Tag: Company Directory

It’s often said in marketing circles that people will mostly buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff or faculty members to your site is a great way to humanize your business.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to add an easy-to-update simple employee directory to your website without touching code.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily create a basic staff directory list for.

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

Log into your dashboard and go to 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  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear on the 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.

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings area …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Setting up groups is just like configuring categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. 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.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in your group description
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create a new group name …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member section)

This page 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: Type your employee’s name
• Permalink: You can modify your employees’ slug (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: The staff member’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address (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 in a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the person to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, 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 …

Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an employee’s details to the group …

(New group added via Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to someone’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the staff member’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• The WordPress Admin Panel Explained

Note: If you get ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site permalinks correctly …

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

If you need help setting up permalinks, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or faculty members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all your directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee 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 box to find items if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new location …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the style and layout of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the layout and style of your directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List 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 add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

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

Your employee entries will now display as as the example below shows …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of staff or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site and contact the plugin author.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other plugins you can use for adding a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders 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.

The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

This plugin 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 website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff in your web site.

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

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