Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Many business and marketing experts have successfully proven over time that people often tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Adding a ‘Meet Our Team’ directory to your site can help to generate more trust, boost your online credibility and get interested prospects to buy from your site.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff in your web site.

Adding A Staff Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you easily display basic information about your staff members on your website.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into the dashboard and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu will be added to your 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 this plugin are configured and managed in this menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start to add new staff entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This opens up the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category 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 nested categories
4. Description – Type in your category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new directory group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a business that employs many people, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many groups 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 on the Add New Group button after entering new items …

To change or reassign Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The category will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the staff member’s name
• Permalink: Here you can edit the permalink URL associated with each staff member if required (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The employee’s position
• Email: Your staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in your employee’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the staff member’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 members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a group (see above 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)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

A new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups feature)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Using The WP Admin Section

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, refer to this tutorial:

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee or member directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your directory items and all details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members list)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile)

If you have many names to add, your table can become unwieldy.

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

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done 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 display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to your 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 allows you to arrange the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your staff directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can add, 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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need specific help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List support page and contact the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to display a faculty directory in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can check out:

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, pic and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, 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 sourced from plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer

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
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update simple faculty members directory in your website using free WordPress plugins.

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

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