No doubt you’ve heard that people generally will buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
If your site runs on WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that lets you add information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff members.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-update simple staff directory in your web site.
Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WordPress admin and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu entry will appear in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from 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 staff directory, you can begin to add new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign youremployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …
(Groups area)
Note: Adding directory groups works in the same way as adding categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Create new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category 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 a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter the group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new directory category …
(Groups settings)
If you run a medium to large organization, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering each item …
To change Groups for a particular entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected category will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This opens up the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This screen provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Change the permalink URL associated with your employee if required (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 employee’s role
- Email: Type the person’s email address
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your staff member’s Twitter username (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 employee here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign your staff member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field for entering a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an employee’s details to the group …
(New group added via Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have configured your site permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to add new entries to your directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all your directory items and any details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to make changes to individual details, simply hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members info)
If you have added many items to this section, your list can get quite long.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your staff details appear on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all member details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which entries show 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 entry to its new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to create the style and layout of your staff list items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Simple Staff List Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links)
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 assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations you can use.
A useful variation you can select, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your dashboard menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List site.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. Here are some other free plugins you can look at:
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin was developed to provide 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 profiles in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
The Staffer plugin 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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about this plugin 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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update staff directory to your website.
Images used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now