Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

No doubt you already know that people generally will buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for ideas to sell more products online and get people to interact more with your site? Then make it easier for your prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can generate greater trust, boost your credibility online and get more prospects to get in touch with you.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage simple staff directory in your website.

How To Easily Add A Staff Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

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)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you employee.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the WP admin 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 search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new menu will appear in the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings 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 staff directory, you could just begin to add new employee details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual employees.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups area …

(Groups screen)

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

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter your group description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new directory category …

(Groups section)

If you work with a larger organization, the ability to set up different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups as you want by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a directory hierarchy …

(Nested groups)

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

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

The item will display in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown 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 choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: You can modify your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign the individual to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a group now by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

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

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing 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 entering the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using the admin toolbar here:

• An Overview Of Your WP Control Panel

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add new details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to individual details, hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate items if required …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

After adding all employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to create 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 employee directory, select Staff Members > Templates from your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, below is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

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

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

Or, you can make your listings display in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. Here are some other plugins you can use to create a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you set up custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, photo and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

This plugin comes with 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 team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

The Staffer 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 employee directory on your site …

(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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple faculty directory to your web site using free plugins.

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

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