Tag: Company Directory

Business experts often raise the point that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for ideas to grow your business online, then help prospects get to know your organization better.

If your site uses the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that lets you display a directory containing information about your partners, your business team, or your staff members.

In this tutorial, we show you how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees or faculty members to your website without coding skills.

Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

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

Log into the WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will manage and configure all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start to add new staff entries at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups area)

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

(Groups work just like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new group name …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a larger organization, being able to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The selected group will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done 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 …

(Nested categories)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Change the permalink URL associated with your employee if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter your staff member’s position
• Email: Add the staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the person’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 employee here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

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

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you have finished inputting details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an individual’s details. To edit a group entry, 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 edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

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

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks, go here:

• Setting Up WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new members to your directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find entries …

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields to display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(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 shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which entries show on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to a desired location …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your staff list 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 the main menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates page)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List 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] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory profiles will now display as as shown below …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with code or are not sure 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 allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of staff members belonging only to 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=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings)

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

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin author.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your employees. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

Modern Team Staff Directory 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 go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin also lets you add custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single 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 which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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 website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add an easy-to-update staff directory to WordPress.

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

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