Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

You have no doubt heard that people generally tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products online and get people to interact more on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

If you are a WordPress user, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that lets you display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.

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

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily build a basic staff directory list for.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu entry will have been added to the main WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could begin adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 – Enter a category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up a new directory category …

(Groups screen)

If you are a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change or reassign Groups for an individual entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected group details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button 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 …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit the slug associated with each staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign an employee or faculty member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you are done entering details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field for entering your new group name will display, with a drop-down menu that lets you 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 …

Your new category will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual 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 above for details).

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After entering your employee or team member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Understanding Your WP Control Screen

Note: If you have set up groups and get an error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding employees to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, hover your mouse over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you want to edit the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from the directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details if required …

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

After adding your member details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your WP admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The The code shown above will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings 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 allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options screen)

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

You can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List site and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also use custom fields …

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin provides 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 – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, 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 on plugin activation.

With Employee Spotlight, you also 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WordPress 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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or team member directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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