Tag: WordPress Plugin Staff Directory

Something that is generally well known in marketing, is that people tend to buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to grow your business online and get people to interact more with your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

If your website runs on the WordPress Content Management System, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your faculty, or your employees using a WordPress staff list plugin.

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

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you easily staff members.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

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

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new menu entry will show up in your main WP admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new employee details at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings screen …

(Groups screen)

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

(Groups work like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group category name
2. Slug – Type in the slug 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 groups
4. Description – Type in a category description in this field
5. Click Add New Group when finished to set up a new directory category …

(Groups settings)

If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups 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 creating new items …

To change Groups for a specific entry, hover your mouse button over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

Continue adding group names to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start adding your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

This screen 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
• Permalink: Change each staff members’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type your staff member’s role
• Email: Type the staff member’s email address here
• Phone Number: The employee’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: Add your company’s Twitter username here (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 member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up groups).

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

(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 employee’s details …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you are done inputting each of you staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you did not set up categories before starting to add new staff members, you can create a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …

A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …

(New group)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

You can edit your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• The WP Admin Panel Explained

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

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

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

• How To Configure WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more members to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members list)

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

Click on Edit if you need to update the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a listing from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members info)

If you have many employees added to this section, your list can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find items …

(Search members)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this screen. To show or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that listings display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Template)

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

(Default Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses 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)

Your employee entries will now display as shown in the example below …

(Directory with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess with code 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 lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

This section lets you change some of the labels used in the plugin

You can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

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

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your team members in WordPress. For example, here are other free WordPress plugins you can use:

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

This plugin also lets you add custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

The plugin also installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email address, phone, image and 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 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 also uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just one single person in a 4-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 selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

Detailed information about  each employee 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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

Staffer 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 a staff directory on your website …

(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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer

If the above plugins 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 Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-manage directory of staff or team members in a WordPress site.

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

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