Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

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

If you are looking for simple ways to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Adding an employee directory to your website can help to let visitors learn more about the people behind your organization.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we show you how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple faculty directory to your website without messing around with code.

Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff List Directory In WordPress

In this tutorial, we will install, activate and configure a free WordPress plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List Plugin For WordPress

(Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin)

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

First, let’s install and activate the plugin.

Log into the WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New …

(WP Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After your plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new entry will show up in the WordPress menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on how many people are employed in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups screen …

(Groups settings screen)

Note: Adding groups is just like setting up WordPress categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

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

(Groups area)

If you work with a medium to large organization, having the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for founders, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to start adding staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your employee’s name
• Permalink: Modify the permalink URL for each employee if required (this section appears after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Upload a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Type the staff member’s position
• Email: The employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter your company’s Facebook URL (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: Add a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

• Groups: This section lets you assign a staff or faculty member to a group (see the previous section of this tutorial to learn how to set up groups).

If you click on the Screen Options tab at the top of your screen …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

After you have entered each staff member’s details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups section located in the sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

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

The new category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a person to the group …

(Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. To edit a group entry, go to the Groups section of the plugin’s settings (see “Groups” section of the tutorial above for details).

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After typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To edit the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

If you need help using the WordPress admin toolbar, refer to this tutorial:

• The WP Admin Section Explained

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

(Check your permalinks if you get a page error)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members details)

If you need to make changes to an individual’s entry, just hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Edit Staff Members profile info)

If you have added many items to this section, your table can get quite long.

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate entries if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

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

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To reorder your items, click and drag the entry to its desired location …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to add the directory on your site.

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order in which listings display on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be rearranged …

(Reordered list items)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List allows you to create the style and layout of your directory items 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 Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Template …

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Staff profiles with social media URLs added)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess with template tags or are not sure what to do, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Usage Shortcode screen)

This screen provides a list of all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

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

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

Options Menu

Click Staff Members >Options in the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable fields)

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

Finally, you can also export your staff members data by going to your WordPress admin menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

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

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress staff directory plugin you can use. Here are a few other free WordPress plugins you can check out:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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 – Plugin For WordPress

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

With the Staff Directory plugin, you can 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 create custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

This plugin was developed to provide 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 a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are available, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like position title, email address, phone, photo and staff bio, allowing you to present 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 members in an easy to view format. Screenshot sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin also uses shortcodes.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just an individual member of your team in a four-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 selected in the editor, plus two responsive views which adjust to the device screen size.

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

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

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer – WP Plugin)

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff directory to your WordPress site with no coding skills required, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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