Category: WordPress Customization

You have no doubt heard that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If you use WordPress, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress staff list plugin that lets you add a directory containing information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-manage directory of employees to WordPress.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a 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 staff members.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, search for “simple staff plugin”. This brings up the Simple Staff Plugin in your plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will have been added to your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings …

(Groups section)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a category description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …

(Groups settings area)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

To edit or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To change your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose Quick Edit …

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

This section provides an easy-to-use interface for adding your staff member details and includes the following fields:

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Change your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: Add the person’s email address here
• Phone Number: Type in the employee’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up 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 settings)

Once you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for entering your group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to someone’s details. To edit a group entry, 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

To edit your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WP admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WP Admin Panel Explained

Note: If ’not found’ page errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that your site permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

For a detailed tutorial on setting up permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more members to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff or faculty members into 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 list of all the directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to modify an individual’s details, simply hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate items if necessary …

(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 show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that listings appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to a desired position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style 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 main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the allowable template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

For example, here is the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory details will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the screenshot below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with code or are unsure of what to do, 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 listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use.

A useful variation you can add, 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=”sales trainers”])

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin faq page and contact the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out for creating a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

With Staff Directory, you can easily create a directory of staff/team/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for companies, schools, etc.

You can also insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This 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 a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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 on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 an employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Staffer works with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory in your web site.

Images of models used to portray fictitious staff members in this tutorial were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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