Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

It’s often said in business and marketing circles that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online? Then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

If you use WordPress, 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 people, your business team, or your employees.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we explain how to easily create and add a simple staff directory in your website.

Adding A Staff List Directory: Step-By-Step 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 is free and lets you easily staff (you could also use it to display partners, etc.).

The first step is to install and activate the plugin.

Log into your dashboard and from the admin menu section, click on Plugins > Add New …

(Plugins Menu – Add New)

In the Plugins screen, 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  – plugin search results)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new entry will have been added to your WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

All of the settings and options for your plugin are configured and managed in the Staff Members menu.

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

Depending on how many people are in your organization and how you want to structure your employee directory, you could just start to add new staff entries at this point, or create several groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualmembers into.

Staff Members – Groups

To set up your directory groups go to your dashboard menu and choose Staff Members > Groups …

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This takes you to the Groups settings panel …

(Groups settings area)

Note: Setting up directory groups is similar to working with categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Create new groups by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Type in 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 drop-down menu if you plan to set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a category description here (optional)
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create the new directory group …

(Groups area)

If you manage a medium to large organization, the ability to create groups can be very useful. For example, you can create categories for investors, developers, faculties, etc.

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

(Nested groups)

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

To edit Groups for an item, hover your mouse over a category title and select the Edit link …

Your selected item open in the Edit Group page. Select a new category from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click Update to save your changes …

To change the Group name or slug, hover over the group name and choose the Quick Edit menu feature …

Click the Update Group button when done to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested groups as you like …

(Add nested categories your staff directory)

After you are done setting up your directory structure, you can begin to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members Menu – Add New)

The Add New Staff Member section loads in your web browser …

(Add New Staff Member section)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Type your staff member’s name
• Permalink: Change each employees’ slug (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: Enter the staff member’s role
• Email: Type the employee’s email here
• Phone Number: Your staff member’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Add the person’s Facebook URL into this field (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add 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 in a profile description for your employee or faculty member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can add formatting to the content entered in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You will see options to enable additional features …

(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 inputting details, assign the new entry to a directory group in the Groups feature located in your sidebar …

(Groups box)

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

(Groups - + Add New Group link)

A field for creating a group name will display, with a dropdown 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 added. Make sure that the checkbox is ticked …

(New group)

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 entering your team member’s details, click the Publish button to add them to your directory …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – WordPress admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the admin toolbar, see this step-by-step tutorial:

• Your WP Control Section Explained

Note: If you see errors like the one shown below, check that you have set up your site’s permalinks correctly …

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

We have written a detailed tutorial on using WP permalinks here:

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff or team members to your directory, you can view and edit details by selecting Staff Members > All Staff Members in the dashboard menu …

(Staff Members – All Staff Members)

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

(Staff Members table)

If you need to modify an individual’s details, simply hover over their listing, and a submenu will appear.

Click on Edit if you need to make changes to the item’s Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to change details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete someone from the employee directory by clicking on Trash, or view the entry on your site by clicking View …

(Editing Staff Members profile information)

Depending on what you are using the plugin for, your list can grow quite large.

You can use the Search Staff Members search feature to locate items if required …

(Search members)

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

(Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click the Apply button when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

The plugin also features a drag-and-drop interface that allows you to arrange the order that entries appear on your directory page.

Choose Staff Members > Order in your menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

To rearrange the order of your items, click and drag the entry to its new position …

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you have added members’ listing details to your directory, the next step is to make your directory show to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Select Staff Members > Order on the main menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list)

Once you are done adding staff details to the directory, the next step is to make the directory show to your site visitors.

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you create the layout and style of your 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 your menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This brings up the Templates page …

(Simple Staff List Templates screen)

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

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

(Default Simple Staff List Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List 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 loop, as shown below …

(Template tags added to Staff Loop Template)

Here is what your directory should now look like …

(Directory listings with social media links)

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

Usage Menu

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

In your main admin menu, select Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members Menu – Usage)

This opens the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen provides a list of all the shortcode variations that the Simple Staff List plugin lets you use.

A useful 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=”sales trainers”])

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

Options Menu

In the menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This opens the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options screen)

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

You can also export your staff members info by going to the main menu and clicking Tools > Export …

(Export Staff Members plugin info)

If you need help with this plugin, go to the plugin site and contact the plugin developer.

Other Employee Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your staff in WordPress. Here are a few other plugins you can use to create a staff directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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)

Learn more about this plugin here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

This plugin also lets you use custom fields …

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

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Faculty And Staff Directory

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

Company Directory gives you an easy way to add your staff, team or faculty to your website. Different layouts are included, including grid and customizable single views, as well as fields like job title, email address, phone, image and staff 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 learn more about each employee in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses simple shortcodes.

More info:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays employees, founders or just a single member of your team in a four-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant on plugin activation.

Employee Spotlight comes with two sidebar widgets which display featured and recent employees, and two responsive views which adjust to the screen in the viewer’s device.

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 sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

More info:

• Employee Spotlight – WP Plugin

Staffer

(Staffer – WordPress Plugin)

Staffer uses custom post types for staff 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: Staffer plugin website)

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

Learn more here:

• Staffer – WordPress Plugin

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
• Staff Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Congratulations! Now you know how to add a simple staff or team member directory to your WordPress site without editing code, so you can better showcase the people in your business, team, or organization.

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

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