Tag: Company Directory

No doubt you’ve already heard that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know your business better.

Adding a directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get more prospects contacting you.

This tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to your website.

Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily build a basic staff directory for.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your admin and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(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  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from 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 could begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups panel …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like 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 group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

Your selected group open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down 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 the Update Group button when done …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Change the slug for your employee if you want (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 position
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add your company’s Twitter username into this field (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 employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(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 of your staff member’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

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. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

The new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the person’s listing to the group …

(New group)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

***

After entering your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• The WordPress Dashboard – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your directory entries and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to their 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 directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find entries if required …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which your employee profiles display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you create the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields display in your directory, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template loop, as shown in the example below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

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, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

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

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

This section lets you change 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 plugin info)

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

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. For example, here are other free plugins you can check out:

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

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

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are included, including list 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 read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just one individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staffer 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 a staff directory on your site …

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

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WordPress 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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

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

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

***