Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Many business experts often raise the point that people generally tend to buy from people they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for ideas to grow your business online or increase user interaction on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding a directory to your website can generate more trust, increase your credibility online and get interested prospects contacting you.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update directory of staff members in your WordPress site.

How To Add A Staff List Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a no cost WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List is free and lets you easily build a basic staff directory for.

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

Log into your admin and navigate to 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 …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will appear in your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring Simple Staff List

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you could just start adding new staff details at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to place your individualemployees into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings screen …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring groups is similar to creating WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up nested categories
4. Description – Enter your category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to set up your new directory group …

(Groups settings area)

If you are a business that employs many people, the ability to create categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To change Groups for individual entries, hover your mouse button over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: You can modify your employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s position
• Email: The staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Add the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook URL into this field (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 employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the person 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)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member settings)

Once you have entered your staff member’s details, assign the new item to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

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

(Groups > + Add New Group)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on Add New Group …

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

(New group added)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to an employee or faculty member’s details. 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 to add them to the directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If you get a page error like the one shown below, check that your site permalinks have been set up correctly …

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

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

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

If you need to make changes to individual entries, simply hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile info)

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

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

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List also lets you edit the style and layout of your employee directory entries using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

To customize the style and layout of your staff list, select Staff Members > Templates from the menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, below is the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The This code displays your directory listing as shown below …

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Your staff entries will now display as shown in the screenshot below …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with CSS code and template tags or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for assistance.

Usage Menu

In addition to allowing you to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List – Usage Shortcode screen)

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

For example, a useful shortcode 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=”Asia Pacific Region”])

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

Here you can change some of the labels used in the plugin

Finally, you can also export your staff members info by going to your dashboard menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need additional information about the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the plugin website.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a directory of your faculty members in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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 – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

Learn more here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

Faculty And Staff Directory provides 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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

Company Directory lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone, pic and 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 source: plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

The Employee Spotlight plugincomes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff 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 with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

Learn more here:

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

Hopefully, now you know how to add a directory of staff or faculty members to your web site without coding skills.

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

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