Tag: Company Directory

Business experts often raise the point that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online, then help visitors get to know you and your business better.

If your site uses WordPress, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that lets you add a directory listing with information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a simple faculty members directory in your site using free plugins.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee 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 – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start to add new staff members after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups area …

(Groups section)

Note: Adding groups works just like categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your 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 groups
4. Description – Enter your category description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a larger organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group after making changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook address (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: Add a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

Once you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

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

The new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added via Groups feature)

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Administration Panel Explained

Note: If you get a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that you have set up your permalinks correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, see this tutorial:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs

Keep adding new entries to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding staff members to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to edit individual details, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to edit their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like 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 clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

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

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose 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 set the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that your staff entries show on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding staff details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you create the layout and style of your employee directory items 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 your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Templates page)

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

For example, here is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Your directory profiles will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, 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=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(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 section …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory 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 go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, image and 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team 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.

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

This plugin 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

More info:

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-maintain employee directory to your website.

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

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