Tag: WordPress Staff Plugin

Something that is generally well known in business, is that people will mostly buy from those they know, like and trust.

Are you looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction with your site? Then help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

Adding a directory to your site is a great way to personalize your organization.

This tutorial will show you how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to WordPress.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

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

The first step is to install and activate the Simple Staff List plugin.

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

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins panel, 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 your plugin has been installed and activated, you will notice that new entry will appear in the main WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Plugin Configuration

Depending on the size of your organization and how you want to structure your staff directory, you can begin to add new staff details after installing the plugin, or create different groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings up the Groups section …

(Groups area)

Note: Setting up groups works just like categories …

(Groups are like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Type in your category name
2. Slug – Enter the URL-friendly version of your 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 nested groups
4. Description – Enter the category description (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when finished to create the new directory group …

(Groups settings)

If you run a medium to large organization, having the ability to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for investors, project teams, 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 organize these into a hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

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

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update to save your changes …

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

Click the Update Group button after making changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your staff directory)

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

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This takes you to the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Here you can change your staff members’ permalink URL (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo in this section

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Your staff member’s position
• Email: Your staff member’s email address
• Phone Number: Type in the person’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Type the employee’s Facebook URL (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in the person’s Twitter username here (note: only enter the username, not the full twitter URL)

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Type in a profile description for your employees here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatted content into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options)

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 …

(Staff directory settings)

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 box)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

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

Your new group will be created. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(Groups section)

Note: You cannot edit groups when adding or making changes to a staff member’s details. 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 typing in your employee’s details, click the Publish button to add them to the staff directory …

Click View Post …

To modify your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the WordPress admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the WordPress admin toolbar , go here:

• Your WP Administration Screen – A Tutorial

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

(Check your permalinks if you get an error)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks in WordPress here:

• How To Change Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding more members to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After you are done adding employees into your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the directory items and their details …

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit to make changes to their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like 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 selecting View …

(Edit Staff Members profile information)

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

You can use the Search Staff Members search field to locate member details …

(Search members)

The plugin also allows you to specify which fields to display in this screen. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click the Screen Options tab at the top of your page …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to display or hide fields. You can also choose how many staff members are shown per page. Click the Apply button when finished to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to set the order that your employees show on your directory page.

Select Staff Members > Order on the WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the item to its desired position …

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added all of your member listing details to the 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 that lets you specify the order that entries appear on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To rearrange the order of your listings, click and drag the entry to a new location …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding all of your member listing details to your directory, the next step is to display the directory to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to customize the style and layout of your employee directory items using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

For example, here is a screenshot of 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 no Facebook or Twitter URLs are showing in the above example. 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 directory page)

Here is what your listings page will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your listing templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your staff profiles differently using modified shortcodes.

In your main menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations allowed by the plugin.

A useful shortcode variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display a list of employees or faculty 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

In your dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

This section lets you change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members details by going to the main admin menu and choosing Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members information)

If you need plugin help or support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin website and contact the plugin developer.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your employees. For example, here are some other plugins you can use to add a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

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, visit the plugin site here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory)

This plugin was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college or university.

The plugin also includes a widget that allows you to feature profiles in a widget area.

Learn more here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

With Company Directory, you can add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including list and table views, plus as fields like title, email, phone, photo and member 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 sourced from Company Directory plugin website)

This plugin uses shortcodes.

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Company Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just an 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.

Employee Spotlight installs with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees selected in the editor, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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

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

For more details go here:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 a staff directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: plugin website)

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

More info:

• Staffer – Plugin For WordPress

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

Hopefully, this step-by-step tutorial has shown you how to create an easy-to-update directory of staff in your site.

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

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