Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your site uses the WordPress CMS platform, one way to easily help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your team, or your staff members using a staff list plugin.

This step-by-step tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-manage directory of staff members to your WordPress site.

Adding A Staff Directory To Your Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into the WordPress dashboard and navigate to 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 plugin search results.

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, you will see that a new entry will be added to your main WP menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you could just begin adding new employee entries at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your employees.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. From your dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This loads the Groups settings …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Configuring groups is similar to working with categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the slug of your group name. 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 a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create your new directory group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a larger organization, having the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories 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 the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

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

The selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group settings)

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 the Update Group button after making changes …

Continue adding group names to this section until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member settings area …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: You can modify the slug for your 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: The staff member’s role
• Email: Type the person’s email address
• Phone Number: The staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your company’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 WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign a staff or faculty 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 …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you are done entering details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field for entering your new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign an individual to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

To modify the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Control Area Explained

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your staff or partner directory as shown above until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all your employees and their details …

(Staff Members table)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find listing items if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search box)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to the new location …

(Rearrange staff listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all staff details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding employees’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

To customize your directory, reorganize any of the permitted template tags inside the [staff_loop] [/staff_loop] code.

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The This code will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Your staff profiles will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as shown below …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can select, for example, to display a list of members 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 inserting the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”ASC”] (ascending).

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List plugin website.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display an employee directory in WordPress. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use for adding an employee directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields Screen. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone number, image 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 learn 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 uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just one single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With Employee Spotlight, you also get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and 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 website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress 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 employee 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.

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WordPress Plugin

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

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to add an easy-to-update staff directory to your site.

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

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