Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Consumer buying habits show that people generally tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a faculty member directory to your site is a great way to let visitors learn more about the team behind your business.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create a simple and easy-to-manage employee directory in your WordPress site.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display faculty members, etc.).

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

Log into your WordPress administration and in your admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, search for “simple staff plugin”. This should bring 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 the plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear on the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start to add new staff details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen opens on your browser …

(Groups screen)

Note: Configuring groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

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

(Groups area)

If you manage a larger organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you need 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 creating new items …

To change Groups for specific entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member settings in your browser …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter the employee’s name
• Permalink: Edit the permalink URL for your employee if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type a profile description for your employee here. As this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up groups before adding 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 for entering your new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …

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

(Groups feature)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff 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 edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Navigate Around The WordPress Control Area

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

(Not found error – Check your permalinks)

For a detailed tutorial on setting up permalinks, go here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, 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 edit details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members details)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details …

(Search Staff Members search box)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this section. To show or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to the new location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your members’ details to the 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 allowing you to arrange the order that entries show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your staff details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to edit the layout and style of your staff directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Staff Loop 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 listing. To make these fields show up in your directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the screenshot below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are unsure of what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”customer representatives”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to the menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin support page.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a listing of your employees in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can use for creating a directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Modern Team Staff Directory 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 here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

This 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.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone number, pic and 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one 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 the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so your site visitors can get to know your organization better.

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

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