You have no doubt heard that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for ideas to sell more products online or get people to engage more on your site? Then something you can do, is help prospects get to know your business better.
If you have a WordPress-powered site, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that lets you display information about your partners, your faculty, or your employees.
In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of employees or team members in your site using a free plugin.
Contents
How To Add An Employee List Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial
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 WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you display information to visitors about your employee on your website.
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into the dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will show up in your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new employee details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
The Groups settings panel …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your category name here
- Slug – Type in the slug 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 category description in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create a new group …
(Groups area)
If you manage a larger organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings screen in your browser …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This screen provides you with 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 each staff members’ 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: The employee’s position
- Email: Your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in the person’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 a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
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 New Staff Member fields)
After you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …
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 – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
For a detailed tutorial about setting up WP permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your staff or team directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change individual entries, hover over their list name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items if required …
(Search members)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are listed 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 lets you set the order that your staff entries show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your employees display on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to a new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)
This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export section …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are other 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)
Go here to learn more:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 plugin website)
This plugin uses simple shortcodes.
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and 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 source: Employee Spotlight website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
This plugin 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 online 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.
Go here to learn more:
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
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-manage directory of staff members to your site.
Models used to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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