Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can help to let visitors learn more about the people working behind the scenes in your business.

In this tutorial, we explain how to create and add an easy-to-update list directory of employees in your site using a free plugin.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

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

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin adding new staff entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your groups. In your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring groups works just like WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your category name. 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 categories
4. Description – Enter the category description here
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new group name …

(Groups settings area)

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

Create as many groups and nested categories 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 on the Add New Group button after entering each item …

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

The group details will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Here you can change the slug for each employee if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s role
• Email: Enter the person’s email
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the person’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in your employee’s Twitter username (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial 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 can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups feature)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

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 directory category and click on Add New Group …

The new group will be added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group 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 to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WordPress Control Panel Explained

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

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

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:

• Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your employee or member directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you have finished entering staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to modify an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

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

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

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries appear on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you customize the layout and style of your employee directory listings 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 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, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Plugin Template)

The The code shown above displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default 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] tags to the template, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as 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 brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all different shortcode variations you can use.

For example, a useful variation you can insert in your page to display a list of persons belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”technical engineers”])

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

Options Menu

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members information)

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

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are some other free plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

The plugin lets you insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: Staff Directory plugin website)

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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 a profile in a widget area.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email address, phone, pic and member 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 members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus 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 circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress 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 an online staff directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

More info:

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

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-manage employee directory in WordPress.

Models used in this tutorial to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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