Tag: Simple Staff List Template

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people will mostly buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory to your site can help boost your credibility online and get more prospects buying from your site.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members to your WordPress site.

Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site: Plugin Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WordPress dashboard and go 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 the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will show up in your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring Simple Staff List

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups work just like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups area)

If you work with a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

Your selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down 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 choose Quick Edit …

Click Update Group to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Edit each employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Type the staff member’s phone number here
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add your 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: Type a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down 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 …

Your new category will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• Your WP Admin Area – An Overview

Note: If you get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, 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 in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order in which listings appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the item to its desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.

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

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings screen)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin faq page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are some other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory website)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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 a profile in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, pic 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one single 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 which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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 plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer plugin 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 online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WordPress Plugin

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
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site without touching code, so your site visitors can get to know you and your business better.

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

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