Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people often tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know your business better.
If your website runs on the WordPress CMS, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members to WordPress.
Tutorial: Adding A Staff 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 – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new entry will have been added to the main WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings 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 team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin adding new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups is just like adding categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your group name. 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 categories
- Description – Enter the category description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new directory group …
(Groups area)
If you run a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, departments, 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 creating each item …
To change Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Permalink: Change your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the employee’s role here
- Email: Enter the person’s email here
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the staff member’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 staff or team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
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 each of your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you 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 added. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee or team member’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
To edit your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you see an error like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to continue adding new members to your staff directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done entering staff or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your staff members and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update their 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 selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile information)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if necessary …
(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 on Screen Options …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your members’ details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a new location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
After adding your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up 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, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields display in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your directory entries will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …
(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)
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
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations you can use.
A useful variation you can add, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to 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 using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out to add an employee directory on your site:
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)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin provides 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.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, image and 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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 staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular 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, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your website using a free plugin.
Models used in this tutorial to portray sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"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