Planning to make an employee directory? It’s very helpful for growing user trust. In this article, we’ll see how to create a WordPress staff directory.
Wanted to grow trust in website visitors? Thought a staff directory would help? You’re absolutely right. Offering some human connection is always pleasant.
Plus, a team directory makes it easy to manage & share information about an organization’s employees.
So, how do you create an employee directory site? We’ll show you the easiest way. We’ll do it using a free WordPress directory plugin called Business Directory Plugin. It’s a very popular directory plugin for WordPress.
Business Directory Plugin has an impressive 4.7-star rating and 20K+ active installations on the WordPress plugin repository. It’s an all-in-one directory solution for any kind of listing site.
In this tutorial, we’ll use the free version of Business Directory Plugin. The plugin has a rich set of premium features as well. These can enhance your directory to a whole new level. We’ll discuss them later in this post.
Learn More: The Best WordPress Staff Directory Plugin
Now, without further ado, let’s start to build an employee directory on WordPress.
How to make a WordPress staff directory
WordPress is like a default choice to build any kind of website these days. In this tutorial, we’ll use WordPress as the website platform. For the directory-specific features, we’ll use Business Directory Plugin as mentioned above.
So first off, we need a WordPress website to start the workflow. You may create a new WordPress site from your domain registrar’s control panel. Also, there are many WordPress hosting services that you can use to launch a fresh WordPress site in minutes. Just choose one and launch the site.
Or, if you’ve been planning to create a directory right into your existing WordPress site, that would be even easier.
Either way, once your website is online, we’re ready to start our key procedures. Here we go!
Step 1: Install Business Directory Plugin
Have you used WordPress before? If yes, then this step is a matter of few clicks to you. Just install and activate the free Business Directory Plugin from the WordPress repository.
Are you a new user of WordPress? Don’t worry. We have detailed guides on how to install Business Directory Plugin. It’s so simple.
Once the installation is complete, activate the plugin. Now our system is ready to move forward.
Step 2: Create a directory listing page
We need a page to display the team member list. Business Directory Plugin makes it simple. When you activate the plugin, you’ll get a back-end notification with an option to create the directory listing page.
Click the “Create required pages for me” button. This will create a directory listing page.
Also, you can manually create a WordPress page. Then insert the [businessdirectory] shortcode into that. This page will display your staff directory listing as well.
The plugin has several other shortcodes. You can learn more about Business Directory shortcodes in the docs.
Step 3: Configure the WordPress staff directory plugin
Business Directory Plugin comes with a bunch of self-explanatory settings options. You can access them from your WordPress Dashboard → Directory → Settings. For this tutorial, we’re fine with most of the common settings.
By default, the main directory listing page shows a listing submission button as well. Anyone can click that to submit a listing item. A WordPress staff directory submission form should be accessible to internal users only. So we’re going to hide that button.
To do this, go to Directory → Settings → Listings → Buttons. Uncheck the Show the “Submit listing” button option. Save changes.
Do you want to publish the latest listing items immediately? Then go to Directory → Settings → Listings → General Settings. Choose the “Default new post status” as “Published”. Or maybe not, if you want to review the listing first!
We need to modify another option. The plugin’s default expiration date for a free listing item is 365 days. We will change it to forever.
Visit Directory → Plans → Free Listing. Choose “run listing forever” for the “How long should the listing run?” option. Save changes.
Step 4: Create categories to organize the employee directory
Every organization has several staff departments. This is why our WordPress staff directory should have different categories. It will let the company directory site display the staff in an organized way.
To create and manage directory categories, go to Directory → Directory Categories.
Add/edit/remove the categories you want. Simple!
Step 5: Customize the WordPress staff directory listing item fields
The plugin provides some readymade form fields to use with listing items. These fields are labeled to be business-listing friendly. But we’re listing professionals in this directory site. So we'll change the field labels.
Let’s go to Directory → Manage Form Fields. Then change the field labels. You can use the following examples.
- Change “Listing Title” to “Name”. This will be the individual or single staff profile name.
- Change “Listing Category” to “Department”. It will be the employee’s department.
- Change “Short Description” to “Designation”. This will tell the employee’s role.
- Change “Description” to “Bio”. It will provide some additional information about the employee.
There are other fields as well. You can modify them if you want. But the above ones are good to go for now.
Step 6: Add employee information to the directory
It’s time to add the team members to our directory. You can do it from both the back-end and front-end. To add team members from the back-end, go to Directory → Add New Listing.
The title box will be the Name field. The main text box works as the Bio field. Use the Excerpt field to put the Designation.
You’ll get other fields as well. Choose the department from the category on the sidebar.
Do you want to use the front-end list submission interface? If so, create a new WordPress page. Add the [businessdirectory-submit-listing] shortcode to the page. Publish the page.
You can visit the new listing submission page anytime to add new employee listings. All from the front-end! Plus, you can use our staff list plugin's CSV import feature to add listings in bulk.
And, guess what? Our WordPress staff directory site is now ready. Visitors can click the staff names to view their employee profiles or staff member pages. You can use Google Analytics to see the visitor stats.
If you’ve installed the directory on your business site, then it would use your main WordPress theme’s styling. Business Directory Plugin offers several beautiful directory templates in its premium plans. You can utilize these templates to make your listing items more professional.
More for You: 8 Best Business Directory Templates for WordPress
Do more with Business Directory Plugin premium
Want to take your WordPress employee directory to the next level? Choose a premium plan of Business Directory Plugin. This will add more power to your listing system.
Here are some of the core premium features of the plugin.
- Premium Themes: Take advantage of our stylish directory templates.
- File Uploads: Staff listings can have some attachments like CVs or multimedia files.
- Category Images: Having images for categories will let you present the departments more prominently.
- Advanced Search: Allow visitors to filter listings based on location, name, and more.
- Migration: We offer a dedicated migrator module for the Pro and higher package users. You can use it to migrate your site with listing data and settings.
Now that you know how easy it is to create a WordPress staff directory. Visit our pricing page to see all the features included in the Pro version, Elite version, and Basic version.
Wrapping up
Building a staff directory (or a WordPress user directory) is a smart move for any organization. Our Business Directory Plugin makes it easy to create and manage an employee directory. The plugin is being updated regularly. So you get a future-proof platform for organizing your resources.
Business Directory Plugin premium plans are risk-free. We offer a 14-day full money-back guarantee. No questions asked! Get Business Directory Plugin now and launch your employee directory website today!
Leave a Reply