Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your site can generate more trust, increase your online credibility and get more prospects to contact you.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-maintain staff directory to your web site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

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

(WordPress 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 …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will notice that new menu will be added to your main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

The Staff Members menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start to add new staff entries at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place youremployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups settings …

(Groups section)

Note: Adding directory groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group 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 categories
4. Description – Type in a group description
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new group …

(Groups screen)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to set up different groups 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 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 the Add New Group button after creating new items …

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested groups to your staff directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your employee’s name
• Slug: Edit each staff members’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

The new category will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups feature)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s 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 …

Click View Post …

You can edit the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WP admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WordPress Admin Screen – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

Note: If you see a page error like the one shown below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all your listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to modify an individual’s details, just hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin also lets you create the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing 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 your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory 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 with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

Here you can 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 information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build an employee directory in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The plugin lets you add custom fields …

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, image and staff 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one single member of your team 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, 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 source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• 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 a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

To learn more about this plugin go 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 Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has helped you learn how to create an easy-to-maintain staff directory in your WordPress site.

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

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