Tag: Simple Staff List Template

Many business experts often raise the point that people generally buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your website will help let visitors learn more about the team working behind the scenes in your organization.

This tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees to your WordPress site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will appear in your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups screen …

(Groups area)

Note: Adding directory groups works in the same way as adding categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

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

(Groups settings area)

If you are a medium to large organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit Groups for an item, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Here you can modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the person’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 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: Type a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section 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 tab)

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

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups box)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

A new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a person’s details. To edit a group entry, 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 staff directory …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Understanding Your WordPress Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding more entries to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have entered all staff members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list with all your employees and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to edit an individual’s entry, simply hover over their name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

If you have many employees, your list can get quite long.

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

(Search Staff Members search field)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that your staff details show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your member details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

To customize your directory listings, insert any of the allowed 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 Template)

The This code will display 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 show up in the directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Your employee entries will now appear with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can choose, 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin website and request help from the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are other plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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)

Learn more here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

The plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staff Directory

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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single person 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, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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 Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

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 employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer

If the above plugins 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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your team better.

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

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