Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

It’s often said in marketing circles that people generally buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you and your business better.

If your site is built with the WordPress CMS platform, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you add a directory listing with information about your key partners, your faculty, or your staff members.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to create and add an updatable list directory of staff or faculty members in WordPress.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free 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 display information to visitors about your employee on your website.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will be added to the main WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just begin adding new staff members at this at this stage, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory categories go to your WP dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Configuring directory groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new directory category …

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a larger organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, 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 directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

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

To edit Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

The group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Add as many group names 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 have finished setting up your groups, you can begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type the staff member’s position here
• Email: Enter the person’s email address here
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address 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 employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your staff member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

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

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have finished entering details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field for entering a new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your listing to the group …

(Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Dashboard – A Tutorial

Note: If a page error like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more entries to your employee or team directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and the details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details)

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

Click on Edit if you need to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from your employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member 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 …

(Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which entries appear on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which listings display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To make these fields show in your directory, 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 …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with code or are unsure of 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”partners”])

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for creating a directory of your faculty members. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college 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)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, 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 employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just one single person in a 4-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, 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: plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for employee management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an online employee directory …

(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 – Plugin For WordPress

If the directory plugins listed above 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
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff to your WordPress site.

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

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