Many business and marketing experts often raise the point that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction on your site, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your organization better.
If your website is powered by WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you display a directory containing information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff members.
This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add a simple and easy-to-update employee directory to WordPress.
How To Easily Add A Staff Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your employee on your site.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WP dashboard and from the admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, 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)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will appear in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin to add new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. In your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This loads the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring groups is just like adding categories …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your 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 nested categories
- Description – Type in your group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected category details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click Update Group when done to save your changes …
Continue adding group names in this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you are done setting up your groups, you can begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can edit your employees’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in your staff member’s position here
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’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 staff members here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(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 …
(Staff directory fields)
After you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After typing in your employee or team member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Page error – Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your employee or member directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have entered all staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all your directory items and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, simply hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that listings display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your employee listings appear on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin 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 include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Here is what your directory will now look like …
(Directory with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage Shortcode screen)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.
A useful variation you can add, 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=”partners”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options in the main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options screen)
This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin support page and contact the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.
Detailed information about each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)
Staffer uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
To learn more about this plugin go 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 Directory Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create an easy-to-manage directory of staff members in your web site.
Images used in this tutorial to display sample 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