Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

No doubt you’ve heard that people generally buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.

If you use WordPress, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to display information about your key people, your business team, or your staff members using a WordPress directory plugin.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to WordPress.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a no cost WordPress plugin that lets you easily employee.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WordPress dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will appear on your main WordPress menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just begin to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create various groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to your staff members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your directory categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups section …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring directory groups is just like configuring categories in WordPress …

(Groups are like categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your category name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a category description
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new group …

(Groups settings area)

If you manage a business that employs many people, the ability to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, 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 assign these to a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

Continue adding groups in this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: Here you can edit each employees’ slug (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: Assign the individual to a group (see above 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 tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

Note: If you have not set up your directory groups before starting to add 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 that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new group and click on the Add New Group button …

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

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or edited. To edit a group 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 your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the employee directory …

Click View Post …

To update the employee’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

We have created a detailed tutorial about using the WordPress admin toolbar here:

• Your WP Dashboard – A Tutorial

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

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

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO Using SEO-Friendly URLs

Repeat the above process to add new details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering staff or faculty members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the directory items and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

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

Click on Edit if you need to update the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details such as their name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also remove an entry from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have many entries, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to find a member …

(Search members)

You can specify which fields can display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options tab)

Placing a tick in the item’s check box displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Reorder employee listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

After adding your members’ details to the directory, the next step is to display the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings show on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in the main admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you have added staff details to the directory, the next step is to make your directory show on your site.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

For example, below is the default template used for displaying directory listings …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with editing code or are not sure how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

As well as 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, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can decide to use, for example, to display a list of individuals belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”Asia Pacific Region”])

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options settings screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin support, go to the plugin support page and contact the plugin developer.

Other WordPress Plugins For Creating Staff Directories

Simple Staff List is not the only plugin you can use to display a listing of your employees in WordPress. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use:

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin lets you insert custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

The Faculty And Staff Directory plugin 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 Plugin)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, as well as fields like job title, email, phone number, pic and bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses shortcodes.

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Company Directory – WordPress Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

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

With this plugin, you also get two sidebar widgets that let you 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

Staffer works immediately with almost all WordPress themes, and also allows for custom template use and custom content wrappers.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple employee or faculty directory to your WordPress site without touching code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

Images of models used in this tutorial to depict sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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