Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Many business experts have successfully demonstrated over the years that people will buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If your web presence is powered by the WordPress CMS, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that will let you add information about your key partners, your business team, or your staff members.

This tutorial shows you how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory to your web site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory To WordPress

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily display information about your staff on your site.

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress admin and from the admin menu section, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu will appear on your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new staff members at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups section …

(Groups screen)

Note: Adding groups is very similar to working with categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in 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 to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in your group description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up the new directory group …

(Groups screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, project teams, 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 build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each item …

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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: Your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Here you can modify the slug associated with each staff member if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign your employee to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

After you are done entering each of you staff member’s details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding new staff members, you can add a new group in this screen by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for entering your new group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign the employee’s details to the group …

(New group added in Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an individual’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After filling in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Control Panel – An Overview

Note: If you get errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …

(Page error – Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have finished adding employee details into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the employees and all details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to edit individual entries, simply hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile)

If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.

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

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to a desired position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you customize the layout and style of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

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

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options settings screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a staff directory in WordPress. For example, here are some other free WordPress plugins you can look at to create a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, 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 address, phone number, pic and member 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 source: plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders 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 upon plugin activation.

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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 source: Employee Spotlight website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the above plugins 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
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

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

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

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