It’s often said in business circles that people generally tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization better.
If your site is built using the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that lets you add a directory listing with information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to create and add a simple team members directory to your web site using free WP plugins.
Adding An Employee Directory To WordPress: Step-By-Step Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily employee.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu entry will be added to your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual members.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This takes you to the Groups panel …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
- Description – Enter your group description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new category …
(Groups settings)
If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories 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 on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
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: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The employee’s position
- Email: Your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
Your new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your listing to the group …
(New group)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have configured your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:
Continue adding more members to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all the staff members and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify an individual’s details, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which entries appear on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
After adding all member listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory entries 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 opens the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory entries will now display as as the screenshot below shows …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess 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 allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use with this plugin.
A useful variation you can choose, 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 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 your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin developer.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can check out for creating a directory on your site:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
This plugin 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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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)
With Company Directory, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone, image and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staffer 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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)
Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
More info:
If the directory plugins listed above 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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of persons used to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)