Tag: Simple Staff List Template

No doubt you’ve already heard that people generally tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to grow your business online or increase user interaction with your site, then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding an employee directory to your site can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects to contact you.

In this tutorial, we explain how to create and add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to WordPress using a free WP plugin.

Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you display basic information to visitors about your staff on your website.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should 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 your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will have been added to your main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start to add new staff entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups section …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version 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 to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new directory category …

(Groups settings area)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, 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 build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

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

Your selected item’s details will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings area in your browser …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Slug: You can edit each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the employee’s role
• Email: Enter the employee’s email here
• Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the employee’s Twitter username into this field (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 team member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you have finished entering your staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

A new category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your employee’s details to the group …

(Groups feature)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To update the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar here:

• Your WordPress Dashboard Explained

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

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

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

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Keep adding new details to your staff or member directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit if you want 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 remove someone from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile details)

If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.

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

(Search members)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its new location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding members’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to 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 menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export section …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin website and contact the plugin author.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are some other plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your site:

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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 profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone, photo and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one individual 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, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each employee 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 – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress 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 a staff directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your website without touching code.

Images of persons used to depict staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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