Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

Consumer behavior studies show that people will buy from people they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your business better.

Adding a directory of employees to your website can lead to greater trust, boost your online credibility and get more prospects to buy from your site.

In this tutorial, we show you how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable list of staff members in your web site using free WordPress plugins.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory

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

Simple Staff List

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List is a free plugin that lets you easily build a simple staff directory for.

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

Log into your dashboard and in your admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new menu will display on your main WP menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

This menu is where you will configure and manage all of the options and settings for your plugin are configured and managed from this menu.

Simple Staff List – Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your directory, you could start adding new entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualgroup members into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by setting up your directory categories. From your WordPress dashboard menu, choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

The Groups panel …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Setting up directory groups works in the same way as adding WordPress categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your group. 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 – Enter a group description (optional)
5. Click Add New Group when done to create the new directory group …

(Groups settings area)

If you are a business that employs many people, being able to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for partners, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

To edit or reassign Groups for specific items, hover over a category title and click on the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

Continue adding categories to this section until you are done creating your directory structure …

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested groups)

After you are done setting up your groups, you can begin to add your people to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section …

(Add New Staff Member settings)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Add the employee’s name
• Slug: Here you can edit your employees’ permalink URL (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type your employee’s role here
• Email: Type in the employee’s email
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add your company’s Facebook address into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type the person’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 employees here. Since this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or team member to a group (see above to learn how to set up your groups).

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(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 staff member’s details …

(Add New Staff Member fields)

After you have entered details, assign your new item to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up directory groups before starting to add staff member details, you can add a new group in this screen by clicking on Groups > + Add New Group …

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to create a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new directory category and click on the Add New Group button …

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

(New group added in Groups section)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or editing employee details. To edit a group entry, 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 …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WordPress Control Screen Explained

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

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

If you need help setting up permalinks in WordPress, go here:

• Setting Up WordPress Permalinks

Continue adding more members to your employee directory directory until done.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering employees into your directory, you can view and edit their details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your staff members and their details …

(Staff Members table)

If you need to change individual entries, just hover over their list name, and a menu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members profile)

If you have many names to add, your table can get quite long.

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

(Search members)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also specify how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to edit the layout and style of your staff list items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates page)

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

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

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The This code displays your listing as shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your staff list should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media URLs)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to use.

A useful shortcode 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=”partners”])

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

Options Menu

In the main admin menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options page …

(Options settings screen)

This section lets you edit some of the labels used in the plugin

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

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need plugin help or support, go to the plugin faq page and request help from the plugin developer.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only adding a directory of your employees. For example, here are a few other free plugins you can use to add a staff directory on your site:

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 – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also add custom fields …

(Custom Details Fields. Screenshot source: plugin website)

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

Faculty And Staff Directory 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.

Go here to learn more:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WordPress Plugin)

This plugin lets you add your employees to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, image and bio, allowing visitors to get to know your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to read more about each employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

More info:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners 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.

With the Employee Spotlight plugin, you get two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, plus two responsive views which adjust to the screen size of the viewer’s device.

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

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

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Staff Directory 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 employee directory on your website …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from Staffer plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

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

Models used in this tutorial to display sample staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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