Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

You have no doubt heard that people generally will buy from those they already know, like and trust.

If you are searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

If you own a WordPress-powered site, a simple way to help visitors get to know you better is to add a WordPress directory plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your key people, your team, or your staff members.

This step-by-step tutorial explains how to create an easy-to-update staff directory in your WordPress site.

How To Add A Staff List Directory: Tutorial

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

Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List – WordPress Plugin)

Simple Staff List lets you display information to visitors about your staff on your website.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your admin 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 search results area.

Click on Install Now …

(WordPress Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After the plugin has been installed and activated, you will see that a new menu entry will display on your main WordPress admin menu called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are employed in your business and how you want to structure your directory, you can just start adding new staff member details at this at this stage, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to place yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s set up your directory categories. In your WordPress dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members – Groups)

This opens up the Groups settings …

(Groups screen)

Note: Configuring groups works in the same way as adding categories …

(Groups work like categories)

Add a new group by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this drop-down menu if you plan to set up nested groups
4. Description – Type in a category description in this field
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create your new group name …

(Groups screen)

If you are a larger organization, the ability to set up different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a group for founders, developers, departments, 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 hierarchical structure …

(Nested groups)

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

To change or reassign Groups for individual entries, hover over a category title and select the Edit link …

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

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click Update Group when done …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Nested categories)

Once you have finished setting up your hierarchical structure, you can start to add names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Your staff member’s name
• Slug: You can modify each employees’ slug (this section appears after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: The employee’s role
• Email: Your employee’s email address
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Type in 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: Type a profile description for your employee or team member here. As this uses the WordPress Text Editor, you can add formatting to the content entered into this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options)

You can enable additional page settings …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add New Staff Member settings)

Once you have finished inputting details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups box located in the sidebar …

(Groups feature)

Note: If you did not set up groups before starting to add staff member details, 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 a group name will display, 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 …

A new directory category will be created. Remember to tick the check box to assign a list entry to the group …

(New group added via 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 the person’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in the admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

If you need help using the admin toolbar, see this tutorial:

• Your WP Dashboard – An Overview

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

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

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

• Changing Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to continue adding new details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

Once you are done adding employee details to your directory, you can view and edit their details by clicking Staff Members > All Staff Members in your main admin menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list displaying all your directory items and details you have added with each entry …

(Staff Members details table)

If you need to modify individual entries, hover your mouse over their list name, and a submenu will appear.

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

(Editing Staff Members details)

If you have many entries, your table can become unwieldy.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find items …

(Search members)

You can 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 …

(Screen Options tab)

Selecting a check box 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 finished to update your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

To reorder your listings, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Rearrange employee listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

After adding all employees’ details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory display to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface allowing you to set the order that your staff profiles appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order on your main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reorganized …

(Reordered list)

After adding your staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

Simple Staff List lets you 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 directory, select Staff Members > Templates from the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Plugin Template)

The This code will display your listing as shown below …

(Default Plugin Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Your employee details will now display with Facebook and Twitter links as as the screenshot below shows …

(Employee profiles with social media URLs added)

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

Usage Menu

As well as being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations you can use with the plugin.

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

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 dashboard menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Options screen)

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

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

(Export Staff Members info)

If you need any help with the Simple Staff List plugin, go to the Simple Staff List support page and request help from the plugin developer.

Additional Employee Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List isn’t the only plugin you can use. Here are other free WordPress plugins you can look at:

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 – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory)

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

You can also set up custom fields …

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

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin)

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.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Company Directory

(Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

This plugin lets you add your staff to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like title, email, phone number, image and 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 employee in a customizable single view …

(Display your staff and faculty members in an easy-to-view format. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – WP Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WordPress Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single 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 selected in the editor, and 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 employee circle grid. Screenshot source: plugin website)

Learn more about the plugin here:

• Employee Spotlight

Staffer

(Staffer)

The Staffer plugin uses custom post types for staff/employee 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 sourced from Staffer website)

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

For more details go here:

• Staffer – WP 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 Directory Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Staff Directory Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has helped you learn how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your website.

Images of models used to depict fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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