No doubt you’ve heard that people generally will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know you and your business better.
Adding a directory of staff to your site can lead to more trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to buy from your site.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees in WordPress using a free plugin.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff members on your website.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your admin and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin to add new staff entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Adding groups is very similar to creating WordPress categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in 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 – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in a category description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new category …
(Groups settings screen)
If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected item will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group 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 the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click on Update Group when done …
Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings screen)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: Change your employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Enter the person’s role
- Email: Add the person’s email here
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(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 each of your employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up 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 for entering a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
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 your directory …
Click View Post …
You can update the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding more details to your staff directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your listing entries and their details …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want 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 remove a list item from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members info)
If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if required …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee listings show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin 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] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your directory entries will now display as shown in the screenshot below …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks 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 being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
A useful shortcode variation you can choose, 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=”partners”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your employees. For example, here are some other plugins you can use for creating a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
You can also use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, 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 sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Staffer 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 online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from 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:
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
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain list directory of employees or team members to your site using free plugins.
Images used to portray 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)