Tag: Company Directory

No doubt you’ve already heard that people will mostly buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then help your visitors get to know your business better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can lead to greater trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to get in touch with you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily add a list directory of staff members to WordPress without coding skills.

How To Add A Staff Directory To WordPress

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 a free plugin that lets you easily staff.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

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

(WordPress 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  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu entry will display on the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for this plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin adding new employee details 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 groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups section …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as adding categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the group description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new directory category …

(Groups screen)

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

Create as many groups 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 categories)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

Continue adding groups to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can edit each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a specific 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)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

Once you have finished entering details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will appear allowing you to enter 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 group and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• How To Navigate Around Your WordPress Administration Panel

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the example below, check that your permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get an error)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using WordPress permalinks here:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new entries to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the employees and the details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to change individual details, hover over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items if required …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee profiles display on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to its desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which your employees appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your staff directory entries 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 – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, insert 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 Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To display these fields, 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 the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need help with this plugin, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your faculty. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin also lets you use custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

Company Directory lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic and 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 plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

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

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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain simple faculty members directory to your site with no coding skills required.

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

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