Display Business Directory

There are two methods you can use to display your Business Directory:

Publish your page to view your Directory. Each Business is automatically linked to an individual listing page with more details about the Business. Note: If you are having trouble viewing the Single Business Listing, try going to Settings >>Permalinks and simply click ‘Save’. 

For a more SEO-Friendly Directory, invite your members to regularly update their own listings with the Member Updater plugin.

Looking for ideas for your Directory layout? Visit our design inspiration page here.

Individual listings automatically connect to Business Directory

Business Directory Block

The Business Directory can be added to a page using the shortcode below or the Business Directory block.

See how to add a ‘welcome new members’ section to your home page using the Business Directory block.

Logo Gallery Block

The logo gallery block is the perfect way to feature event sponsors and other key partners of your organization.

Set default featured image

Set a default featured image for Business Directory listings

Setting a default featured image for your Business Directory listings can be a great way to encourage your members to update their listing. Since member updated listings tend to be more robust and complete, we recommend encouraging your members to update their listings as soon as they have joined your organization!

To add a default featured image for all listings that do not have a featured image, go to Chamber Dashboard >> Directory Settings and upload the image you would like to show.

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Add Search Feature

The Chamber Dashboard Business Directory plugin offers a variety of search features to make it easier than ever for your members to get connected, including:

• Keyword search
• A-Z search
• Filter by category search and more.

See search feature options.

Display maps in Business Directory

The Chamber Dashboard Business Directory offers a couple of options to use Google Maps in your Directory, including a link that pulls up Google Map directions and a map that displays on each single Business listing page. Displaying Google Maps on your website requires both a browser API and a server API key.

We recommend creating your Google Maps API keys before importing Directory listings. Follow this link for details on how to display Google Maps on your website.

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Members Update their Own Listings

Try our Member Updater plugin to add a ‘claim your listing’ feature for your members to update their own listings.

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Online Payments

Automatically create new listings in your Business Directory every time a new member joins by adding an online payment option with our free Member Manager plugin.

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Connect to Mailchimp at signup

Add your members to your Mailchimp list during the registration process with our Mailchimp plugin!

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Display Member Benefits

Display benefits of joining your organization to encourage new members to join with our free Member Manger plugin.

Shortcode Parameters

By default, this shortcode will display a list of all of your businesses on one page.  It will show the name, logo, and excerpt of each Business, and the name and logo will link to a page that displays details about that Business.  You can change this display by adding parameters to the shortcode.  You can use as many or as few of these parameters as you need.  The available parameters* are:

format

Determine the format/layout of the Business Directory page. (See more formatting options)

Options:

• list – default
• grid2 – displays businesses in a 2-column format
• grid3 – displays businesses in a 3-column format
• grid4 – displays businesses in a 4-column format
• responsive – displays businesses in columns based on available space of page template

Example: [business_directory format="grid2"]

grid4, using Chamber Beautiful theme, with the featured image

Note: The following parameters currently only work with the Business Directory shortcode:

[business_directory] 

categories displayed

Limit the Directory page to display only a certain category or categories.  Add a comma-separated list of categories you wish to display.  You need to use the category slug, which is usually the category name, all in lower case, with dashes instead of commas.  For example, a category called “Restaurants and Eateries” will probably have a slug of “restaurants-and-eateries.” 

To find out for sure what the category slug is, go to Businesses >> Business Category.  This page lists all of your categories, and also shows the slug for each category.

Example:

[business_directory category="restaurants-and-eateries, coffee-shops"]

membership level

Limit the Directory page to display only a certain membership level or levels.  Add a comma-separated list of membership levels you wish to display.  You need to use the membership level slug, which is usually the membership level name, all in lower case, with dashes instead of commas.  For example, a membership level called “World-Class Supporters” will probably have a slug of “world-class-supporters.” 

To find out for sure what the membership level slug is, go to Businesses >> Membership Level.  That page lists all of your membership levels, and also shows the slug for each membership level.

Example:

[business_directory level="world-class-supporters, small-potatoes-supporters"]

membership status

Limit the Directory page to display only a certain membership status or statuses.  Add a comma-separated list of membership statuses you wish to display.  You need to use the membership status slug, which is usually the membership level name, all in lower case, with dashes instead of commas.  For example, a membership status called “Will Join Soon” will probably have a slug of “will-join-soon.” 

To find out for sure what the membership level slug is, go to Businesses >> Membership Statuses.  That page lists all of your membership statuses, and also shows the slug for each membership status.

Example:

[business_directory status="current, small-potatoes-supporters"]

text

Determine whether you want to display the excerpt or the full text of the Business description.

Options:

• excerpt – default, displays a short excerpt of the description, or the custom excerpt if you have entered one
• description – displays the entire description (the text entered in the main content area)
• none – displays no text

Example:

[business_directory text="description"]

display

Determine what additional information to display about each Business.

Options:

• location_name – display the names of all locations
• address – display the addresses of all locations
• url – display the web address of all locations
• phone – display the phone number(s) of all locations
• email – display the email address(es) of all locations
• category – display the category or categories the business is in
• level – display the business’s membership level
• social_media – display the business’s social media links

Example:

[business_directory display="url, email, category"]

single_link

Determine whether the Business name and logo will link to the individual Business listing page. The link will automatically display by default, but if you don’t want there to be a link, you can turn it off.  If you do this, it means that visitors to your site will not be able to find the single Business pages.

Options

• yes – default
• no – turns off the link

Example:

[business_directory single_link="no"]

perpage

The pagination shortcode will help you set the number of Businesses that display on the page.  By default, all of the Businesses will display, but if you have a lot of Businesses, the page might take a very long time to load.  Adding the “perpage” parameter will display that number of businesses per page, with pagination links to view more.

Example:

[business_directory perpage="25"]

orderby

Determine the order in which the Businesses appear.

Options:

• name – default, businesses are ordered alphabetically
• date – businesses are ordered by the date they were entered into the directory
• modified – businesses are ordered by the date they were last modified
• menu_order – businesses are ordered by the custom menu order.  To set a menu order for businesses, edit each business.  In the right sidebar is a box labeled “Page Attributes”, with a field for “menu order.”  Put a number in that field, and that will determine the order in which they appear.
• rand – businesses are ordered randomly.  Every time someone visits the page, they will be in a different order.

Example:

[business_directory orderby="menu_order"]

order

Determine whether the order is ascending or descending.

Options:

• asc – default, order from smallest to largest (or, if ordering by date, order with oldest first)
• desc – order from largest to smallest (or, if ordering by date, order with newest first0

Example:

[business_directory order="desc"]

image

Determine what image to display

Options:

• logo – default, displays the business logo
• featured – displays the featured image
• none – no image

Example:

[business_directory image="featured"]

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Add more features

Follow this link to add even more features to your Business Directory including: social media icons, online payments, events calendar and more.

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Business Directory not showing up on website

Business Directory Block

To display your Business Directory on your site using blocks, create a new page. Then add the Business Directory block to your page.

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