Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people generally will buy from those they know, like and trust.

If you are looking for cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If you run a WordPress-driven site, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress directory plugin that will let you display information about your key people, your faculty, or your staff.

This tutorial will show you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff in your WordPress site.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost 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 display basic information to visitors about your employee on your site.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your admin and from the admin menu, select 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 the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

All of the settings for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

How To Configure The Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This loads the Groups screen in your web browser …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups works just like categories …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Type in 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 – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the group description
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new directory group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you manage a business that employs many people, having the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories 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 build a directory hierarchy …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after entering each item …

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button to save your changes …

Continue adding groups in this section until you have created your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: Edit the slug for each staff member if you want (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The employee’s role
• 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: Enter 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 or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person to a specific group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding new staff members, you can add a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

A new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. To edit a group 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 employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your staff directory …

Click View Post …

To update your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about using the dashboard admin toolbar , go here:

• The WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If errors shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that your permalinks have been configured correctly …

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

For a detailed tutorial on setting up permalinks, go here:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your staff or partner directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the listing entries and details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members info)

If you have added many names to this section, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search field to find items if required …

(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)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your settings …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you set the order that your employee listings show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to add your directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its new location …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added all of your members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you customize the layout and style of your staff directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Template …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing 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 include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown below …

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your main menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.

For example, a useful shortcode variation you can add to 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=”property managers”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

You can also export your staff members info by going to your menu and selecting Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin faq page and request help from the plugin author.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can check out to add a staff directory on your site:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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)

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

The plugin lets you use custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide 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 profiles in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone, photo 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 employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just an individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

Detailed information about  each team member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

(Responsive layout with employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff management and supports the display of staff members via a shortcode, allowing you to easily create and manage an employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

If the directory plugins listed above 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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage directory of staff in your WordPress site.

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

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