Consumer behaviour studies show that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
If you are searching for simple ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.
Adding a directory of staff to your website can generate increased trust, increase your online credibility and get interested prospects to contact you.
This tutorial will show you how to create a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory in your site.
Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your WordPress Site
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you staff (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(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 …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will show up in the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can start adding new entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your directory categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups screen …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up groups is very similar to working with categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Enter your group name here
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group. 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 – Type in a group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to create your new directory category …
(Groups settings area)
If you are a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group 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 organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group 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 …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: You can modify each staff members’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type the person’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username here (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 WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see above 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 tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field for entering your group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added via Groups section)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to your employee’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get an error)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:
Keep adding new details to your directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
If you have many names to add, your list can become unwieldy.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate a member if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The 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 rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which entries show on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to a desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you edit the style and layout of your 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 your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the Default Template …
(Default Staff Loop 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 display in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your directory details will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of 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 lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
A useful variation you can insert in 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=”senior staff”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – Options screen)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin plugin site.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your team members. Here are a few other plugins you can check out:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/team/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone number, pic and staff 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each staff 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 – Plugin For WordPress)
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 online employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members to WordPress.
Images of persons used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)