Tag: Company Directory

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

If you are looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

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

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members to your web site using free WP plugins.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you employee.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your administration and from the admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will be added to your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Plugin Configuration

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

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your directory groups. From your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add 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 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 categories
4. Description – Type in your group description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new category …

(Groups area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To change Groups for a particular item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

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

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This takes you to 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: Add the employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can change the slug associated with each staff member if you want (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the person’s position here
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook address here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter 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 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: You can assign the individual to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

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

(Groups section)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field for creating your new group name will display, 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 …

A new directory category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group added)

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 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 modify your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• The WordPress Administration Screen Explained

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Setting Up WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you have finished adding staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your employees and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to edit an individual’s details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu 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 delete a list item from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its new position …

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which entries show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default 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 add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template loop, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(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 styles and template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

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

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, 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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List website.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your team members. Here are some other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

The plugin lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site 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, school or university.

The plugin also includes 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

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email address, phone number, pic and staff 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 read 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.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

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 a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works 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
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

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

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

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