Tag: WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Many business and marketing experts often raise the point that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or get people to interact more with your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If your web presence is powered by the WordPress CMS, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to use a WordPress staff list plugin that will let you add information about your partners, your team, or your employees.

In this tutorial, you are going to learn how to easily add an easy-to-update simple faculty directory to your web site using free plugins.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free plugin that lets you easily employee (you could also use it to display board of directors, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WP dashboard and navigate to Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress 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)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, a new menu will appear in the WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

Here is where you will configure and manage all of the settings and options for the Simple Staff List plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could begin to add new staff member details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) that you will assign to individual group members.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s configure your groups. From your WP dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Adding groups works in the same way as configuring categories …

(Groups are like WordPress categories)

Create a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter a category description
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up the new category …

(Groups screen)

If you manage a medium to large organization, being able to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create groups for partners, project teams, faculties, 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 creating each item …

To change or reassign Groups for an individual item, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

The item’s details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

From your WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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: Enter the employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify the slug associated with your employee if required (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The staff member’s role
• Email: The staff member’s email
• Phone Number: Enter the staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL (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 member here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You will see options to enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

(Groups feature)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating your 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 group and click on Add New Group …

The new group will be added. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups box)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when a staff member’s details are being added or modified. To edit an item, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section above for details).

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After entering the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to the person’s profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in the WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• How To Navigate Around The WP Dashboard

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

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, refer to this tutorial:

• Configuring WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add more members to your directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done entering employees 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 displaying all the directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members table)

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

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

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

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

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

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

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

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Staff Loop Template)

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

(Default Staff Loop Template Listing)

Notice that no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above listing. To display these fields, 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 Staff Loop Template)

Your directory profiles will now display with Facebook and Twitter addresses as as the example below shows …

(Directory with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.

A useful shortcode 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=”Gold Level associates”])

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

Options Menu

In your menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

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

You can also export your staff members info from the Tools > Export page …

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin faq page.

Other Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. For example, here are other plugins you can check out for creating an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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)

Learn more here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also create custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

More info:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

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 installs a widget that allows you to feature a profile in a widget area.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Plugin)

The Company Directory plugin lets you easily add your employees to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone number, image and member bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors can click through from your list, grid, and table views to read 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 uses simple shortcodes.

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays team members, founders or just one single member of your team in a four-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 selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the viewer’s screen.

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

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

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer

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 List
• Staff Directory WordPress Plugin
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

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

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

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