Business experts have successfully proven over time that people generally buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for ideas to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know your organization better.
Adding a faculty directory to your website can generate greater trust, boost your credibility online and get interested prospects getting in touch with you.
This tutorial will show you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff members in your web site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily display basic information about your employee on your site.
The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your admin and from the admin menu, choose 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 plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress 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 on your WordPress menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups section …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as configuring categories …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Type in the group description (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new directory category …
(Groups section)
If you run a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, 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 build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …
To change or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
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 the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
Once you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings screen opens up …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This page provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your employee’s name
- Permalink: Modify the permalink URL associated with each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Type in the person’s position
- Email: Type in your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Enter your employee’s phone number here
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username into this field (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign your employee to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
Once you are done inputting details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group feature)
A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a staff member to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If an error shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, go here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list of all your directory entries and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details list)
If you need to edit individual entries, simply hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
If you have many employees, your list can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search feature)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that listings display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered list items)
Once you are done adding member details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that your employee listings display on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)
Your employee details will now display as shown in the example below …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, select 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 allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Choose Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings)
Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List website and request help from the plugin developer.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a staff directory in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at to create a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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)
Learn more here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
This 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 a profile in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.
Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer 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 employee directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more about the plugin here:
If the directory plugins listed above 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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple faculty directory in your website using free plugins.
Images of persons used to portray sample staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I am beyond impressed with what you have put together. I can tell that you put a ton of hard work into building what you have. You have the absolute best content on WordPress I have ever seen!" - Robert T. Jillie