Something often said in business and marketing circles, is that people will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your business better.
If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress staff list plugin that will let you add information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to easily add a simple staff directory to your site using free WordPress plugins.
Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff.
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WordPress administration and in your admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu will be added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your 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 organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start adding new staff members at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings …
(Groups screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups is very similar to creating categories …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. 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 – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new group …
(Groups settings area)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each item …
To edit Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button to save your changes …
Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can start to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This area provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can change the slug associated with each staff member if you want (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: The employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email address
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username here (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 staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff member 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 …
(Screen options)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member fields)
Once you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown 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 created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an entry to the group …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an individual’s details. 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 your directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard 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)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to add more members to your staff or team directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all your directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members details)
If you need to modify an individual’s details, hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many individual listings added to this section, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search box to locate a member …
(Search Staff Members search field)
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 …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your staff entries show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding member details to the directory, the next step is to display 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 arrange the order that listings show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory entries 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 the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates page)
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 Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To make these fields show in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your staff profiles will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can select, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to 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=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin faq page and request help from the plugin developer.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a staff directory in WordPress. For example, here are other plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your site:
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
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 a profile in a widget area.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Company Directory lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, photo 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
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 upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.
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, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
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 employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular 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, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images used to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com