Tag: Company Directory

Something often said in marketing, is that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online and increase user interaction on your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you use WordPress, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your staff using a WordPress directory plugin.

This tutorial shows you how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees to WordPress.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your employee on your website.

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

Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

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 main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the options and settings for your 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 adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding groups is just like configuring WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you run a business that employs many people, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, departments, 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

To edit your Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and select 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 categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can change each employees’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

If you 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 your employee’s details …

(Add Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

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

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

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. 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 typing in your employee or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To update the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• Using The WP Admin Page

Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your site’s permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the staff members and all details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit if you want to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate entries …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that entries show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired position …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory listings 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 not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing 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 …

(Usage shortcodes)

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

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

You can also make your listings display in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – 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 menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

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

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

More info:

• 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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, image 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 staff member 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.

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff 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.

Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus 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 plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

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 onsite staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works immediately 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

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know you and the people in your organization better.

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

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