It’s often said in business circles that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.
Are you searching for ideas to sell more products online and get people to engage more with your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know you and your organization better.
Adding a directory of employees to your site can generate greater trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects getting in touch with you.
In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add a simple faculty members directory in WordPress with no coding skills required.
WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory
In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.
Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin
(Simple Staff List)
Simple Staff List is free and lets you employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).
The first step is to install and activate the plugin.
Log into the WP admin and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …
(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 …
(WordPress Plugins – plugin search results)
Click on Activate Plugin …
(Activate plugin)
After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …
(Staff Members menu)
All of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from this menu.
Plugin Configuration
Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.
Staff Members – Groups
Let’s set up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …
(Staff Members – Groups)
The Groups section opens up …
(Groups settings area)
Note: Configuring directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …
(Groups work just like WordPress categories)
Create new groups by entering the following information:
- Group Name – Type in your category name
- Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
- Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
- Description – Enter a group description in this field
- Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group …
(Groups settings)
If you run a larger organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.
Create as many groups and nested categories as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …
(Nested groups)
Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …
To edit or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …
The selected category will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …
(Edit Group screen)
Click Update to save your changes …
To edit your Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …
Click the Update Group button when done …
Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …
Add as many nested groups as you like …
(Add nested categories your staff directory)
Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start 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 section …
(Add New Staff Member area)
This screen provides you with an easy-to-use interface for adding and editing your staff member details and includes the following fields:
Name Section (1)
- Name: The employee’s name
- Slug: Here you can edit the permalink URL for each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).
Staff Photo Section (2)
- Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member
Staff Member Info Section (3)
- Position: Your employee’s position
- Email: Enter the person’s email here
- Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
- Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
- Twitter URL: Type in your company’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. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.
Groups Section (5)
- Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).
Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …
(Screen options tab)
You can enable additional page settings …
(Enable additional fields in screen options)
Now that you know what each section does, enter each employee’s details …
(Add Staff Member settings)
After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …
(Groups section)
Note: If you have not set up 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 creating your new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …
The new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …
(Groups box)
Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).
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After filling in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …
Click View Post …
You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …
(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)
For a detailed tutorial about using the WP admin toolbar , go here:
Note: If you see ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been set up correctly …
(Page error? Check your permalinks)
If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:
Continue adding new details to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.
Staff Members – All Staff Members
Once you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main admin menu …
(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)
This brings up a table listing all your employees and any details you have added for each entry …
(Staff Members table)
If you need to change individual entries, hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.
Click on Edit if you want to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …
(Editing Staff Members profile details)
Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.
Use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member if required …
(Search members)
You can specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …
(Screen Options)
Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your screen options …
Staff Members – Order
The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …
(Staff Members – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …
(Reorder listings using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …
(Reordered listings)
After adding your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.
Staff Members – Order
The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries display on your directory pages.
Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …
(Staff Members Menu – Order)
To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …
(Rearrange items using drag and drop)
Your staff list will be automatically reordered …
(Reordered list items)
After adding your member details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.
Simple Staff List – Additional Notes
The plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Templates Menu
To customize the style and layout of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your WordPress admin menu …
(Staff Members – Templates)
This brings up the Templates page …
(Customize your directory template)
To customize your directory, insert any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.
For example, here is the default template used for displaying directory listings …
(Default Staff Loop Template)
The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …
(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)
Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields show in your directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …
(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)
Your directory profiles will now display as as the example below shows …
(Staff profiles with social media links added)
Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.
Usage Menu
As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.
In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …
(Staff Members Menu – Usage)
This brings up the Usage page …
(Usage shortcodes)
This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.
For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to your page to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])
Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by using the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).
Options Menu
In your main menu, select Staff Members >Options …
(Staff Members – Options)
This opens the Options screen …
(Options settings)
Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin
Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …
(Export Staff Members information)
If you need plugin support, go to the plugin support page.
Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress
Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are some other plugins you can use:
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)
For more details go here:
Staff Directory
(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)
This plugin lets you easily display a list of team/faculty/staff members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.
This plugin also lets you create custom fields …
(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Learn more about the plugin here:
Faculty And Staff Directory
(Faculty And Staff Directory)
Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.
For more details go here:
Company Directory
(Company Directory)
Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, image 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 read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …
(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.
Go here to learn more:
Employee Spotlight
(Employee Spotlight)
Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders 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.
The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.
Detailed information about each employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …
(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)
Go here to learn more about the plugin:
Staffer
(Staffer)
This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an onsite 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.
Go here to learn more:
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
- Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
- Simple Staff List Template WordPress
- etc.
Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update staff directory to your WordPress site.
Models used to display sample 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)