Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Consumer buying habits have successfully shown that people generally buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then help prospects get to know you and your business better.

Adding a faculty member directory to your website can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects buying from your site.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to WordPress.

How To Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily staff.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your WP administration and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will appear on your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just begin to add new staff 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 categories go to your WordPress dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups screen)

Note: Adding groups is just like setting up WordPress categories …

(Groups work 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 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 – Use this section if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Enter your group description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create a new directory category …

(Groups settings screen)

If you are a larger organization, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

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

The group open in the Edit Group page. Select a new group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  to save your changes …

Add as many group names as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add your employee’s name
• Slug: You can modify your employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type in your staff member’s position here
• Email: The employee’s email
• Phone Number: Add your employee’s phone number into this field
• Facebook URL: Type the staff member’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Enter your company’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 members here. Since this uses the built-in WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign a staff or faculty member to a specific group (see the previous section to learn how to set up groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Staff directory fields)

After you have entered each of you staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up your directory groups 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 appear allowing you to enter a new group name, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After typing in your staff member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial on using the dashboard admin toolbar here:

• An Overview Of Your WP Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get an error)

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

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding new entries to your staff or partner directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all your listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to edit an individual’s details, simply hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have many entries, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if required …

(Search members)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your entries, click and drag the item to a desired location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your directory entries 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 – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. To make these fields appear in your directory, we will need to include the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags in the template, as shown below …

(Use template tags to customize your listings page)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs 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 allows you to display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can select, 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings screen)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to the main menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin author.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only for displaying a directory of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are other free plugins you can look at:

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)

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Staff Directory plugin lets you 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 use custom fields …

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, pic and staff 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot source: plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Learn more here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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 this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of 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 source: plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – WP 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 online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works with many popular 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 Directory Plugin
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has shown you how to add a simple and easy-to-manage staff directory to your website.

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

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