Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Consumer buying habits show that people will mostly buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your prospects to get to know your organization better.

Adding a faculty member directory to your website can help increase your online credibility and get more prospects to contact you.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update staff directory in WordPress.

Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory To Your Site

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 free and lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

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

Log into the WP admin and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

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

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring groups is just like setting up categories in WordPress …

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description here
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new group name …

(Groups section)

If you are a medium to large organization, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for partners, developers, departments, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for a particular entry, hover your mouse over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button when done …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

Add as many groups as you need to until you have created your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

This area 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: Here you can change the permalink URL associated with your employee if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s role here
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type your company’s Facebook URL here (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add 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: Enter a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can use HTML into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you have finished entering details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups feature in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating a 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 directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups section)

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

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• The WordPress Control Screen Explained

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

Keep adding new members to your staff directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members list)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, just hover your mouse over their listing, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members details)

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

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

(Search Staff Members search field)

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

(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 Apply when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, below is a screenshot of the default template used for displaying listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list will now look like …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

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

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

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage shortcode variations)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

For example, a useful variation you can add to your page 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 display listings in ascending or descending order by adding the shortcode [simple-staff-list order=”DESC”] (descending).

Options Menu

In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to build a directory of your employees in WordPress. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can use to create a staff directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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)

For more details go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP 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 a profile in a widget area.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, pic and staff bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

Go here to learn more about the plugin:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

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

This plugin includes two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 a staff directory on your website …

(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.

For more details go here:

• Staffer

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple directory of staff members to your WordPress site, so your web visitors can get to know your business better.

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

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