Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Something that is often quoted in business and marketing, is that people often tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know your organization better.

Adding a faculty directory to your website can help increase your credibility online and get interested prospects considering using your services.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your website without using code.

Adding An Employee List Directory In WordPress: Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you display information to visitors about your staff members on your site.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your WP admin 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)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups is similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. 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 the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new category …

(Groups settings)

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

Create as many groups 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 change Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected group will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and click on Quick Edit …

Click on Update Group  after making changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating 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 begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can edit the slug for each employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the person’s role
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your company’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: Enter a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

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

(Groups box)

Note: If you did 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 …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field for creating your group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign a person’s listing to the group …

(New group)

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 of the tutorial above for details).

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After typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WP admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WP Control Panel – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

For a detailed tutorial on setting up permalinks, go here:

• 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 entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the employees and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

If you have many employees, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find a member …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box 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 update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory 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 page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your staff 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 your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess around with 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 dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful variation you can add, 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=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need additional information about the plugin, visit the plugin website.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are some other free WordPress plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• 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 includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each employee 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)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

The Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know you and your business better.

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

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