Tag: Company Directory

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people often tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help visitors get to know you and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can generate more trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to contact you.

In this tutorial, we explain how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of employees in WordPress using a free WordPress plugin.

Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily display information about your employee on your website.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the administration and in your admin menu, 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 …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

All of the options and settings 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 directory, you could just start to add new staff entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

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

(Groups work just like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group. 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 groups
4. Description – Enter your category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory group …

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating new items …

To edit Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Continue adding group names in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can edit the permalink URL for your staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The employee’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email
• Phone Number: Add your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the employee’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 format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a 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 will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

After you are done entering each of you staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group feature)

A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

A new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group added in Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

You can update your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Dashboard – An Overview

Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …

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

To learn more about setting up permalinks, see this tutorial:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more details to your staff or member directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list with all your directory entries and any details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

If you have many individual listings added to this section, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your staff details display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create the layout and style of your staff 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 your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your staff listings will now display as shown in the screenshot below …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.

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 admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can decide to use to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – 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 screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin support page and contact the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are other plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

This plugin lets you easily create a directory of team/staff/faculty members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, teams, etc.

This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: Staff Directory website)

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide 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.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and member 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 uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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.

The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory 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 onsite employee directory …

(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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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