Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

You have no doubt heard that people will buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for ideas to grow your business online or get people to interact more with your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your website is a great way to let visitors learn more about the team behind your business.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily create and add an easy-to-update directory of employees in your WordPress site using a free plugin.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily build a basic staff directory for.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into the administration and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress 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 …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will have been added to the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could begin adding new employee details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. From your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings area …

(Groups area)

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

(Groups are like categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

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

(Groups settings)

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

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected group will open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group 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 groups)

Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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: Your employee’s name
• Slug: Change the permalink URL for your employee if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Enter the staff member’s role here
• Email: Your staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Type in 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: Type the person’s Twitter username (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. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group)

A field for entering a group name will appear, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new category will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. 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 your team member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WP admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• The WP Dashboard Explained

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

(Page error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up permalinks, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Change WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new details to your staff directory directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employees to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list with all your listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to find listing items …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your staff details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your member details to your 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 customize the style and layout of your employee directory listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to 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 plugin shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page 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=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in the main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings)

This section lets you edit labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the main menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the plugin website and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your faculty. For example, here are some other free plugins you can check out to create an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin also lets you add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin 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 profiles in a widget area.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

With Company Directory, you can add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, image and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

For more details go here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin 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 an onsite staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in your WordPress site without coding skills.

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

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