Tag: Company Directory

Something often said in business and marketing circles, is that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your website can help to generate greater trust, increase your credibility online and get interested prospects to get in touch with you.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add an easy-to-maintain simple staff directory to your site using free WordPress plugins.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you staff members.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the administration and from the admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu entry will show up in the main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory groups. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This opens up the Groups area …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. 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.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click Add New Group when done to create a new directory group …

(Groups area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To change Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown 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 select the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

Add as many categories as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

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 WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member area in your browser …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can change your employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the person’s role
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: The 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 company’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employees here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual to a 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)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

Now that you know what each section does, enter each of your employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups box)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can modify the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:

• Your WordPress Administration Area – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new members to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item 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 information)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields can display in this section. To show 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 choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that your staff profiles display on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to a new position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your employee directory listings 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 the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Your staff listings will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess 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 main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can choose, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings)

This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin plugin website.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to build a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can check out to add an employee directory on your site:

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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone, photo and member 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 learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a single member of your team in a four-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 that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin 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 about the plugin:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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 Directory Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members to your WordPress site.

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

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