Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

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

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online, then help your prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your site can help to generate increased trust, increase your online credibility and get more prospects to buy from you.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add an easy-to-update simple staff directory in a WordPress site without coding skills.

Adding A Staff List Directory In WordPress: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

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

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into your administration and from the admin menu, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, a new entry will be added to the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the settings for this plugin are configured and managed from the Staff Members menu.

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place yourgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups settings panel …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in the category description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …

(Groups settings)

If you run a business that employs many people, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering new items …

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button after making 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 are done setting up your groups, you can start adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This loads the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your employee’s name
• Permalink: Change your staff members’ slug (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type the person’s position here
• Email: Type the person’s email address
• Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the employee’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: Type in a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have finished inputting your staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups feature in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, 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 group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign the list item to the group …

(New group)

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

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After typing 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 the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Dashboard – A Tutorial

Note: If you see a ‘page not found’ error like the one shown below, check that your site’s permalinks have been configured correctly …

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

To learn more about setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members list)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

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

(Search Staff Members search box)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show 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 choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that your employee listings appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the item to the desired location …

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added employees’ details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order in which your staff details show on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to the new position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you customize the style and layout of your directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses 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 loop, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Staff profiles with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.

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

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 your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and contact the plugin author.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a staff directory in WordPress. Here are other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin also lets you create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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 a profile in a widget area.

For more details go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, pic and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just a single member of your team in a four-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, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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 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.

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – WordPress Plugin

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-maintain directory of staff in your web site.

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

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