Tag: WordPress Staff List

Consumer behavior research shows that people tend to buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for simple ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can help boost your online credibility and get interested prospects considering using your services.

This tutorial explains how to create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff members to your WordPress site.

How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is free and lets you easily create a simple staff directory list for.

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

Log into your WordPress administration and go to Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, 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 the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will have been added to the WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your business and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this point, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

To configure your categories go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups settings)

Note: Configuring groups works just like categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your group name
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 if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Enter a group description in this field (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up your new category …

(Groups settings screen)

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

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

(Nested groups)

Remember to click on the Add New Group button after creating each item …

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

The selected category details open in the Edit Group page. Select a new parent group category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group when done to save your changes …

Add as many groups as you need to until you are done creating your directory structure …

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member settings …

(Add New Staff Member area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the employee’s name
• Slug: Change your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign the person to a group (see the previous section to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab at the top of the screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member fields)

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

(Groups section)

Note: If you did not set up categories before adding staff member details, you can create a new group by selecting Groups > + Add New Group …

(Groups > + Add New Group link)

A field for entering a 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 category and click on Add New Group …

A new directory category will be added. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person’s entry to the group …

(New group added)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to new employee details. 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 entering your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

You can make changes to your member profile by clicking the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Control Section Explained

Note: If you see an error like the one shown below, check that you have correctly set up your permalinks …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on using permalinks here:

• Setting Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your directory directory as described above.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff details into your directory, you can view and edit their details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all the listing entries and their details …

(Staff Members details)

If you need to change an individual’s details, just hover over their listing, and a submenu 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 delete a listing from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members details)

If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.

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

(Search Staff Members search feature)

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

(Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unchecking a box hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when done to save your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

After adding your employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory to your visitors.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

After adding all member details to your directory, the next step is to add your directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to customize the layout and style of your employee directory entries 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 WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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 listings …

(Default Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

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

Your staff entries will now display as as the screenshot below shows …

(Directory listings with social media URLs added)

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

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 the shortcode variations that the plugin allows you to use.

For example, a useful variation you can choose to display a list of staff or team members belonging only to a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales reps”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options in the main menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

Here you can modify labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member titles

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List site.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Staff Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your faculty. Here are a few other free plugins you can look at:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also create custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin 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.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like job title, email address, 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 read more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin also uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one individual member of your team in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes 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 circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress 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 an online employee directory …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

Go here to learn more:

• Staffer – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

If the directory plugins listed above 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 List
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Simple Staff List Template WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so your web visitors can get to know you and the people in your company better.

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

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