Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Something often said in business circles, is that people often tend to buy from those they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know you and your business better.

Adding a directory of staff to your site can help increase your online credibility and get more prospects considering using your services.

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to add an easy-to-update simple employee directory in your web site with no coding skills required.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress)

Simple Staff List lets you staff.

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

Log into the WordPress admin and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will show up in the WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on the size of your business and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start adding new staff details at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourstaff members into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory groups. In your dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings …

(Groups section)

Note: Setting up groups is very similar to working with WordPress categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
2. Slug – Enter 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 categories
4. Description – Type in the category description here
5. Click Add New Group when finished to create the new directory category …

(Groups settings area)

If you run a medium to large organization, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for founders, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

The category will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new group from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done …

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 groups)

Once you are done setting up your directory structure, you can start to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Permalink: You can change the slug for each staff member if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your employees here. Since this uses the default WordPress Text Editor, you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have finished inputting each staff member’s details, assign your entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

Note: If you have not set up groups before adding new staff members, you can create a group now by clicking on 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 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 …

The new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign your staff member to the group …

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing an employee or faculty member’s details. To edit a group item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to your employee’s profile by clicking 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 WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• The WordPress Dashboard – A Step-By-Step Tutorial

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

(Check your permalinks if you get a ‘page not found’ error)

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

• How To Set Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding new entries to your directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding staff details to your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff members and all details you have added for each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to change an individual’s entry, hover over their name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members info)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your table can become unwieldy.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to find member details …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also specify how many staff members are shown 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 allows you to specify the order that your employee profiles appear on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list items)

Once you have added all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to specify the order that your employee listings show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your entries, click and drag the item to a new position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered list entries)

Once you are done adding all of your members’ listing details to the directory, the next step is to display your directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Templates page)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The This code will display your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations that the plugin lets you use.

A useful variation you can insert in 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 trainers”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin support, visit the plugin plugin site.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use to create an employee directory in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can look at to create a staff directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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)

More info:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

This plugin lets you easily create a directory of staff/faculty/team members. The plugin supports staff categories and can be used for churches, schools, etc.

This plugin lets you create custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With the Company Directory plugin, you can add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like position title, email, phone number, image and staff bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can 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 sourced from Company Directory website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, founders or just a single person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff/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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer

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

Hopefully, now you know how to easily add an easy-to-update list directory of staff or team members to your web site using a free WordPress plugin.

Models used to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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