Tag: Company Directory

No doubt you already know that people will buy from people they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cheaper ways to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your website can help increase your online credibility and get interested prospects buying from you.

In this tutorial, we show you how to add a simple and easy-to-update list of employees to your web site using free WP plugins.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

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

Log into your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will appear on your main WP menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the 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 business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new staff entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups panel …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding directory groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in the group description
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create your new directory category …

(Groups section)

If you manage a medium to large organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: You can change your staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: Enter your staff member’s email address into this field
• Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the staff member’s Twitter username (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 employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your employee to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting 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 groups before adding new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

Your new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a list item to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to someone’s details. 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Control Panel – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: If you see ’not found’ page errors like the one shown below, check that you have correctly configured your permalinks …

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff or team members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

If you need to edit individual entries, simply hover over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from the 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 table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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 tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code will display your directory listing as 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 add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, 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 staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin faq page and request help from the plugin author.

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are some other free plugins you can check out to add an employee 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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you use custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

This plugin includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

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: plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• 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 List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your web site.

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

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