Consumer behavior research shows that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.
If your site is built with WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your team, or your staff using a directory plugin.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain list of staff members in your site.
How To Add A Staff List Directory: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily display information to visitors about your staff on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear on the WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress 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 group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter the category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new directory group …
(Groups settings screen)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected group details will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done …
Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member section)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: You can change your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s position
- Email: Type in the employee’s email
- Phone Number: Add your employee’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’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: Type in a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or team member to a specific 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 your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you have finished entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Repeat the above process to add new details to your staff or team directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your staff profiles and details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile info)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to find entries if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you create the layout and style of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of 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 lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that you can use with this plugin.
A useful variation you can add, for example, to display only members belonging 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=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members details by going to the main menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need help with this plugin, visit the plugin support page and request help from the plugin author.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. Here are a few other free plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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 here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin was developed to provide 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.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses shortcodes.
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
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 on plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, 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)
Learn more 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 onsite employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or team member directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Models used to display 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