Tag: Staff Plugin WordPress

Something often said in business, is that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for simple ideas to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

If you have a WordPress-powered site, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to create and add an updatable list of employees to WordPress using a free WordPress plugin.

Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily staff.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your administration and navigate 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  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups area …

(Groups area)

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group name. 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 the group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new directory group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

To change Groups for specific items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done 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)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify your employees’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign an employee or team member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial 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 page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

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

(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. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign your entry to the group …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee details. To edit a group 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 your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to your employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• The WP Admin Screen Explained

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

(Check your permalinks if you get ’page not found’ errors)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add more entries to your staff or partner directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee or team members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to modify individual entries, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which your employees display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

To customize your directory listings, reorganize any of the permitted 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 Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Your directory profiles will now display Facebook and Twitter addresses as as shown below …

(Directory with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use.

A useful variation you can decide to use, 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=”senior staff”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin plugin website.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your faculty members in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can check out to create a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin also lets you set up custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and member 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 employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

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 device screen size.

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

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

More info:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer 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 website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

Learn more 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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory to your site.

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

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