Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you and your business better.
If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your faculty, or your staff members using a WordPress staff list plugin.
This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to your WordPress site.
Adding A Staff List Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial
In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)
Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you build a simple staff directory list for.
First, let’s install and activate this plugin.
Log into the dashboard and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)
In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This will bring 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 be added to the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.
Configuring The Plugin
Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start adding new employee details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your categories. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups screen …
(Groups settings screen)
Note: Adding directory groups is just like adding categories …
(Groups work like categories)
Create new groups by typing in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
- Description – Enter the category description here
- Click Add New Group when done to create the new group …
(Groups area)
If you are a larger organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, developers, departments, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a directory hierarchy …
(Nested categories)
Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …
To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …
The selected category open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down 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 choose Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding groups to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested groups to your directory)
After you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.
Staff Members – Add New
From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …
(Staff Members Menu – Add New)
The Add New Staff Member section …
(Add New Staff Member settings area)
This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: Add the employee’s name
- Permalink: Edit the slug associated with each staff member if you want (you will see this section after your first save).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo in this section
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your staff member’s role
- Email: Type in the person’s email address
- Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter the employee’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Add 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 a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab …
(Screen options)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)
Now that you know what each section does, enter your staff member’s details …
(Staff directory fields)
Once you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups box)
Note: If you did not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …
(Groups > + Add New Group)
A field for creating a new group name will display, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …
The new directory category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …
(New group added via Groups feature)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. To edit an item, 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 your staff or team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …
Click View Post …
You can modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the 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 get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)
We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:
Continue adding more details to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
After entering staff members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a list with all the directory entries and their details …
(Staff Members list)
If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …
(Editing Staff Members details)
If you have many entries, your table can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries …
(Search Staff Members search field)
The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this screen. To show 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 select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …
(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be reordered …
(Reordered listings)
Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site visitors.
Staff Members – Order
Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which your staff profiles show on your directory page.
Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new position …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your directory will automatically be rearranged …
(Reordered list)
Once you have added all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
Simple Staff List allows you to customize the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your staff directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This opens the Templates page …
(Templates screen)
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 …
(Default Template)
The This code will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)
Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Here is what your staff list should now look like …
(Directory listings with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.
Usage Menu
As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, 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 make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).
Options Menu
Select Staff Members >Options on your main menu …
(Staff Members – Options)
This brings up the Options page …
(Options screen)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …
(Export Staff Members plugin information)
If you need help with this plugin, go to the plugin site.
Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories
Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your employees. For example, here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can look at to create a staff directory on your website:
Modern Team Staff Directory
(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)
The Modern Team Staff Directory 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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, teams, etc.
The plugin lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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.
More info:
Company Directory
(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)
With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.
Visitors can 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 uses simple shortcodes.
For more details, visit the plugin site here:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)
Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.
Employee Spotlight comes with 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 team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)
Go here to learn more about this plugin:
Staffer
(Staffer – WP 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 an employee directory on your site …
(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer 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:
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 Plugin
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Employee Directory WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage simple faculty directory to in WordPress using free plugins.
Images of models used to display staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com
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