Tag: Staff Plugin WordPress

Many business experts often raise the point that people generally tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for simple ideas to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If your web presence is driven by the WordPress CMS, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that lets you add a directory listing with information about your partners, your team, or your staff members.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily add a list directory of employees or faculty members to your web site using a free plugin.

Adding A Staff List Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily staff members.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into the WP admin and navigate 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 search results area.

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could begin adding new staff details at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your groups. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups section)

Note: Adding directory groups is just like configuring WordPress categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
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 section if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a category description here (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new directory category …

(Groups area)

If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, project teams, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested groups 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 on the Add New Group button after entering each new item …

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your 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, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member section)

This section 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 employee’s name
• Slug: Modify the slug for your staff member if required (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 staff member’s role
• Email: Type in the person’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type in your employee’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter the person’s Twitter username here (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 or team member here. As this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual 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 page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups feature)

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 feature)

A field for entering your new group name will display, 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 …

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

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

You can modify the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP 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 Dashboard – An Overview

Note: If you have set up groups and get ’page not found’ errors like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

To learn more about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using Permalinks

Keep adding new entries to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to modify individual details, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from the staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find listing items if required …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order in which your employee profiles appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to display your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to a new position …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop 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 display these fields, you will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use.

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page 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 display listings in ascending or descending order by inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

Here you can edit some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need additional information about this plugin, visit the Simple Staff List support page.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can look at for creating a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 a simple shortcode system.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single 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 which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each faculty member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

This 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 source: Staffer plugin website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-update directory of staff in your site.

Images used to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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