Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

Something that’s been proven to work in business, is that people will buy from businesses they already know, like and trust.

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online or increase user interaction on your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.

If your site runs on the WordPress Content Management System, a simple way to help people get to know you better is to use a directory plugin that will let you display information about your key partners, your team, or your staff.

In this step-by-step tutorial, you are going to learn how to add a simple and easily updatable simple employee directory in your web site.

WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add 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 – WordPress Plugin)

The Simple Staff List plugin is a free WordPress plugin that lets you easily staff.

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into the dashboard and from the admin menu section, choose Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Click the Activate Plugin link …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will see that a new entry will be added to your WordPress admin menu section called Staff Members …

(Staff Members menu)

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

How To Configure The Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can begin to add new employee entries after installing the plugin, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign yourmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

Let’s start by configuring your directory groups. From your WP dashboard menu, select Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups screen …

(Groups area)

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

(Groups work like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in the URL-friendly version of your category. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – Use this section 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 the new group …

(Groups settings screen)

If you work with a larger organization, being able to assign people to different categories can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

Create as many groups and nested groups 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 on the Add New Group button after creating each new item …

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

The group will display in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent drop-down menu …

(Edit Group screen)

Click Update when done …

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

Click the Update Group button when done …

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

You can add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested groups to your directory)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, the next step is to begin adding names to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings screen)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: The employee’s name
• Slug: Change the slug for your employee if you want (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo of your staff member

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

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

Groups Section (5)

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

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

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

After you have entered details, assign your new entry to a directory group in the Groups section in your sidebar …

(Groups feature)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field will display allowing you to enter a new group name, with a drop-down menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new category and click on Add New Group …

Your new directory category will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(New group added in Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when new employee details are being added or modified. To edit an 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 typing in the person’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your employee directory …

Click View Post …

To update your member profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

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

• The WP Dashboard Explained

Note: If a page error like the one shown in the example below shows up, check that you have correctly set up your site permalinks …

(Check your permalinks if you get errors)

If you need help setting up WP permalinks, go here:

• Setting Up Your WordPress Permalinks

Repeat the above process to add new details to your employee directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table listing all your employees and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members table)

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

Click on Edit if you want to edit the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like 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 profile information)

If you have many employees, your table can get quite long.

Use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate member details …

(Search Staff Members search feature)

The plugin also lets you specify which fields can display in this section. To hide or hide fields on your screen, click on Screen Options …

(Screen Options)

Selecting a checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also choose how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your settings …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries show on your directory page.

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list items)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order in the menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your list will be automatically rearranged …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added staff listing details to your directory, the next step is to make the directory display to your site users.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin lets you edit the layout and style of your staff directory entries 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 menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Plugin 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 listing. To make these fields display in the directory, you will need to add the [staff-facebook] and [staff-twitter] template tags, as shown in the example below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory will now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links added)

Note: If you want to customize your directory but don’t want to mess around with template tags or are unsure of 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 allows you to display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This brings up the Usage page …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all the shortcode variations that you can use with the Simple Staff List 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 managers”])

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

Options Menu

Choose Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options page …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

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

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

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need plugin support, visit the Simple Staff List plugin site.

Other Staff Directory Plugins For WordPress

Simple Staff List is not the only adding a listing of your staff. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory)

Modern Team Staff Directory 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)

Go here to learn more:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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

You can also add custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

Faculty And Staff Directory was developed to provide a simple and flexible faculty and staff directory for a small college, school or university.

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your staff, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, plus as fields like title, email address, phone number, photo 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 learn 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.

More info:

• Company Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, partners or just a single person in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

This plugin comes with two sidebar widgets that let you display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in 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 sourced from Employee Spotlight website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – Plugin For WordPress)

This 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 site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot source: Staffer plugin website)

Staffer works with almost all 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.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add and create a simple staff directory to your WordPress site, so you can showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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