Business Directory Design
The Business Directory plugin has very little formatting of its own. The plugin is designed to pick up the formatting from any WordPress theme you have installed.
- Fields displayed – controlled by the Directory’s shortcode parameters and Chamber Dashboard settings.
- Single Listing Layout – controlled by your theme’s post template.
- Design – visit our library of popular CSS snippets you can use to modify the design of your directory.
Alphabetical Display
Sort Members
Display Business Directory in Alpha Order
To alphabetize your Business Directory use the [business_directory] shortcode with the orderby=”name” parameter: [business_directory orderby="name"]
>> See Example Business Directory Page
You can also create an alpha order page for a specific category, using the [business_directory]shortcode and the category parameter. ie: [business_directory category="your-category" orderby="name"] Where ‘your-category’ is replaced with a category that you are using in your directory.
>> See more options for customizing Business Directory Display
Search Results Page
The search results page will automatically display in alpha order.
Category Pages
If you are using the [business_categories] shortcode, first go to the Chamber Dashboard Settings page and check the ‘order category pages by business name’ option. When you add the [business_categories] shortcode to a page, a list of your categories will be displayed in alpha order.
>> See Example Business Category Quick Search
When you click on a specific category, the results there will be in alpha order as well.
Please Note: When using the [business_categories] shortcode, you can control which fields are shown on the category pages from the Chamber Dashboard Settings page, however, the page will pick up its formatting from your theme.
Add Social Media Icons
The Business Directory includes the option to display social media icons both on your Directory page and on individual listing pages, including: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, Trip Advisor and more.
Add social media links or icons to Directory listings
- From your site’s dashboard, go to Businesses.
- Edit a Business listing.
- Scroll down to the Social Media Link section to connect social media pages with each listing.
- Be sure to click ‘update’ to save your changes.
Display social media icons on individual listings
- Go to Chamber Dashboard >> CD Settings >> Directory.
- Select ‘Social Media Links’, then choose icon size and save your changes.
When you add social media links to your Business Listings, they will now show up on individual Listing pages.
Show social media icons in your Directory
To display social media icons to your Business Directory, add the social_media parameter to your shortcode.
[business_directory display="social_media"]
Display Featured Business
To feature a Business on your site, simply update the Business Directory plugin to the latest version.
Then go to Appearance >> Widgets and add the Featured Business Widget to the sidebar of your choice.
You can then manually select specific businesses to be displayed or choose a random display based on:
- Category
- Private Category
- Membership Level
Select the number of businesses to be displayed, the specific information to show and click Save.
If your theme does not offer an option to post a featured business on your home page, try the Chamber Beautiful theme, designed just for membership organizations!
Setup Online Payments
Add a membership form and setup online payments for members to join your Directory.
Add Pricing Table
Display member benefits as a pricing table and link pricing table directly to membership form.
Members edit listings
Let your members edit their own listings and add additional editors.
Member submitted events
Setup member submitted events for your community event calendar.
USING PRIVATE CATEGORIES FOR BUSINESS DIRECTORY
A well-organized Directory gives your members quick easy access to all of your listings. It’s a good idea to organize your membership categories in more than one arrangement to make things easier for your members.
In addition to displaying listings in alpha order, you might consider showing some categories of listings on a map, such as ‘Places to Stay’ or ‘Best Places to Eat’.
You might combine main categories and sub-categories, for example ‘Health & Wellness’, with subs of ‘Fitness’, ‘Salons’, and ‘Beauty Supplies’.
The Chamber Dashboard Business Directory lets you create multiple categories that you can use to organize your business listings.
Private Categories
We have also included private categories in the Business Directory. These categories do not display on the front side of your site. They are for administrative use only.
Categorizing Leads
Here are some ideas to use private categories to focus your new member outreach activities:
- Tag Businesses with potential for membership upgrade.
- Group previous participants or sponsors of an event, for follow up before the next event.
- Develop new offerings for mid-size Businesses only.
- Maybe you want to send a survey, but only to contacts that have met certain criteria.
However you use them, we hope private categories useful in organizing and managing your Business Directory!
Segmenting key contacts
Add Custom Fields
How to add & display custom fields in Business Directory
- Go to Chamber Dashboard >> CDsettings >> Directory.
- Scroll down to Custom Fields.
- Name your field and select a type.
- Set the field to display in your Directory or single view or both.
