using your services.
This tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-update staff directory to your WordPress site.
Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, we will 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 employee (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will show up in the main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List 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 directory, you can start adding new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings panel …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as configuring WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group 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 – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in your category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group …
(Groups settings area)
If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you need 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 change or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown 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 …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings …
(Add New Staff Member section)
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: Type your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Modify your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff member here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
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 …
(Staff directory settings)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details 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 list of all the employees and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to change individual details, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The This code displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Here is what your directory should now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need specific help with the plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your faculty members. Here are a few other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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 – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
This plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Go here to learn more:
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 or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
With Company Directory, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just a single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)
This 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 source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images used to depict staff members in this tutorial 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