Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Are you searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to add a directory plugin that lets you display information about your partners, your faculty, or your staff.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory in your web site.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you display information to visitors about your employee on your site.

First, let’s install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will manage and configure all of the options and settings for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Plugin Configuration

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups screen …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
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 – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter a category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up the new group name …

(Groups settings)

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

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

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click on Update Group  after making changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you are done setting up your groups, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The staff member’s name
• Permalink: Change the slug associated with your employee if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s role
• Email: Your staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: The employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your company’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. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: You can assign a staff or team member to a specific group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up your groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up categories before starting to add staff member details, 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 create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on Add New Group …

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

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or edited. 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 the person’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• The WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If an error shows up like the one shown in the screenshot below, check that you have configured your site permalinks correctly …

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

If you need help setting up permalinks, go here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With SEO-Friendly URLs

Repeat the above process to add new entries to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employee details to your directory, you can view and edit details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your directory items and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit to modify the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a listing from your staff directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have many items added to this section, your list can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search box to locate member details if necessary …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To show 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 choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order that listings appear on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to arrange the order in which listings show on your directory pages.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you have added members’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin also lets you create 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 your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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 listings …

(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] tags in the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

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

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize your directory listings but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful variation you can add to display a list of staff or faculty members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options screen)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, visit the Simple Staff List site and contact the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a listing of your employees in WordPress. Here are a few other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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 – WP Plugin)

The Staff Directory plugin 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 create custom fields …

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

For more details go here:

• Staff Directory

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 profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

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

Employee Spotlight includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot source: Employee Spotlight website)

Go here to learn more:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

Staffer 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 onsite employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer website)

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WP Plugin

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 Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know you and your organization better.

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

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