Tag: Company Directory

Consumer behavior studies show that people generally tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

If your site is built using the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your team, or your staff.

This tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff to your web site.

Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you staff.

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

Log into the admin and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will show up in your WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin to add new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. In your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups screen …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring directory groups is similar to working with categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
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 – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in your category description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up a new category …

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Change each 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: Your staff member’s position
• Email: Type in your staff member’s email here
• Phone Number: Type the person’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: Add your staff member’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 employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the 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 employee’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

Once you have finished entering each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you have 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)

A field will display allowing you to create 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 group and click on Add New Group …

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

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee’s details. To edit a group 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Understanding Your WordPress Control Panel

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

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Configure WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more details to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members table)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate a member if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

The plugin also lets you 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 unchecking a box hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you create the style and layout of your staff directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code 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 make these fields show in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you 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 – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin plugin site.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use for creating a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

The plugin also lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, image and member 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 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 a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

Employee Spotlight includes 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

Staffer 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 sourced from plugin website)

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain simple faculty directory to your site using a free plugin.

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

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