Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Consumer behaviour studies show that people will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Adding a directory of staff to your website can lead to increased trust, increase your credibility online and get more prospects to consider using your services.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to create a simple and easy-to-maintain staff directory in your website.

Adding An Employee List Directory In WordPress

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you staff (you could also use it to display faculty, etc.).

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

Log into the dashboard and from the admin menu, choose Plugins > Add New …

(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 Install Now …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, a new entry will display on the WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can start to add new employee entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff members into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory groups go to your WP dashboard menu and select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Configuring directory groups works in the same way as adding categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter the group description here
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new group …

(Groups screen)

If you work with a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, developers, departments, etc.

Create as many categories and nested categories as you need by adding new Groups and then using the Parent drop-down menu to build a hierarchical structure …

(Nested categories)

Remember to click the Add New Group button after entering new items …

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

To edit the Group name or slug, hover your mouse over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click on Update Group  when done to save your changes …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

Once you have finished setting up your groups, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your employee’s position
• Email: Add your staff member’s email address here
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your employee’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Add a profile description for your staff or faculty member here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory fields)

Once you are done entering your staff member’s details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before adding staff member details, you can add a new group by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups - + Add New Group feature)

A field will appear allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

The new group will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign an individual to the group …

(New group added in Groups box)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or editing new employee details. 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 filling in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• How To Use The WordPress Dashboard

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, see this tutorial:

• Configuring Your WordPress Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding employee or team members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on your main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to edit an individual’s entry, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit to make changes to the Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove a member from your employee directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking on View …

(Editing Staff Members profile details)

If you have many employees, your list can get quite long.

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

(Search members)

You can 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 …

(Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that entries display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you are done adding employees’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you edit the style and layout of your directory items 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 your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List 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 Staff Loop Template …

(Default Plugin Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

Notice that there are no Facebook or Twitter addresses showing in the above listing. To make these fields display in the directory, we will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] tags to the template, as shown in the screenshot below …

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

Your directory details will now display as as the example below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your directory looks but don’t want to mess with code or are not sure what to do, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

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

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

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage Shortcode section)

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

A useful variation you can add to your page, for example, to display only members of a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

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

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can look at to add a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress 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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP 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 installs a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including list and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, 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 staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses simple shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

This plugin comes with 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 employee can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin 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 staff 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.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

If the above plugins 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
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or faculty directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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