Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees or team members to your website can help to generate greater trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects considering using your services.
In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add a simple faculty members directory in your WordPress site with no coding skills required.
Adding A Staff Directory To WordPress
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List lets you easily display information about your staff on your site.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress admin and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress 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)
Click on the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, a new entry will appear in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start to add new employee details at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring groups is just like adding categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group 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 groups
- Description – Type in the category description here
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new directory group …
(Groups settings)
If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, 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 hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click Update when done …
To change the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button after making changes …
Continue adding categories in this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Modify the slug for your employee if required (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Type in your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type in the person’s Facebook address (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: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
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 link)
A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an individual to the group …
(Groups section)
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 of the tutorial above for details).
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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …
Click View Post …
To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If a page error like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks in WordPress here:
Keep adding new details to your staff directory directory until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details if required …
(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 tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to a desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list)
Once you are done adding employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your staff directory items 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 the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The This code displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in your directory, we 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 staff listings will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as shown below …
(Staff profiles with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage screen …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can add, for example, to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a directory of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
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)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, pic and 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one individual 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 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 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)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Plugin)
This plugin uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage a staff directory on your website …
(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.
More info:
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 Plugin
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.
Images of models used in this tutorial to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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