Tag: WP Staff Directory Plugin

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

Are you searching for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know you, your team and your business better.

If your online business is built using the WordPress CMS platform, one way to easily help people get to know you better is to add a staff list plugin that will let you display a directory listing with information about your partners, your business team, or your staff members.

This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to add an easy-to-update directory of employees to your website.

Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install, activate and configure a no cost plugin called Simple Staff List.

Simple Staff List WordPress Plugin

(Simple Staff List)

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

First, let’s install and activate this plugin.

Log into your WP administration and in your admin menu, select Plugins > Add New …

(WordPress Plugins Menu – Add New)

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

Click on the Install Now button …

(Plugins  – Add Plugins screen)

Activate the plugin …

(Activate plugin)

After installing and activating the plugin, a new menu entry will display on the WordPress menu bar called Staff Members …

(Staff Members)

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

Configuring The Plugin

Depending on the size of your team and how you want to structure your employee directory, you can just start adding new staff members at this point, or create various groups (i.e. categories) to assign your individualstaff into.

Staff Members – Groups

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

(Staff Members – Groups)

This brings you to the Groups section …

(Groups screen)

Note: Setting up directory groups is just like adding categories …

(Groups work just like WordPress categories)

Add a new group by entering the following information:

1. Group Name – Enter your group category name here
2. Slug – Enter the slug of your group category name. Note: make sure that all letters are in lower case and use hyphens instead of spaces.
3. Parent – This section lets you set up a directory hierarchy
4. Description – Type in a group description here
5. Click Add New Group when done to set up a new group name …

(Groups settings)

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

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

(Nested categories)

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

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

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

(Edit Group settings)

Click the Update button to save your changes …

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

Click Update Group to save your changes …

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

Add as many nested categories as you like …

(Nested categories)

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 WP admin menu, choose Staff Members > Add New …

(Staff Members – Add New)

This brings up the Add New Staff Member area …

(Add New Staff Member settings area)

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

Name Section (1)

• Name: Enter your staff member’s name
• Slug: Change your employees’ slug (you will see this section after saving your details).

Staff Photo Section (2)

• Photo: Add a photo here

Staff Member Info Section (3)

• Position: Add the person’s position
• Email: Add the employee’s email address here
• Phone Number: Your employee’s phone number
• Facebook URL: Enter the person’s Facebook address (note: use the full URL, e.g. http://www.facebook.com/username)
• Twitter URL: Add the employee’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 employee here. This uses the WordPress Text Editor, so you can format content in this section.

Groups Section (5)

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

If you click on the Screen Options tab …

(Screen options)

You can enable additional features …

(Enable additional fields in screen options)

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

(Staff directory settings)

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

(Groups feature)

Note: If you have not set up your directory 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 for entering a new group name will display, with a dropdown menu that lets you assign your new entry to a parent group. Type in the name of your new group and click on Add New Group …

The new group will be created. Make sure that the check box is ticked …

(Groups feature)

Note: Groups cannot be edited when adding or making changes to employee 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 filling in your team member’s details, click the Publish button …

Click View Post …

To make changes to your staff member’s profile, click on the Edit Staff Member link in your WP admin toolbar …

(Edit Staff Member link – WP admin toolbar)

To learn more about using the dashboard admin toolbar, refer to this step-by-step tutorial:

• How To Navigate Inside Your WP Administration Page

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

(Not found error? Check your permalinks)

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

• Using Permalinks To Improve Your WordPress SEO

Repeat the above process to add more details to your staff directory directory.

Staff Members – All Staff Members

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

(Staff Members Menu – All Staff Members)

This brings up a list of all the directory entries and their details …

(Staff Members details)

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

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

(Edit Staff Members profile details)

If you have many names to add, your list can grow quite large.

Use the Search Staff Members search box to find a member if required …

(Search members)

You can 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 …

(Staff Members Screen Options)

Placing a tick in the item’s checkbox displays the field and unselecting it hides the field. You can also select how many staff members are shown per page. Click Apply when done to update your preferences …

Staff Members – Order

Simple Staff List also features a drag-and-drop interface that lets you arrange the order in which entries display on your directory pages.

Click Staff Members > Order in the WP admin menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Rearrange listings using drag and drop)

Your directory will be automatically reordered …

(Reordered listings)

Once you are done adding staff listing details to the directory, the next step is to add the directory to your site users.

Staff Members – Order

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

Choose Staff Members > Order on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Order)

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

(Reorder staff listings using drag and drop)

Your staff list will be automatically reorganized …

(Reordered list entries)

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

Simple Staff List – Additional Notes

The plugin allows you to customize the layout and style of your staff list listings using template tags and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

Templates Menu

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

(Staff Members Menu – Templates)

This opens the Templates screen …

(Templates screen)

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

For example, here is a screenshot of the Default Staff Loop Template …

(Default Plugin Staff Loop Template)

The above code displays the listing shown below …

(Default Template Listing)

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

(Use template tags to customize your directory page)

Here is what your listings page should now look like …

(Directory with social media links added)

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

Usage Menu

In addition to being able to customize your directory templates, the Simple Staff List plugin lets you display your listings differently using modified shortcodes.

In your menu, choose Staff Members >Usage …

(Staff Members – Usage)

This brings up the Usage screen …

(Usage shortcodes)

This screen lists all different shortcode variations that you can use.

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

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

Options Menu

Select Staff Members >Options on your menu …

(Staff Members Menu – Options)

This brings up the Options screen …

(Simple Staff List – customizable options)

Here you can change labels like Staff Members URL Slug and Staff Member title

Finally, you can also export your staff members details from the Tools > Export screen …

(Export Staff Members plugin information)

If you need any help with this plugin, visit the plugin plugin website and contact the plugin author.

Additional Staff Directory Plugins

Simple Staff List is not the only for creating a directory of your team members in WordPress. Here are other plugins you can look at to create an employee directory on your website:

Modern Team Staff Directory

(Modern Team Staff Directory – Plugin For WordPress)

The Modern Team Staff Directory 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)

To learn more about the plugin go here:

• Modern Team Staff Directory – WP 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 churches, schools, etc.

The plugin lets you set up custom fields …

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

Go here to learn more about this plugin:

• Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory 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 or university.

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

More info:

• Faculty And Staff Directory – WordPress Staff Directory Plugin

Company Directory

(Company Directory)

This plugin lets you easily add your staff to your website. Different layouts are available, including grid and single views, plus as fields like job title, email, phone, 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 staff member 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 shortcodes.

Go here to learn more:

• Company Directory – Plugin For WordPress

Employee Spotlight

(Employee Spotlight – WP Staff Directory Plugin)

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

The Employee Spotlight pluginincludes 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 staff member can be displayed in their own page, as well as in summary …

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

To learn more about this plugin go here:

• Employee Spotlight – Plugin For WordPress

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

For more details, visit the plugin site 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 Plugin
• WordPress Plugin Staff Directory
• Employee Directory WordPress
• etc.

Hopefully, now you know how to add an easy-to-update list of employees to your web site using a free WordPress plugin.

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

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