Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

No doubt you’ve already heard that people tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can help boost your credibility online and get more prospects to request quotes or more information.

This tutorial explains how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in your site.

Adding An Employee Directory: Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily create a simple staff directory list for.

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into your administration and go 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 plugin search results.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring directory groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
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 to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the group description in this field
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …

(Groups screen)

If you are a larger organization, having the ability to set up 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 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 on the Add New Group button after entering each item …

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

The selected category will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new 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 Quick Edit …

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Continue adding categories to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can modify the slug associated with each employee if required (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s position
• Email: Enter the staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your employee’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the person’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

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

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WP Admin Area – A Tutorial

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up WordPress permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Keep adding more entries to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to change an individual’s details, just hover over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members info)

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

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find member details …

(Search members)

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)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when finished to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(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, below is the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list 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 editing code or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful variation you can insert in 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=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need help with the plugin, go to the plugin support page.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your staff. For example, here are some other plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This 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 – Plugin For WordPress

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 use custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from Staff Directory plugin website)

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, partners or just a 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 that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 employee directory on your website …

(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.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add an updatable simple team members directory in your WordPress site with no coding skills required.

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

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