Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

No doubt you’ve heard that people generally buy from people they know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online, then help prospects get to know you and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff or faculty members to your website can help boost your credibility online and get interested prospects to contact you.

This tutorial shows you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff members to WordPress.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To 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

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you employee.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your WordPress administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins area, 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 be added to the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you can begin adding new staff members at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your groups go to your WordPress dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Configuring directory groups is just like adding categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group 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 – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a larger organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, faculties, 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

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

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

The selected group details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group after making changes …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can begin adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type the employee’s name
• Slug: Here you can change the permalink URL for your staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign your staff member to a specific 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 tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

After you have entered details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a dropdown 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 directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee or faculty member’s details. 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 filling in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To update your member 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 dashboard admin toolbar here:

• The WP Control Panel Explained

Note: If errors like the one shown in the screenshot below shows up, check that you have configured your permalinks correctly …

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs

Repeat the above process to add more details to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and their details …

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, just hover your mouse over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate entries if necessary …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order in which entries show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The This code displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. 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 …

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your listings page)

Your directory entries will now display as as the screenshot below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to 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, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode section)

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

A useful variation you can choose, for example, to display a list of employees belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”senior staff”])

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

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

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)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic and 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 plugin website)

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just an individual 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 the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer 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 source: plugin website)

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage list of employees or team members in your site without using code.

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

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