Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

No doubt you already know that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for ways to sell more products online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

If your website uses the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to use a staff list plugin that will let you add a directory listing with information about your key partners, your team, or your staff members.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-manage directory of staff to WordPress.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

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

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

Log into the admin and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will be added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Plugin Configuration

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Type in a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to create your new directory category …

(Groups screen)

If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

To change your Group name or slug, hover 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 …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit each employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(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 …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have finished entering details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on Add New Group …

A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign the person’s entry to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After filling in your staff or faculty member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• An Overview Of The WordPress Control Area

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

Keep adding new details to your directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table with all your listing entries and all details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit if you want to modify the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete an entry from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member if necessary …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your staff members appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you customize the style and layout of your staff list items 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 the menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

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

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can select, 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=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

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

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

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

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin also lets you use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and table views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 source: Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on 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 in 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 sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …

(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 – WordPress Staff Directory 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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff or team member directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your business better.

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

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