Tag: Company Directory

Something that is generally well known in marketing, is that people generally buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you and your business better.

If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display a directory containing information about your key people, your team, or your staff members.

This tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your site.

Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the 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)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will display on the main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin adding new staff member details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Adding groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add new groups by typing in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a larger organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for an entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Type in the employee’s email address here
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address (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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

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

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

After you are done inputting your staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field for creating a group name will appear, with a dropdown menu that lets you 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 category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your employee’s details to the group …

(Groups section)

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• Understanding The WP Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding new members to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to edit individual entries, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown 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 your employees display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employees show on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all staff details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory entries 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 WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To display these fields, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, 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 your directory listings 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 assistance.

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 menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use with this plugin.

For example, a useful 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])

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

Options Menu

In the dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Options settings)

This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export menu …

(Export Staff Members information)

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

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display an employee directory in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out for adding a staff directory on your website:

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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides 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 the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, photo and bio, allowing you to present 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: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory 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 onsite staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple faculty members directory to your website using free WordPress plugins.

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

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