Consumer behavior studies show that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products online and increase user interaction with your site? Then help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.
Adding a faculty member directory to your website can help boost your credibility online and get more prospects buying from your site.
This tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-update staff directory to your web site.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the plugin.
Log into your admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(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 the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new entry will show up in your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start to add new entries at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings panel …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups are like WordPress categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Type in 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 section to set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter your group description here (optional)
- Click Add New Group when done to create the new group …
(Groups screen)
If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, project teams, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To change or reassign Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select the Quick Edit menu feature …
Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your directory)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member settings)
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: Type the employee’s name
- Permalink: Change the slug for your employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: Add your employee’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can assign an employee or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).
If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group)
A field for entering a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …
Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign the list item to the group …
(Groups feature)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To modify the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If you have set up groups and get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:
Keep adding new entries to your employee or team directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your staff profiles and details you have added with each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to make changes to individual entries, just hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you need to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
If you have many names to add, your table can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries if necessary …
(Search members)
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 …
(Screen Options)
Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to update your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that your employee profiles show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list items)
Once you have added staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your employees show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding your member details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your staff list listings 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 menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens 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, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Plugin Template)
The This code displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Plugin Staff Loop 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 …
(Use template tags to customize your directory page)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs added)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.
In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Usage Shortcode section)
This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.
A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, 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=”sales managers”])
Or, you can display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
You can also export your staff members data by going to your dashboard menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List website and request help from the plugin developer.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory)
This 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)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
Staff Directory lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.
The plugin also lets you use custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
More info:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.
The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone, 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 staff member 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.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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 go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
Staffer 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 site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
If the above plugins 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 List
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site without touching code, so your web visitors can get to know your company better.
Images of models used to depict sample staff members 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