Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for ideas to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your site is built using the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff using a staff list plugin.

In this tutorial, we show you how to create and add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your web site using a free plugin.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you display information to visitors about your employee on your site.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

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

(WP 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 Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will show up in your WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just start adding new entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your group members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. From your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups panel in your browser …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up groups works in the same way as adding categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug 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 to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new directory category …

(Groups area)

If you manage a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create groups 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 the Add New Group button after creating new items …

To change Groups for individual items, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

Continue adding categories in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

From your admin menu, select Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify each employees’ permalink URL (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: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your staff member’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add 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 staff or faculty member here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory settings)

Once you have entered details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

A field for entering your 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 Add New Group …

A new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your list item to the group …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an individual’s 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 typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• An Overview Of Your WP Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get ’not found’ page errors)

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

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Continue adding new details to your staff directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you have entered all employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, just hover your mouse over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to update details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a list item from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate listing items if necessary …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields to display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to the new position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added all of your member details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order that your staff details appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you customize the style and layout of your employee directory listings 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 your menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter URLs showing in the above example. To display these fields, you 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 directory page)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

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

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can choose to display a list of staff members 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 adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on your 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

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin site.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out for adding a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

This plugin was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

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

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

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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 site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staffer

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 List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff or team member directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your site visitors can get to know you and your business better.

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

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