Consumer behaviour research shows that people generally will buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
Adding a faculty member directory to your site can help let visitors learn more about the team working behind your business.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff to your web site.
Adding An Employee Directory In WordPress
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into your WordPress administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.
Click on the Install Now button …
(Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will show up in your main WP admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could start to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s configure your categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings …
(Groups settings)
Note: Configuring directory groups is similar to creating categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group name
- Slug – Type in the slug of your group category 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 categories
- Description – Type in your group description (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new group …
(Groups screen)
If you are a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …
To edit Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …
Your selected item open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button to save your changes …
To change your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group to save your changes …
Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested categories as you like …
(Add nested groups to your staff directory)
Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can modify the slug associated with your staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo here
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Your employee’s email
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’s Twitter username (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. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign the individual to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options tab)
You will see options to enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups - + Add New Group link)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
A new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your employee’s details to the group …
(New group)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing a staff member’s details. 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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks, refer to this tutorial:
Keep adding more entries to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you have finished entering staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your directory items and details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members details table)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Edit Staff Members details)
If you have added many items to this section, your list can grow quite large.
You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if necessary …
(Search Staff Members search field)
You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options tab)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which entries display on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
Once you have added staff details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the main menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates screen …
(Templates page)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The This code displays your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields appear in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your listings page should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.
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 WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.
A useful shortcode 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=”partners”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This opens the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the main admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …
(Export Staff Members info)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page.
Other Staff Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a faculty directory in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use for adding a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Modern Team Staff Directory 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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
The plugin also lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more:
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 includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.
Learn more here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 plugin website)
Learn more about this plugin here:
Staffer
(Staffer)
The Staffer 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 an online staff directory …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)
Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
Learn more 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 List
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update simple faculty directory to your site without touching code.
Images used to portray fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"Wow! I never knew there's so much to learn about WordPress! I bought one of the WordPress for Dummies three years ago, such authors need to be on this course!" - Rich Law, Create A Blog Now