Tag: Simple Staff List Template

It’s often said in business and marketing circles that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

If your site uses the WordPress CMS platform, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress staff list plugin that will let you display a directory containing information about your key partners, your team, or your staff.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to add an easy-to-update directory of staff members in your site using a free plugin.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you staff members.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

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

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu entry will display on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just begin adding new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups panel …

(Groups screen)

Note: Adding groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category name. 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 a category description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new group …

(Groups settings area)

If you run a larger organization, having the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for investors, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

The item will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you have finished setting up your groups, you can start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Slug: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in your employee’s position
• Email: Type the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Enter the person’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the person’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 format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the individual to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person to the group …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Admin Screen Explained

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Keep adding more members to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all your staff members and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from the employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search field to locate a member if necessary …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your employees display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added members’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to create the style and layout of your directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your WordPress admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin support page.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your staff. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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 Company Directory, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, pic and bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one single member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staffer

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

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

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

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