Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Consumer behavior research shows that people tend to buy from people they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust your business better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that lets you display information about your key people, your business team, or your employees.

This tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-update directory of employees in your website.

How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

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

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your administration and in your admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu will be added to your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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 business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin to add new entries at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual staff.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your directory categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups area)

Note: Setting up directory groups works just like categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter the group description here
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to set up your new group name …

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, project teams, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

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 …

(Nested categories)

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

Staff Members – Add New

In your admin menu, click on Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the staff member’s name
• Permalink: Modify your staff members’ 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: Enter your employee’s position here
• Email: Your employee’s email
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter the employee’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add 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 in a profile description for your staff members here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign your employee to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your 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 your employee’s details …

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups section)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field will appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign an employee’s details to the group …

(New group added in Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to someone’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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• Your WP Admin Area – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Continue adding more members to your staff directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering staff or team members to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and their details …

(Staff Members list)

If you need to edit individual details, hover over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have many entries, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find items …

(Search members)

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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to specify the order in which listings display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added member details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The Simple Staff List plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that listings display on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to the desired position …

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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 …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Your directory details will now display as shown in the screenshot below …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display only members of 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 inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Options screen)

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

You can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the plugin support page.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

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

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

The plugin also lets you use custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin provides a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, photo 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just an individual member of your team 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 which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

Detailed information about  each faculty 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)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 online staff directory …

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site without using code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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