Tag: Simple Staff List Template

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

Are you looking for simple ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your site can generate greater trust, boost your credibility online and get interested prospects to consider using your services.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create an easy-to-update directory of employees in your WordPress site.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff 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 – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you staff members.

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

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

(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 Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups panel …

(Groups screen)

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

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a business that employs many people, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you need 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 item …

To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected group details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your employee’s name
• Permalink: Edit your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have entered your staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown 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: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee or faculty member’s details. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• How To Navigate Around Your WP Dashboard

Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using WP permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table of all the staff members and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a list item from your directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to find member details if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update 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.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your employee listings show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(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, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can add, for example, 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=”senior staff”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for displaying a directory of your staff in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can use to add a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, 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 Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders 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.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff 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 source: Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above aren’t what you’re looking for, search the WordPress plugin directory or go online and search for:

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-maintain simple team members directory to your web site using free WP plugins.

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

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