Business experts have successfully shown over the years that people will mostly buy from those they already know, like and trust.
Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.
If your website runs on the WordPress CMS, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you add a directory containing information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an updatable simple faculty members directory to your site without touching code.
Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site: Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List lets you display basic information about your staff on your site.
The first step is to install and activate this plugin.
Log into your WordPress dashboard and in your admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …
(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)
Activate the plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will have been added to the main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.
Staff Members – Groups
To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
This brings you to the Groups settings screen …
(Groups settings)
Note: Setting up directory groups is just like adding WordPress categories …
(Groups work like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your group category 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 in this field (optional)
- Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new directory group …
(Groups settings area)
If you run a medium to large organization, being able to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, faculties, etc.
Create as many categories and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To edit Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The item will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group settings)
Click the Update button when done …
To edit the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and select Quick Edit …
Click on Update Group after making changes …
Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested categories as you like …
(Nested categories)
After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
In your WP admin menu, click on 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 area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member profile and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Your staff member’s name
- Permalink: You can change the permalink URL for your staff member if required (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: Type in your employee’s position
- Email: The staff member’s email
- Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add the employee’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)
Staff Member Bio Section (4)
- Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: You can 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 can enable additional features …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have finished entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Add a new group inside your Groups box)
A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …
A new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign an employee’s details to the group …
(Groups box)
Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing 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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
To make changes to the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)
We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:
Note: If you have set up groups and get errors like the one shown 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, go here:
Repeat the above process to add new details to your employee directory directory.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After you have added employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …
(Staff Members – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all the directory entries and any details you have added related to each entry …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the 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 …
(Editing Staff Members profile)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.
You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate listing items …
(Search Staff Members search box)
The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this screen. 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 select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that your employees display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered list entries)
Once you are done adding member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee listings show on your directory page.
Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the desired position …
(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)
Your list will be automatically rearranged …
(Reordered list)
After adding your employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you edit the layout and style of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the layout and style of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …
(Default Template)
The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show up in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …
(Use template tags to customize your listings page)
Your employee details will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media URLs)
Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members – Usage)
This opens the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)
This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.
A useful shortcode variation you can insert in 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members Menu – Options)
This brings up the Options screen …
(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)
Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles
You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List plugin website.
Other Employee Directory Plugins
Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your faculty. Here are a few other plugins you can use:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
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)
To learn more about the plugin go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
With the Staff Directory plugin, you can easily create a directory of faculty/staff/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
You can also set up custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, photo and 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 employee in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)
This plugin also uses shortcodes.
More info:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)
Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.
Detailed information about each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)
More info:
Staffer
(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory 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 an online employee directory …
(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.
For more details go here:
If the above plugins 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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know you and the people in your organization better.
Images of models used in this tutorial to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum