Tag: Company Directory

Consumer behaviour research shows that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site, then help visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can lead to more trust, increase your online credibility and get interested prospects contacting you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to create and add an easy-to-update simple team members directory in your site using free plugins.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add 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

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you create a simple staff directory for.

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

Log into your WordPress admin and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, 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  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new menu will show up in your WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings screen …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Enter the slug 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 if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in your group description here
5. Click Add New Group when done to create the new directory category …

(Groups area)

If you run a larger organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the staff member’s name
• Slug: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type the staff member’s role here
• Email: Enter the staff member’s email
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your staff member’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your staff or team member here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the person to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you are done entering details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

A field for creating a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

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

(New group)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Using The WordPress Administration Screen

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have correctly configured your site permalinks …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs

Repeat the above process to add new members to your employee or partner directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details into 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 list with all your directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

If you have many employees, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find items if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done 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 that entries show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding all employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your member details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your staff directory items 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 your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with CSS styles and template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful variation you can choose to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])

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 menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your WordPress admin menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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 profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, photo 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 learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just an individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

Staffer 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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more:

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff members to your site with no coding skills required.

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

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