You have no doubt heard that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.
If your website uses the WordPress CMS platform, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your team, or your employees using a WordPress directory plugin.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to add an easy-to-manage simple faculty members directory to your website using free WP plugins.
Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).
First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.
Log into the WordPress admin and go to Plugins > Add New …
(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins area, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring up the Simple Staff Plugin in your search results area.
Click on the Install Now button …
(WordPress Plugins – Add Plugins screen)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new entry will be added to the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Configuring Simple Staff List
Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin adding new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.
Staff Members – Groups
To configure your directory categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This opens up the Groups section in your browser …
(Groups screen)
Note: Setting up directory groups works just like WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Add a new group by typing in the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category name
- Slug – Enter the slug of your category. 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 category description here (optional)
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new group …
(Groups settings area)
If you run a business that employs many people, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …
Your selected group will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group 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 choose Quick Edit …
Click Update Group after making changes …
Continue adding groups to this section until you have created your directory structure …
You can add as many nested groups as you like …
(Nested groups)
Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to 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)
This loads the Add New Staff Member settings screen …
(Add New Staff Member screen)
This page provides an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member information and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Enter your staff member’s name
- Slug: Here you can edit the slug associated with your staff member if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Add a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Add the person’s role
- Email: Type the person’s email address
- Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Add the employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your employee’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 member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: Assign your staff 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 …
(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 …
(Staff directory settings)
Once you are done inputting each staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …
(Groups feature)
Note: If you have not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field for entering a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …
Your new directory category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(New group added)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).
***
After typing in your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …
Click View Post …
You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
If you need help using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using WordPress permalinks here:
Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff or team directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering employee or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table displaying all the directory items and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s entry, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …
(Edit Staff Members profile info)
If you have many names to add, your table can grow quite large.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To hide 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 listed per page. Click the Apply button 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 specify the order that your staff members show on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your staff details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings display on your directory page.
Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To reorder your entries, click and drag the entry to its new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)
Your employee profiles will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as shown in the example below …
(Directory listings with social media links)
Note: If you want to customize your directory 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 help.
Usage Menu
In addition to allowing you to customize your directory 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 Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage screen …
(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful variation you can select, 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=”Gold Level associates”])
You can also display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Simple Staff List – customizable options)
This section lets you modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title
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, go to the Simple Staff List plugin site and request help from the plugin author.
Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can use for adding a directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory 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)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory)
With Staff Directory, you can easily display a list of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also add custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)
Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.
The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.
Go here to learn more:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone number, image and staff 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners 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.
With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Staffer plugin 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 sourced from Staffer plugin website)
Staffer works with many popular WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.
For more details go 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
- WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
- Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff members to your website with no coding skills required.
Images of models used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
***
"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