Tag: Staff Directory WordPress Plugin

Many business experts often raise the point that people generally will buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

If you own a WordPress-powered website, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key partners, your business team, or your employees using a directory plugin.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable simple staff directory in your website using free plugins.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you employee (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WP dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will appear in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can start adding new staff details after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring directory groups works just like categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 – This section lets you set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new group …

(Groups settings)

If you are a larger organization, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected group open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify the slug for each employee if you want (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the person’s position here
• Email: Enter the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type your company’s Twitter username here (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 staff or faculty member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now 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 to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your entry to the group …

(Groups feature)

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 of the tutorial above for details).

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After filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• An Overview Of The WP Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)

To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your employee or team directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members details)

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

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

(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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added member listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which your employee listings show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your member details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to edit the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Your staff details will now display as as shown below …

(Directory with social media links)

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

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, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

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

A useful shortcode variation you can add, 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

In your WordPress admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List support page.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your team members. Here are some other plugins you can use for adding a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

The plugin also lets you insert custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

This plugin was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your employees to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, pic and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners 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 that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, 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 circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 an employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WP 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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple employee or team member directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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