Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

Many business and marketing experts have successfully demonstrated that people tend to buy from businesses they know, like and trust.

Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to engage more with your site? Then help visitors get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

If you are a WordPress user, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to display information about your partners, your team, or your staff using a WordPress staff list plugin.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we are going to show you how to easily create and add an easy-to-update list of employees or faculty members to WordPress.

Adding An Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

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

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

Simple Staff List lets you staff members.

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into the administration and go to Plugins > Add New …

(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 …

(Plugins  – plugin search results)

Click on Activate Plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating your plugin, you will notice that new entry will appear in your main WP menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring The Simple Staff List Plugin

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

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members Menu – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups settings …

(Groups area)

Note: Configuring groups is very similar to creating categories in WordPress …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add new groups by typing in the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group name here
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 categories
4. Description – Type in the group description
5. Click the Add New Group button when done to create a new directory category …

(Groups screen)

If you run a medium to large organization, being able to assign people to different groups can be very useful. For example, you can create a category for investors, project teams, departments, etc.

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

Your selected group will open in the Edit Group screen. Select a new parent group from the Parent dropdown menu …

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click on Update Group  when done …

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

You can add as many nested categories as you like …

(Add nested categories your directory)

After you have finished setting up your groups, the next step is to start to add staff details to your directory.

Staff Members – Add New

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

(Staff Members – Add New)

This opens up the Add New Staff Member screen …

(Add New Staff Member section)

This screen 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: Modify the permalink URL for each staff member if required (you will see this section after your first save).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

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

Staff Member Bio Section (4)

• Staff Member Bio: Enter a profile description for your staff member here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can use HTML in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

Click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options tab)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options tab)

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

(Add Staff Member fields)

Once you have entered each staff member’s details, assign your item to a directory group in the Groups box in the sidebar …

(Groups section)

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

(Add a new group inside your Groups box)

A field for creating your new group name will appear, with a dropdown menu to assign your new entry to a parent group. Enter your new category and click on the Add New Group button …

Your new group will be added. Remember to tick the checkbox to assign your listing to the group …

(New group)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to a staff or team member’s details. To edit a group 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 …

Click View Post …

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

(Edit Staff Member link – admin toolbar)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using the admin toolbar here:

• How To Navigate Inside The WP Control Area

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

We have written a detailed tutorial about using permalinks here:

• How To Improve Your WordPress SEO With Permalinks

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

Staff Members – All Staff Members

After entering staff members into your directory, you can view and edit details by choosing Staff Members > All Staff Members on the menu …

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a table displaying all the staff profiles and details you have added related to each entry …

(Staff Members details)

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

Click on Edit to modify their Staff Bio, or Quick Edit to edit details like name, slug, group, and publish status. You can also delete a member from your staff directory by clicking on the Trash link, or view the entry on your site by selecting View …

(Editing Staff Members profile details)

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 items if required …

(Search Staff Members search box)

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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options tab)

Tick or untick the checkboxes to show or hide specific fields. You can also select how many staff members are listed per page. Click Apply when finished to save your screen options …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you specify the order in which your employee profiles show on your directory pages.

Select Staff Members > Order on your WordPress admin menu …

(Staff Members – Order)

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

(Reorder items using drag and drop)

Your directory will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Staff Members – Order

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

Click Staff Members > Order on your dashboard menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange items using drag and drop)

Your staff list will automatically be reordered …

(Reordered listings)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The Simple Staff List plugin lets you edit 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 the main admin menu …

(Staff Members – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Customize your directory template)

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

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

(Default Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Simple Staff List Template Listing)

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

(Template tags can be added to the Staff Loop Template to customize your directory page)

Your directory entries will now display Facebook and Twitter links as as the example below shows …

(Employee profiles with social media links)

Note: If you want to customize how your staff directory looks but don’t want to mess around with editing code or are unsure of how to edit the template as shown above, please contact us for help.

Usage Menu

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

In your menu, click on Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This opens the Usage page …

(Simple Staff List plugin shortcodes)

This screen displays all the shortcode variations allowed by the Simple Staff List plugin.

A useful variation you can insert in your page, for example, to display only members belonging a specific group is the shortcode [simple-staff-list group=”group name”], (e.g.:[simple-staff-list group=”sales managers”])

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

Options Menu

In the main menu, select Staff Members >Options …

(Staff Members – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – Options settings)

Here you can modify some of the labels used in the plugin

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 help with this plugin, visit the Simple Staff List faq page and request help from the plugin author.

Additional WordPress Plugins For Creating Simple Employee Directories

Simple Staff List isn’t the only WordPress employee directory plugin you can use. For example, here are a few other plugins you can use to create a directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

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 about this plugin:

• Modern Team Staff Directory

Staff Directory

(Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin)

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

You can also insert custom fields …

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

More info:

• Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Faculty And Staff Directory

(Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Plugin)

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 a profile in a widget area.

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WP Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

With Company Directory, you can easily add your employees, team or faculty to your site. Different layouts are available, including list and single views, as well as fields like position title, email, phone, photo and member bio, allowing you to present your company and capabilities.

Visitors will be able to click through from your list, grid, and table views to learn more about each staff member in a customizable single view …

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

This plugin uses a simple shortcode system.

For more details, visit the plugin site here:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight)

Employee Spotlight displays staff members, partners or just one individual person in a 4-column circle grid page. This page can be easily created with a setup assistant upon plugin activation.

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

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

(Responsive layout with circle grid. Screenshot sourced from Employee Spotlight plugin website)

Learn more here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

Staffer

(Staffer)

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 an employee directory on your site …

(Staffer archive page. Screenshot sourced from plugin website)

Staffer works with many popular 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 Plugin WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, this tutorial has explained how to create and add an easy-to-update employee directory to your WordPress site.

Models used to display fictitious staff members were sourced under creative commons license from pixabay.com

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