Consumer behavior research shows that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site, then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding a faculty directory to your site can generate increased trust, boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to consider using your services.
This tutorial shows you how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff to WordPress.
Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory
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)
Simple Staff List lets you easily staff.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into the WordPress administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will have been added to the main WP menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could begin adding new staff entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups section)
Note: Setting up groups is just like setting up categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Enter 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 the category description here
- Click Add New Group when done to create your new group …
(Groups settings area)
If you manage a medium to large organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
The category will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down 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 select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Continue adding groups to 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 hierarchical structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member settings area …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
This section provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can change your staff members’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: The staff member’s position
- Email: The employee’s email
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number into this field
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type 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: Add a profile description for your employee here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
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 staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up your directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for creating your new group name will display, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …
Your new directory category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing someone’s details. 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 typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To modify your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)
If you need help setting up WP permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Continue adding new entries to your staff directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have added staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Edit Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if required …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …
(Staff Members Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your staff members show on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its desired position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your employees appear on your directory pages.
Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to a desired position …
(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin lets you customize the layout and style of your staff 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 the main admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, reorganize 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 The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page will now look like …
(Directory with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.
A useful variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
This section lets you modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are some other free plugins you can look at:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
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)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
The Staff Directory plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.
The plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)
To learn more about this plugin go here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, image and member 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 staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each employee 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)
Go here to learn more:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
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 a staff directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Staffer works immediately 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, just go online or visit the WordPress plugin directory and search for:
- Add Staff Directory To WordPress
- WordPress Staff Directory Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create an easy-to-manage directory of staff members in your website.
Images used to display staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"I was absolutely amazed at the scope and breadth of these tutorials! The most in-depth training I have ever received on any subject!" - Myke O'Neill, DailyGreenPost.com