Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.
If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.
If your online business is powered by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that lets you add information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.
This tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-update employee directory to your WordPress site.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily display information about your employee on your site.
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WP dashboard and from the admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on Install Now …
(Plugins – plugin search results)
Click the Activate Plugin link …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will have been added to your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.
Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new staff member details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff members into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s start by configuring your groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members Menu – Groups)
This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …
(Groups section)
Note: Configuring directory groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like categories)
Add new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group category 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 categories
- Description – Type in a group description in this field
- Click Add New Group when done to set up a new category …
(Groups settings)
If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups 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 on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To change Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
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 on Update Group when done …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested groups)
After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WP admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member area …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s role
- Email: Your staff member’s email
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Enter your company’s Twitter username (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. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign the person 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 …
(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 your staff member’s details …
(Add New Staff Member fields)
Once you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now 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 to 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 …
Your new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)
We have created a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:
Note: If ’page not found’ errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …
(Not found error? Check your permalinks)
To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, see this tutorial:
Keep adding more members to your directory directory as described above.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you are done adding staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table of all the listing entries and the details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to make changes to individual details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking 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 field to locate member details if necessary …
(Search members)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your employees show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its new location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your member listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your employee listings show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your list will automatically be reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding all staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to customize the style and layout of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, reorganize any of the allowed template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the Default Template …
(Default Simple Staff List Template)
The above code displays the listing shown below …
(Default Plugin Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to add 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 listings page)
Your employee listings will now display as shown in the screenshot below …
(Directory with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
In addition to 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, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)
This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members plugin info)
If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at:
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)
More info:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
Staff Directory lets you easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
You can also insert custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)
Learn more 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, visit the plugin site here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, photo 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
For more details go here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight includes 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 plugin website)
For more details go here:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)
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 a staff directory on your website …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin 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.
Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple faculty directory to your WordPress site without coding skills.
Images of persons used to portray staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)