If you're looking for a way to increase sales on your WordPress e-commerce website, it's time to consider a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin.

Customers can buy more quickly by adding multiple products to the cart at once. They simply tick a checkbox next to each product and click a button to add them all to the cart:

It's the perfect way to increase your WooCommerce store's conversions.

Today, I'm going to tell you how to use our popular WooCommerce Product Table plugin to add bulk add to cart buttons in WooCommerce.

Let's get started!

What is the bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin?

WooCommerce Product Table is our bestselling WordPress plugin and works perfectly as a bulk add to cart plugin.

It lists products in a customizable table layout, with a tick box next to each item. There will be an 'Add Selected to Cart' button above and/or below your product tables.

You can create a single product table listing all your products with multiple add to cart buttons. Or you can create tables listing specific products only (e.g. by category). There are options to add tables anywhere on your site, or to replace the default layouts on the main Woo shop and category pages.

You can configure pretty much any aspect of your product tables. For example, you can choose which columns of product data display in the table. You can choose whether or not to show quantity selectors and product variations in the table. It's even possible to control how the table and quick add to cart buttons behave responsively on mobiles and tablets.

Here are just a few of the benefits of using bulk add to cart buttons:

  • Help site users find and add products to cart faster
  • Make it easier to add multiple products to cart
  • Potentially increase conversion rate
  • Simplify and streamline the buying process

How to add bulk add to cart buttons in WooCommerce

  1. First, get WooCommerce Product Table and install it on your WP website. I'm assuming that you've already got a website with WooCommerce setup and some products.
  2. Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Products > Product Table.
  3. Next, paste your license key from the confirmation email, and choose the default settings for your product tables. (You can override these for each individual table if needed.)
  4. WooCommerce add multiple products to cart pluginFor the 'Add to Cart button' setting, choose the 'Checkbox only' style to display a multiple add to cart checkbox next to each product. Choose 'Button & checkbox' if you want a add to cart button AND bulk tick boxes.
  5. Now it's time to add 1 or more product tables. There are 2 ways to do this:
    1. Create a page where you want to add a product table. Add the shortcode [product_table] to the page. Enter any further product table options to the shortcode.
    2. If you want to use product tables directly on the main WooCommerce shop page, follow the instructions in the knowledge base to add the product table layout directly to your theme's template file.
  6. Finally, view the page and you'll see your tables with WC bulk add to cart checkboxes next to each product.

Get WooCommerce Product Table

Get the most out of quick add to cart options

WooCommerce quick add to cart plugin with variations

The whole point of a bulk add to cart Woo plugin is to make it quicker for people to buy from you. With that in mind, I'll give you some tips on how to encourage customers to add multiple products to the cart. Use these to get more sales by encouraging each customer to buy more products.

Are customers likely to add multiple products to the cart?

First, you need to decide whether the products you sell will benefit from quick buy options such as a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin. Multi-select checkboxes are a major asset to many WooCommerce stores (including wholesale WooCommerce stores). However, they're not for everyone.

Customers are more likely to add multiple products to the cart when you're selling relatively small, low-cost items; or products that are designed to be used together.

Examples of products that benefit from quick add to cart checkboxes

Low cost products

Low cost products sell better with a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin. This applies to any store where each product isn't a major buying decision with low value products. For example, stationery, cosmetics and make-up, food and drink, gifts and toys.

Subtle improvements like quick buy checkboxes can convince them to buy more. Further encourage this with postage discounts for multiple items, or quantity-based bulk discounts.

Make sure your customers know they can save money, and use a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin to make it quick and easy.

Build a box

Build Your Own Product Website WooCommerce

WooCommerce Product Table is popular for selling build-your-own products such as gift hampers or wine boxes.

The box contents are listed in a table. Customers use the quick add to cart buttons to bulk select the box contents. Once they've ticked the required items, they add all selected products to the cart at once.

Restaurant order form
A WooCommerce bulk order form for a restaurant.

Many restaurants use WooCommerce Product Table as an online restaurant food ordering system.

They add their restaurant menu to a single page, with a separate product table for each section (e.g. starters, mains, sides). Each product table has bulk add to cart buttons with an 'Add Selected to Cart' button.

Customers tick all the food options from one table, add them to the cart in a single click, and then choose items from the next table. This is much quicker than clicking individual add to cart buttons for every product.

Related products and sets

If you're selling multiple products designed to be used together, then WooCommerce bulk add to cart buttons will make the process more user-friendly. Perhaps you're selling kitchen units where customers choose their own combination from a set of items such as worktops, cabinets and doors.

Customers need to plan their entire purchase before adding to the cart. When they're ready to order, WooCommerce bulk buy checkboxes make it much quicker to buy.

Case study - using a WooCommerce add to cart plugin to sell items in bulk

Darren Bowen Photography sells a range of products printed with Darren’s unique artwork. To help customers quickly buy multiple products there are two bulk ordering pages powered by WooCommerce Product Table. One for mugs and the other for iPad smart covers.

To buy multiple items, you simply select the quantities and use the “add to cart” function or check the “buy it” box. Once you’ve put everything you need in the cart, you can check your order before making your payment. And to keep things simple, there's an easy to use one-click checkout system.

Keep reading to learn how to add similar WooCommerce bulk order forms to your own site.

Which WooCommerce products don't need bulk add to cart buttons?

As you can see, many types of product will sell best with a plugin that provides quick buy options. However, a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin isn't going to help you with major purchases such as selling furniture online. If each purchase is a major decision for the customer, then adding quick check boxes won't really encourage them to buy more.

Think about whether the types of product in your store lend themselves to a quick bulk add to cart format.

Show important buying information in the table

There's no point having a WooCommerce bulk add to cart plugin if customers still need to visit the single product page before they buy. The whole purpose of the quick add to cart checkboxes is to allow customers to add multiple products directly form the main shop or product listings page.

This means that your WooCommerce product tables need to contain all the information that is needed to make purchasing decisions. You can do this by choosing which columns appear in the product table.

Joseph uses the WooCommerce Product Table plugin to include a quantity field in his product table:

Exactly What I Have Been Looking For
This plugin is absolutely fantastic. I have been looking for a plugin just like this for a while now. I so glad I discovered this one. I wanted a quick, nice way to have my many products listed in a table with a quantity field and an add to cart button. This plugin was the answer. I love the way you can customize the table to include only the columns you want and how you can order the table by a specific column. I would totally recommend this plugin.

The WooCommerce Product Table plugin supports all the standard product data that WooCommerce stores. Read the full list of available columns and choose your columns wisely. Add the product data that will actively encourage customers to buy without clicking elsewhere. You can even add extra data such as custom fields and taxonomies. These are ideal for adding any further information or downloadable documents that will help customers to reach a quick buying decision.

Add a quantity picker and variations

Customers will only use the plugin's bulk add to cart checkboxes if they can select product options directly from the product table view. This means that you need to make these options available alongside the quick add to cart buttons. This includes:

  • Activate the quantity selector on the WooCommerce Product Table plugin settings page. This lets customers choose a quantity before selecting the product and adding it to the cart.
  • Use one of the options to show variable products in the product table. You can show product variations as dropdown lists next to the bulk add to cart boxes. Alternatively, each variation can have its own row in the product table with a separate add to cart checkbox for each one.
  • If you're using the WooCommerce Product Options plugin with WooCommerce Product Table, then extra product options will appear next to the bulk add to cart check boxes. These two plugins work perfectly together, so this is a good way to add extra product options if variable products aren't right for you. For example, you can add extra options as checkboxes and radio buttons, or even add text fields where customers can add a personal message for each product. All this works directly on the product listing page, so customers can choose their options and add multiple products to the cart.

Help customers find products faster

Built-in options

Bulk add to cart buttons are just one way to speed up the buying process in WooCommerce. It works because products become more visible, faster. The WooCommerce Product Table plugin comes with plenty of features to help customers find products more easily. All these improvements work together to truly improve your sales and increase conversions.

For example, add filter dropdowns or filter widgets to let customers quickly refine the list of products. They can choose their filters, view a list of products they're interested in, tick the boxes and add multiple products to the cart in bulk. Keyword search above the product table offers another way to do this.

Performance and page load time is also important. If you have lots of products, you can use the lazy load option to load fewer products at a time. Lazy load lets you list hundreds or even thousands of products in a table. It minimizes load time and avoids potential speed and performance issues.

Advanced filtering plugin

WooCommerce Product Filters Table Integration

For stores that need bulk add to cart options with more advanced filtering, you can use WooCommerce Product Table with its sister plugin - WooCommerce Product Filters. This adds even more sophisticated filters to your bulk order forms, as you can see in the screenshot above.

WooCommerce Quantity Manager Plugin

The Product Table plugin makes it easy for customers to add bulk quantities and add multiple products to the cart at once. However, customers can still buy small quantities if they want.

If you only want to receive bulk orders, then you need to use WooCommerce Product Table with a minimum quantity plugin. It is designed to work alongside the Quantity Manager plugin, which lets you set different types of WooCommerce minimum quantity rules.

For example, you can set a minimum order quantity or value to prevent customers from placing small orders. Alternatively, you can set minimum quantities for the whole order or per category, product or variation.

Either way, WooCommerce Quantity Manager helps you to guarantee your profit margins by stopping customers from placing non-bulk orders.

Get Quantity Manager

WooCommerce Quick View Plugin with Product Table

Bulk add to cart plugins are all about helping customers to buy as quickly as possible. So what happens if you have too much information, or too many product options, to fit in the product table? Obviously, you don't want customers to have to visit the single product page. After all, this would slow down the buying process and defeat the purpose.

Instead, you can enhance your product tables with the WooCommerce Quick View Pro plugin. This handy plugin works hand-in-hand with WooCommerce Product Table and your bulk add to cart buttons. It adds quick view buttons or links to the product tables. Customers can view more product information and purchase options in a quick view lightbox. They can then either select variations and add to the cart directly in the popup, or they can quickly close it and use the bulk add to cart buttons in the product table.

Get Woo Quick View Pro

Adding products to the cart in bulk lets customers order more quickly and easily. However, they can still lose time completing the standard multi-page WooCommerce cart and checkout.

To optimize the second half of the customer purchase process, I recommend installing WooCommerce Fast Cart. This plugin displays the WooCommerce cart and checkout in a popup after customers add products to the cart in bulk. They can complete their order from directly within the popup. This is so much faster than having to visit multiple page after adding products to the cart.

WooCommerce one page checkout popup
Install WooCommerce Fast Cart for an on-page cart and checkout.

Get WooCommerce Fast Cart

Now you can create your own WooCommerce bulk add to cart buttons!

Now you know everything about how to use a bulk add to cart WooCommerce plugin. It's the easy way for customers to add multiple products to the cart at once. As you have seen, it will really speed up the buying process on your store.

Research shows that faster customers can use an e-commerce shop, the higher your conversion rate and sales will be. Test the add to cart checkboxes on our WooCommerce quick order form demo. Get the plugin today and add bulk add to cart buttons to your WooCommerce store straight away!

If your business is made up of more than a few individuals, you probably maintain a staff directory. This kind of listing is very useful internally, as it helps to keep everyone’s information in one place. It can also be beneficial to include it on your website, as long as you can find a way to organize it properly.

As with many tasks you’ll perform on your WordPress site, the best solution here is to install a dedicated WordPress staff directory plugin. With the right solution, such as Posts Table Pro, you can add a simple staff list to your site and customize it to suit your exact needs. You can even use custom fields and taxonomies to further refine and organize your directory.

In this post, we’ll talk about what to look for in a WordPress staff directory plugin. Then, we’ll introduce Posts Table Pro – a beginner-friendly yet powerful WordPress solution – and show you how to use it. Let's get started!

Why You Need a WordPress Staff Directory Plugin (And How to Choose One)

It's often smart to create a simple staff list of everyone who works for your company or organization. This directory generally contains names, contact information, profile pictures, and other pertinent details such as job titles. Having a hard copy of your staff directory handy is smart – and so is putting that information on your website.

An online staff directory is convenient, can’t be lost, and is easy to update. For WordPress users, the best way to create one is to use a WordPress staff directory plugin with the following features:

  • A way to easily add individual staff members and list them in one place.
  • Options for adding as many extra fields as you need.
  • Searching and/or filtering functionality, so users can find what they want quickly.

As with any plugin, it’s important to make your choice carefully. That’s why you’ll also want to pay attention to ratings and reviews, how frequently the WordPress staff directory plugin is updated, and what kind of support options are available.

You may also like: How to create a WordPress member directory.

Posts Table Pro

Fortunately, finding the best WordPress staff directory plugin isn’t hard. Our own Posts Table Pro is a flexible tool that meets all the above criteria. It helps you create a searchable and sortable staff list that can be tweaked to fit your precise needs, then displayed on your WordPress site.

Using a customizable shortcode, you can include as much information as you want in your staff directory, organize it all clearly, and enable users to quickly find the staff member they're looking for. What's more, with the purchase of this plugin you'll get access to expert support in case you need a little help getting started.

See a Posts Table Pro staff directory in action!

Key Features:

  • Supports custom post types, fields, and taxonomies - perfect for creating a staff custom post type with extra fields to record information about each person.
  • Includes search and sort features that are easy to use - perfect for helping people to find a specific person in the simple staff list.
  • Provides the option to embed media files - perfect for showing a profile photo or avatar of each staff member in the directory.
  • Offers plenty of flexibility and customization options - perfect for customizing your WordPress staff directory in any way you want!

Download Posts Table Pro Now!

How to Create a Staff Directory in WordPress Using Posts Table Pro (In 4 steps)

Now, let’s walk through how to actually set up your WordPress staff list. First, make sure you have a recent backup of your site in place. Then, you’re ready to begin!

Step 1: Create a Custom Post Type for Your Staff Page

A 'post type' is a unique format for content – WordPress default pages and posts are two examples. In this initial step, you’ll need to create a custom post type for your staff information. To do that, you can install the free Easy Post Types and Fields plugin:

Easy post types and fields plugin

This free plugin enables you to create all kinds of custom content and data on your site. Once you’ve installed and activated it, there will be a new Post Types tab in your dashboard. Click on Add New at the top of the screen, and follow the steps in the setup wizard.

Firstly give your custom post type singular and plural names.

create wordpress custom post type

Then, select the type of information you wish to display and click Create.

new custom post type Wizard

You have successfully created a custom post type. You should see a new tab appear for your new custom post type in the left-hand menu of your WordPress dashboard.

Step 2: Add Custom Fields and Taxonomies for Staff Data

Next, it’s time to create the categories that will appear in your staff directory. Before moving on, list out all the information you’ll want to include, such as each person’s phone number, email address, department, job role, etc. Then, split your list into two categories. Some of the information will be static data that users will simply want to look up, such as contact details. Other information needs to be ‘filterable’. For example, users may want to sort the directory by department or job role.

First, let’s address static data, like phone numbers and email addresses. For these details, you’ll create custom fields. To add custom fields, go to Post Type → Manage in your WordPress dashboard. Click on the Custom Fields button for the post type you wish to update.

Click on Add New to add a new custom field to that post type and enter the Name, Slug and select the field type (text or visual editor).

custom field WordPress

Click Add custom field button when you're finished. You've successfully added a custom field. Repeat the steps above if you want to add more custom fields.

For data that needs to be filterable, you’ll use custom taxonomies instead. To create custom taxonomies, go to Post Type → Manage. Click on the taxonomies button for the respective post type you wish to customize. Click on the Add New button.

job titles custom taxonomy

Enter the singular and plural names and the slug for your new taxonomy. When you are done, click on the Add taxonomy button.

If you want to add more filterable taxonomies, repeat the steps above.

Step 3: Enter the Data for Each Staff Member

At this point, it’s time to start entering data for your WordPress staff list. Go to the tab in your dashboard that’s named after the custom post type you created, and select Add New:

Entering staff member data.

You’ll see the basic WordPress editor with a few new options. In the Title field, enter the name of the first individual in your directory. Then, add their contact details to the custom fields. On the right side of the screen, you can set a Department and Job Title for this individual (or use whatever custom taxonomies you created). Publish the entry when you’re done, and repeat this process for each team member.

Step 4: Use Posts Table Pro to Display Your Staff Directory

The final step is to actually display the directory on your site. To do this, you'll need to install the Posts Table Pro WordPress staff directory plugin.

After purchasing Posts Table Pro, you will receive a confirmation email containing your license key and a download link to the plugin. If you don't receive this email, please submit a support request. To install the plugin, follow these five steps:

  1. Download the plugin by clicking the link in your order confirmation email. This will save a zip file to your computer.
  2. Go to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
  3. Click the "Choose File" button and select the posts-table-pro.zip file you just downloaded.
  4. Once the plugin is uploaded, click the "Activate" button to enable it.
  5. The Posts Table Pro setup wizard will open automatically, prompting you to enter your license key and complete the setup process.

 

Step 5: Customize Your Staff Directory

A filterable staff directory.
You can customize your staff directory to include dropdown filters

Upon installation, the plugin will open a setup wizard that will guide you through a step-by-step process to create your first table. Once you have created your first table, you can customize its appearance to suit your preferences. If you want to create new tables, simply go to Post Tables → Add New, where you can create as many tables as you need.

  1. Choose a name for the directory that is meant only for internal use and will appear on the list of tables in the WordPress admin. Next, select the desired post type to be displayed. In this case the custom post type for your staff that you created.
  2. On the page for adding posts or pages to the table, you can choose from posts, pages, and custom post types. The available options depend on the post type selected in the previous step. If your post type has custom taxonomies, they will also be shown for you to pick.
  3. You can specify which columns to show and their order. For your directory, you might want to include critical details like the names of your staff, phone numbers, email addresses, departments, and job titles. To add a column, you can pick the column type from the drop-down menu and click on "Add." The added columns appear in the column list above, and you can change their order by dragging and dropping the sort icon or the column title.
  4. You can add filters to your table that enable users to refine their selections. Filters appear as dropdown menus above the table, and you can add as many as you like. The available filter options will vary depending on the post type selected on the first page. For instance, you can add departments and job titles as filters.
  5. Next, you can customize how your directory will be sorted.
  6. After creating your directory, the setup wizard will verify that you have completed the process and guide you on how to display the table on your WordPress site. You can display the table using the 'Post Table' block in the Gutenberg editor, or copy the shortcode from the table builder and paste it anywhere on your site, which allows you to put the table on any page, irrespective of its content.

Once you’re done, your directory will look something like this:

An example of a staff directory.

Conclusion

Displaying your staff directory on your website is a smart way to make sure that information is available to anyone who needs it. Team members will be grateful for an easy way to get in touch with the right person. What’s more, creating a staff directory is simple with the right plugins.

If you’re looking for the best WordPress staff directory plugin, you’ll want to check out Posts Table Pro. This flexible solution enables you to display and customize your simple staff list, especially when used alongside the free Pods plugin. To get started, you’ll want to install both plugins and then:

  1. Create a custom post type for your staff page.
  2. Add custom fields and taxonomies for staff data.
  3. Enter the data for each staff member.
  4. Use Posts Table Pro to display your staff directory.
  5. Customize your staff directory.

Do you have any questions about how to use Posts Table Pro on your WordPress site? Ask us anything in the comments section below!

Get Posts Table Pro

Image credit: Pixabay.

WordPress password protected events plugin

There are lots of plugins to organize or sell events on a WordPress website, but it's less obvious how to create WordPress password protected events.

Today, I'm going to tell you how to use Password Protected Categories to protect events. This is an easy-to-use plugin that lets you password protect events based on their category. It works with any WordPress events plugin, whether you're using Events Calendar Pro, Event Espresso, WP Events Manager, or something else.

Let's get started!

What is Password Protected Categories?

Password proteted WordPress events plugin login page

Password Protected Categories is a WordPress plugin developed by ourselves at Barn2 Media. It provides an easy way to hide and password protect any type of category in WordPress.

The plugin works with any WordPress custom post type, including Events. This means that you can use it as a WordPress password protected events plugin.

There are lots of ways that you can use Password Protected Categories to hide or protect your upcoming events:

  • You can list events in the public areas of your website, but require a password before users can view the event detail page or make a booking.
  • Another option is to list public courses or events in the public parts of your website, and create 1 or more private event categories that only people with the password can view. These will be hidden from public view - people in the public parts of your site will never know that your private event listings exist.
  • Alternatively, you can put all your events within 1 or more hidden event categories. This hides the entire events section of your website, while your normal web pages (Home, About, Contact, Blog, etc.) remain public.
  • Finally, you can create hidden event categories which only certain logged in users or roles can see.

Create a private or password protected events category in WordPress. It will instantly hide and protect all the events in the category and its sub-categories with the same password. This is much easier than password protecting individual events. It's more user-friendly because people only have to enter one password to unlock the entire category and all its events.

See password protected event categories in action on our plugin demo page.

Why would I want to password protect events?

Some people use a WordPress events booking website to promote events which are available for everyone to view and book. Others create a private events website to advertise events that only pre-approved people can access.

Here are some examples of why you might want to sell private events in WordPress:

  • A company or organization might want to create a hidden events area on their website to list staff-only events or workshops.
  • Training companies might offer training course dates to employees of a specific organization. They can list these events within a hidden password protected events category. Employees can enter the password to view the dates that are available to them, and make a booking without the public knowing that these events exist.
  • A members-only events site (e.g. a membership club or speed dating site) can use password protected events categories to take bookings for their events. Only people with access to each type of event can view them and make a booking.
  • Some websites list all their events publicly, but only pre-approved people can actually place a booking. When you click on an event, you are prompted to enter a password. This is a good way to recruit people into a club or membership organization, as they must join in order to book an event.

And of course, you can password protect events in WordPress even if you don't take bookings via your website. The important thing is that the event pages are private. It doesn't matter whether or not you accept bookings or if people can just turn up on the day.

Which WordPress events plugins does Password Protected Categories work with?

WordPress Password Protected Categories works with the vast majority of WordPress events plugins. Here's how to tell if it will work with your chosen events plugin:

  1. The plugin must have a custom post type which is used to store events. This applies to nearly all WordPress events plugins. If your events plugin has created a section called 'Courses', 'Events' or similar in the left hand side of the WordPress admin, then this means that there's a custom post type for events.
  2. The events custom post type must come with categories (also known as hierarchical taxonomies in WordPress). You can check this by looking under the 'Events' link in the left hand side of the WordPress admin. If there's a 'Categories' link, then this will work with the Password Protected Categories plugin.
WordPress password protected events plugin compatibility
If your events plugin creates an 'Events' section (or equivalent) and comes with categories, then it will work with Password Protected Categories

If your events plugin doesn’t categorize events then you can easily achieve this by installing Easy Post Types and Fields and creating a custom taxonomy for the events post type.

Compatible WordPress events plugins

The following events plugins definitely work with Password Protected Categories:

This list is not exhaustive and it will actually work with most events plugins. If you're not sure, add a comment below and I'll check, or you can test it with Password Protected Categories and use our 30-day money back guarantee if there are any problems.

How to password protect events in WordPress

To start password protecting events, either watch the video or follow the instructions below:

  1. Password Protected Categories settings.First, install the Password Protected Categories plugin. (I'm assuming that your events plugin is already set up. If not, click here for some tips.)
  2. Go to Settings > Protected Categories and enter your license key.
  3. Choose your settings, such as the text for the password entry form. You can also choose the number of days before each user must re-enter the password to continue accessing the password protected events categories.
  4. Tick the 'Show Protected' box to display your password protected events in the public parts of your site. (This means that people can see your protected events, and will be prompted for a password when they try to view the single event page.) Leave it unticked if you want your protected events to be completely hidden from public view.
  5. Next, hover over the events section on the left of the WordPress admin, and click the Categories link. Add or edit the events category that you want to password protect. Find the 'Visibility' section and choose one of these options:
    • Password protected - Enter 1 or more passwords to hide the category page and its events behind a password protection screen. You can add a shared password for everyone, or add a different password for each person. (More info here.)
    • User or role protected - Choose this if you want to hide the category and its events from public view, so that only logged in users with a specific user role can see this.

WordPress password protect events category plugin

  1. Add the shortcode [category_login] anywhere on your site to create a category login form. When someone enters a password on this page, the plugin will automatically direct them to the correct events category.

Can I protect multiple event categories with the same password?

Yes, you can create more complex event category structures, all protected by a single password. To do this, you need to create a single password protected 'Parent' category and password protect it. Next, add as many sub-categories as you like. Leave them set to 'Public'.

The plugin will automatically protect the password protected sub-categories and their events with the same password as the parent events category. Users can enter the password once and the entire section will be unlocked for them. Once they're in, they can navigate between multiple events as needed.

How to create a WordPress events website

I've written this tutorial for people who already have a WordPress events plugin set up on their site. If you haven't got this far, don't worry.

I recommend The Events Calendar plugin as the best way to create events in WordPress. You can use the free plugin to list events for information, or combine it with the Pro plugins from the same company to take bookings online with WooCommerce.

If you don't know how to do this, I've created an online course about how to create a WordPress events website using these plugins. It covers everything you need to know.

Does the plugin change my event layouts?

Password Protected Categories is a simple plugin to protect and hide any or all of your WordPress event categories. If you want to change the way your events are displayed, then I recommend our Posts Table Pro plugin.

WordPress password protected events tablePosts Table Pro is a WordPress table plugin. Unlike most table plugins, it takes any type of WordPress content and lists it in an interactive table view with filters. It's ideal for listing events in a table because the table layout is perfect for displaying events. The table plugin lists each event date on a separate row of the table. You can show whichever columns of data you'd like, such as event image, name, description, date etc.

Check out our tutorial on how to create a table of events with Posts Table Pro and The Events Calendar plugin. If you're using a different WordPress events plugin such as Event Espresso then the instructions are similar. The only difference is that you need to use the name of the events post type created by your plugin instead.


Password protected events WordPress plugin

So, now you know how to hide and password protect event categories - regardless of which WordPress events plugin you're using. Next, it's time to put it into practice.

Download Password Protected Categories and use it with your chosen WordPress events plugin. It just takes a few minutes to set up and will instantly hide all the courses or events in your protected categories.

Password Protected Categories comes with an in-depth knowledge base and full support from us at Barn2 Media. It comes with everything you need to get your password protected events up and running, so try it today.

Let me guess: You've been searching for a WordPress A-Z plugin but none of them do exactly what you want them to do. Now, you need to create an alphabetical listing of your WordPress content but maybe you're not sure how to get started.

Don't worry - we've got you covered.

In this post, I'll show you how to use the Posts Table Pro plugin to create a WordPress alphabetical index from any type of content on your site - posts, pages, custom post types... you name it! You can use this to create A-Z listings, with posts listed by letter. Or maybe a WordPress glossary, where people can click on the A-Z letters or numbers to view the listings under each one.

Example of WordPress A-Z listing for movies

Let's get started so you can have a working solution to your problem as soon as possible!

How to create a WordPress alphabetical index or list

To demonstrate how to create a WordPress alphabetical index, I’m going to use a real-life example of creating an A-Z movie index where visitors can click on any letter to jump straight to movies with names that start with that letter.

You can see an example of the end result below:

final wordpress a-z listing of movies

The process that I show you can work for anything, though. This means you'll be able to adapt this same basic approach to anything from regular WordPress posts to custom post types to numerical indexes and even WooCommerce products.

Posts Table Pro - the perfect WordPress A-Z plugin

While there are some simple WordPress A-Z plugins, most of them force you into using a single preset layout and only apply to regular WordPress posts.

On the other hand, by using Posts Table Pro, you’ll be able to:

  • Create an A-Z index for regular posts, pages, or custom post types
  • Manipulate your WordPress alphabetical index to show only the exact information that you want
  • Include data from custom fields in your index

You can see a live example of the types of indexes that Posts Table Pro can help you create on this demo page.

Here’s everything you need to create your WordPress alphabetical index

And if your theme doesn't already have functionality for tabs or toggles, you'll also need:

  • Shortcodes Ultimate plugin (free), optional, but makes it easy to create clickable tabs to divide your index by the letters in the alphabet.

The entire process in a nutshell

I’m going to break down every single step in more detail. But before I do that, I want to give you a high-level look at the process so that you have an idea of where this article is going.

To create a WordPress alphabetical list you’ll:

  1. Decide between listing regular posts, and pages, or using a custom post type
  2. Create a custom taxonomy that you’ll automatically add the first letter of the post using a code snippet (for easy alphabetization) - or you can set the letters manually if you don't want to edit any code
  3. Create a list of content for each letter using the Posts Table Pro shortcode
  4. Display those lists in a tabbed interface using Shortcodes Ultimate (or something similar)

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Decide what content you want to index

Posts Table Pro lets you index and alphabetize content from:

  • Posts
  • Pages
  • Custom post types

So if you haven’t already, it helps to think of the best way to store the content that you want to index.

  • Posts - typically, people use the default posts to store blog posts. So if you want to create an alphabetical index to list WordPress blog posts, this is what you want.
  • Pages - pages are generally more for static content. You can create an index of your pages, but for more specialized content, you'll probably want a custom post type instead.
  • Custom Post Type - custom post types are flexible and good for storing non-standard content, like a movie entry, staff member, and more.

For this demo, I’m going to use a custom post type to store the movie entries. But if you want to use regular posts, instead, it’s as simple as removing one tiny little phrase later on in the article (I’ll explain this when we get there!).

Step 2: Create a custom post type using Easy Post Types and Fields

If you’re going to use regular WordPress posts instead of a custom post type, you can click here to skip straight to the next step.

To create your custom post type, install and activate the free Easy Post Types and Fields plugin. Then:

Go to  Post Type → Manage in your WordPress dashboard. Click Add New to launch the wizard.

First, enter the Singular and plural names for your post type. For this example, “Movie Review” and “Movie Reviews”. But again, you can adapt this to anything - “Staff Member”, “Artist”, or “Document”.

custom post type wizard

Select the type of information you wish to display and click Create.

custom post type wizard step 2

And you are done! You should see your new custom post type show up in the WordPress sidebar.

I’ll cover some neat enhancements - like adding custom fields - later on. But for now, you’re ready to move on to the next step.

Further reading: How to create custom post types in WordPress (step-by-step)

Step 3: Create a custom taxonomy

In order to index content alphabetically, you need to create a taxonomy for Posts Table Pro to filter content based on.

Essentially, you create the Alphabetical Letter taxonomy and assign each post a taxonomy for the first letter in the post's title (don’t worry - I’ll show you a way to do this programmatically so that you don’t need to manually set the taxonomy for every content item).

For my movie example:

  • “Eat Pray Love” would get “E”
  • “Conspiracy Theory” would get “C”
  • And so on...

Here’s how to create the necessary taxonomy:

If you skipped here from Step 1, you’ll need to install and activate Easy Post Types and Fields plugin before you continue.

  1. Go to Post Type → Manage.
  2. Click on the taxonomies button for the post type you wish to customize (in our example, it would be Movie Reviews).
  3. On the Manage Taxonomies page, click on the Add New button.
  4. Enter the singular and plural names for your new taxonomy. For our purpose, it would be Alphabetical Letters. The actual name can be anything but make sure the slug is easy to remember.
  5. Make sure the Hierarchical checkbox is unchecked as there will only be 26 letters of the alphabet and no need to create sub-taxonomies.
alphabetical letters taxonomy

After making those changes, make sure to click Add taxonomy button.

Step 4: Add content using the custom taxonomy

Now, if you go to add new content using regular posts or your chosen custom post type, you should see the new Alphabetical Letters taxonomy.

Add your content, making sure to add the appropriate letter to the Alphabetical Letters taxonomy for each piece of content.

add custom taxonomy to create a wordpress alphabetical index

How to add the taxonomy programmatically

For small amounts of content, it’s fine to add the taxonomy manually. But if you’re dealing with large amounts of content, you might prefer a method that doesn’t require you to manually input the taxonomy every single time.

Thankfully, you can do that using some basic code. Essentially, this code snippet will automatically chop off the first letter of any piece of content and add it as a taxonomy - no manual input required!

While you’ll need a tiny bit of PHP knowledge to get this done, it’s nothing too complex. Here’s the code I used for my example (credit to Kathy Is Awesome for this snippet):

Note - assisting with code snippets is outside of our plugin support. If you're not comfortable editing code yourself, we recommend using Codeable to find a developer who can do this for you.

/* When the post is saved, saves our custom data */
function kia_save_first_letter( $post_id ) {
 // verify if this is an auto save routine.
 // If it is our form has not been submitted, so we don't want to do anything
 if ( defined( 'DOING_AUTOSAVE' ) && DOING_AUTOSAVE )
 return $post_id;

//check location (only run for posts)
 $limitPostTypes = array('post');
 if (!in_array($_POST['post_type'], $limitPostTypes)) 
 return $post_id;

// Check permissions
 if ( !current_user_can( 'edit_post', $post_id ) )
 return $post_id;

// OK, we're authenticated: we need to find and save the data
 $taxonomy = 'glossary';

//set term as first letter of post title, lower case
 wp_set_post_terms( $post_id, strtolower(substr($_POST['post_title'], 0, 1)), $taxonomy );

//delete the transient that is storing the alphabet letters
 delete_transient( 'kia_archive_alphabet');
}
add_action( 'save_post', 'kia_save_first_letter' );

To make this code your own, you need to:

  • Replace post in array('post'); with the name of your custom post type (only if you’re using a custom post type).
  • Replace glossary in  $taxonomy = 'glossary'; with the name of your actual taxonomy

To find the name of your custom post type, click on Post Types → Manage and check the Name/Slug column. To check the name of Taxonomies, click on Taxonomies button and check the Name/Slug column:

custom post type slug

You can then add this code to your site using a plugin like Code Snippets (I marked the two areas that you need to modify with arrows to make things clear):

where to replace code snippets

Once you add the code, you’ll no longer need to manually edit the taxonomy for each piece of content. Instead, WordPress will automatically take the first letter of the post and add it to the taxonomy whenever you publish or update the piece of content.

You can see this in action below:

Step 5: Add content to the alphabetical list

Now, you’re ready to create the various alphabetical lists of your content.

After buying Posts Table Pro, you will get a confirmation email that includes a download link and a license key. Once you get the email, download the plugin from the link provided and save the zip file to your computer.

Next, upload the plugin to your WordPress admin by going to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin, selecting the zip file, and then activating it. Once activated, the setup wizard will take you through a step-by-step process to create your first table. The wizard will guide you through the process of selecting columns, adding filters, and customizing the display of your table. With these easy-to-follow steps, you can quickly set up your Posts Table Pro plugin and start creating tables to display your content in an organized and efficient manner.

Here are some tips on which specific settings to choose in the table creator:

Choose which type of content to display

To create a table listing the pages or posts for a specific letter of the alphabet, the first step is to provide a name for your table and select the post type you want to display.

After giving your table a name and selecting the post type, the next step is to choose which posts or pages to include in your table. The available options will differ based on the post type you selected in the previous step. For example, if you chose a post with custom taxonomy, you will be presented with the relevant taxonomies to select from.

For example, to display content from the Movies post type, just choose 'Movies' from the dropdown menu in the 'Create' tab.

Choose which columns to display in your table

Customize columns in WordPress table plugin

Now that you’ve selected what type of content to display, you need to choose the specific information that you want to display as columns in your table. For example, depending on what you’re displaying, you might want to show:

  • Post title
  • Custom fields
  • A link or buy button
  • Etc.

To do that, choose the column type from the dropdown menu and click "Add". You can also reorder columns by dragging and dropping the sort icon or column heading.

Filter posts to display them alphabetically and set the sort order

Add filters to your table that enable users to refine their selections. Filters appear as dropdowns above the table, allowing users to quickly sort and find the information they need. You can add as many filters as you like, depending on the content of your table and what your target audience would find most helpful. For example, you can add a filter for titles or categories.

In addition to filters, you can also choose how to sort the table. You can set the default sorting option and the sort direction. Sorting allows you to arrange your table's contents in ascending or descending order based on a particular column, making it easier for users to find what they are looking for. For example, if you have a table of books, you could sort them by name, allowing users to quickly find their books in alphabetical order.

Display your table

Once you have completed creating your table using the Post Table Pro plugin, there are two ways to add it to your website:

  1. Using the Gutenberg editor: In the Gutenberg editor, you can insert a 'Post Table' block by clicking on the plus (+) sign and searching for 'Post Table'. Once you select the 'Post Table' block, it will be added to your page. You can then customize it further by choosing which table to display and other settings.
  2. Using shortcode: If you're not using the block editor or prefer to use shortcode, you can copy the shortcode from the final page of the WordPress table builder. You can then paste the shortcode anywhere on your site, such as a page, post, or widget. The shortcode for each table also appears on the main list of tables in Post Tables → Tables, so you can easily access it at any time and add it to your site. By using shortcodes, you have the flexibility to place the table on any page, regardless of its content.

Step 6: Create tabs using Shortcodes Ultimate plugin and insert shortcode

example of wordpress a-z listing tabs

If you want to create a set of clickable tabs like the example above, Shortcodes Ultimate provides an easy, theme-agnostic solution. With that being said, if your theme does include already functionality for tabs/toggles, we recommend using that first. If not, go for Shortcodes Ultimate!

To get started:

  • Install and activate the free Shortcodes Ultimate plugin
  • Go to the WordPress editor for the page you want to add your WordPress alphabetical index to
  • Click on the new Insert shortcode button above the editor toolbar (or use a block if you're using the Gutenberg editor)
  • Select the Tab option
how to use shortcodes ultimate
  • Enter “A” in the Title and Anchor
enter letter
  • Enter the Posts Table Pro shortcode in the Content box
  • Click Insert Shortcode
  • Repeat the process for each letter in the alphabet, making sure to change the letter in the Posts Table Pro shortcode each time to display the correct taxonomy term

Once you’ve added 26 shortcodes for all the letters in the alphabet (27 if you want to collectively include numbers 0-9 as a separate option), wrap the entire set of shortcodes in the [su_tabs] shortcode. You should have a separate [su_tab] shortcode for each letter of the alphabet, each containing a Posts Table Pro table.

If you get stuck, skip ahead. I've provided some sample shortcodes that you can copy and paste straight into your page.

Sample A-Z shortcode for you to copy

If the above seems a bit tricky, don't worry. Here's a set of sample shortcodes that you can use to get started. Just paste the entire group into your page, then replace 'alphabetical_letter' with the actual name of the taxonomy you're using to tag your posts with the correct letter":

[su_tabs]
[su_tab title="A"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:a"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="B"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:b"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="C"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:c"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="D"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:d"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="E"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:e"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="F"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:f"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="G"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:g"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="H"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:h"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="I"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:i"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="J"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:j"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="K"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:k"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="L"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:l"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="M"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:m"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="N"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:n"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="O"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:o"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="P"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:p"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="Q"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:q"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="R"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:r"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="S"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:s"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="T"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:t"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="U"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:u"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="V"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:v"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="W"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:w"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="X"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:x"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="Y"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:y"] [/su_tab] 
[su_tab title="Z"] [posts_table term="alphabetical_letter:z"] [/su_tab]
[/su_tabs]

Enjoy your new WordPress alphabetical index

Now, if you Publish your page, you should be able to see your WordPress alphabetical index.

Here’s what my example looks like after adding a few more movies. I’ll use a GIF so that you can see how the alphabetization works:

example of wordpress alphabetical index

If you want to remove the search, filter, and/or pagination options, you can add additional shortcode parameters to further customize how things look and function.

And if you want to enhance your index with more information, here’s a neat way to display extra information using custom fields...

Enhancing your WordPress alphabetical index with custom fields

Because Posts Table Pro can display custom fields, you can use custom fields to display additional information as a separate column in your index.

For example, in my alphabetical movie list, it might be helpful to include extra information for things like:

  • Release Date
  • Director
  • Etc.

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Add custom fields using Easy Post Types and Fields plugin

To add custom fields to a custom post type, just edit that custom post type from the Post Types → Manage interface.

On the other hand, if you want to add custom fields to your regular WordPress posts, you’ll need to:

  1. Go to the Post Types page and click on the Custom Fields button for the respective ost type.
  2. Click on the Add New button on the Manage Custom Fields page.
  3. Give your custom field a name, slug, and type. The type can be a simple text or a visual editor.
  4. Click on the Add custom field button.
Add new custom field

For example, here’s what it looks like after I’ve added a few custom fields:

all custom fields

Once you save your changes, you’ll be able to add information directly to those fields if you go to the relevant post type:

adding custom fields

Step 2: Include custom fields as columns in Posts Table Pro

Now that you have your custom fields, all that’s left to do is include them as columns in your table. To do that, add a comma between each column you want to display.

You need to know the custom field name for this. You can find the field name in the Post Types → Manage interface:

manage post types

So to add columns for Director and Release Date to my example from before, I would go to Post Types → Tables and click to edit my table. On the columns page, I would click to add a custom field column and add the custom field name.

Put it all together, and my example alphabetical movie index looks like this:

final wordpress a-z listing of movies

You may also like: How to use a WordPress index plugin to list pages, posts or any custom post type.

Create a WordPress numerical index with tabs for numbers 0-9

So far, you've learned how to create an A-Z alphabetical index in WordPress. If you'd like to create a numerical index - for example with tabs for numbers 0-9 - then the instructions will work for that too.

Creating An Alphabetical Index Of WooCommerce Products

All the steps that I’ve shown you in this article can be easily adapted to create a WordPress alphabetical index of WooCommerce products using our WooCommerce Product Table plugin.

Essentially, you’ll perform identical steps to everything I’ve discussed above but focus on the product post type that WooCommerce creates.

Here’s a quick summary of the steps that you’ll want to take:

  • Use Easy Post Types and Fields to create a new Alphabetical Letter custom taxonomy that is associated with the Products post type
  • Take the same code snippet from Step 4 and apply it to the product post type to programmatically add the product’s first letter to the Alphabetical Letter taxonomy that you created
  • Use the WooCommerce Product Table shortcode to filter products by taxonomy and control what information is displayed
  • Add the WooCommerce Product Table shortcode to tabs that you create with Shortcodes Ultimate

The advantage of using WooCommerce Product Table is that you'll be able to easily include product images, Buy buttons, and other eCommerce-focused information in your alphabetical product table.

Posts Table Pro is your flexible WordPress A-Z plugin

If you want to create a flexible WordPress alphabetical index, Posts Table Pro gives you all the functionality that you need.

You'll be able to organize any type of content, including custom post types. And you'll also be able to manipulate your content's front-end display by choosing exactly what shows up in the index, including custom fields.

Remember - to create the alphabetical list like the example above, all you need is:

  • Posts Table Pro (or WooCommerce Product Table if you want to create an alphabetical list of WooCommerce products)
  • Easy Post Types and Fields to create the custom taxonomy and/or custom post type
  • Shortcodes Ultimate to display everything in a tabbed A-Z list (or your theme's built-in options)

Have any further questions about how to create a WordPress alphabetical index? Leave us a comment and we'll try to help out!

Today, I'm going to show you how to use Posts Table Pro as a WordPress job board plugin. This WordPress table plugin is an ideal way to list job vacancies in an easy-to-find, user-friendly format. Job hunters can quickly search, sort and filter the list of jobs to find the vacancies they're interested in.

WordPress Job Board Plugin

As companies post job alerts on your site, you'll build your backlinks and authority with search engines, boosting your SEO and your traffic - creating a virtuous cycle that will help cement your site's place as the job site in your niche. Who needs LinkedIn?

I'll also show you how to add extra features to the job portal. This includes online job applications, a 'Submit a job' form with PayPal payments, and automatic expiry dates for when a job reaches its closing date. I'll provide step-by-step written instructions as well as a YouTube video tutorial that you can follow along with.

Before we start, I'll share three case studies of companies who have used this tutorial to create a real-life WordPress job board. Afterwards, I'll tell you how to do the same on your own website!

Case study #1 - WordPress job board plugin for Cardiac Output

Cardiology job site

Cardiac Output is a cardiology job board owned by ourselves at Barn2 Media. It has been the UK's leading cardiology job portal for over 25 years. We took it over back in 2013 to give it a fresh start and modernize its online presence.

We originally used WPJobBoard as the WordPress jobs plugin for Cardiac Output. However, it has never been as reliable as we would have liked. And at $97/year, it was more than we wanted to spend on a WordPress job board plugin. Our web host WP Engine recently told us about a security loophole in WPJobBoard. This was the final straw, so we decided to rebuild the job manager using our own Posts Table Pro plugin.

Posts Table Pro is hugely popular as one of the best WordPress job board plugins, and lots of our customers use it in this way. It made perfect sense to use it for Cardiac Output, so we decided to make the change.

In this tutorial, I will tell you exactly how I used Posts Table Pro to create a WordPress job portal for Cardiac Output. I'll include detailed screenshots and a full video tutorial. You can even see it in action on the Cardiac Output website! This will give you everything you need to create your very own WordPress job board.

Case study #2 - TVProductionContacts.com's Job Board

TVProductionContacts.com Sortable Job Board

TVProductionContacts.com is a networking site for professionals in the TV production industry. The site's creator wanted to add a sortable job board to his site, to do this he chose to use Posts Table Pro. And this is the tutorial that he used to help him create the job board.

The job board has been customized to show just the right amount of columns. Info varies from job title and location, to rate of pay and contract duration. Job seekers can quickly sort through the table by using the dropdowns above the job board to filter out what they're looking for.

The table is easy to manage as there's a job submission form powered by the Gravity Forms plugin and the Gravity Forms + Custom Post Types add-on. Once each job submission has been approved, the table is automatically updated with the information.

Case study #3 - Ian Martin Job Board

WordPress job board plugin case study

IanMartin.com followed the instructions in this tutorial to create a job board for their WordPress website. They chose the Posts Table Pro plugin specifically because it handles custom post types and displays jobs in the required layout.

Developer Scott Russell said: "We do engineering, IT and technical project staffing so have a LOT of jobs we need to display, organize etc. We’re using a plugin called Matador that pulls jobs from our applicant tracking system, displays the job ads as custom post types and allows people to apply for jobs."

Each job is added to the custom post type created by the Matador plugin. The jobs can be divided into categories and industries, with an 'Industry' filter dropdown above the table. This makes it easy for jobseekers to sift through the long list of jobs and quickly find jobs in their industry. They can also click on an industry in the table to filter by that industry.

As well as the central list of all jobs, they have used the job board plugin to list jobs from specific industries only. For example, there's a page listing Power Generation jobs only. They also have location-specific pages where users can sort by location to find jobs in their area.

Read on to find out how to create your own job board.

How the WordPress job board works

We'll create a WordPress job manager by combining Posts Table Pro with free plugins to add all the features we need. This is what you'll need:

  1. WordPress website with a theme, a domain name, and hosting. Note that Posts Table Pro is designed to work with any page builder plugin, such as Elementor, Beaver Builder, etc. It also works with the Gutenberg or Classic WordPress editors and has its own Gutenberg block. So however you've built your site, you'll be covered!
  2. Easy Post Types and Fields - you'll use this free, lightweight plugin to save your jobs in the WordPress back end. It does this by creating a 'Jobs' custom post type, which adds a dedicated Jobs area to the WordPress admin. This is where you'll create jobs, add extra fields of information, and structure job types into categories.
  3. Posts Table Pro - this WordPress job search plugin lists your job postings in a table layout on the front end of your website. It provides extra functionality such as search, sort, and filter.
  4. (Optional) Post Expirator - use this free plugin if you want to automatically remove vacancies from the job board after the closing date.
  5. (Optional) To add even more features to your WordPress job board portal, you can use a WordPress forms plugin (e.g. the free Contact Form 7 plugin) to take job applications online. Or you can use Gravity Forms to create a 'Submit a Job' form where employers can post vacancies directly to your website.

Video - How to create a WordPress job board

Watch this video to see me create a complete WordPress job portal with these plugins. You can pause as many times as you like, and create your own job board alongside me. I've also provided step-by-step written instructions below:

Step 1 - Create somewhere to store your job vacancies

To build a WordPress jobs board, you need an area for storing the job vacancies. We'll do this by creating a 'Jobs' custom post type. You'll have a dedicated 'Jobs' section on the left hand side of the WordPress admin. This keeps your job vacancies separate from other content, such as pages and posts.

1a. How to create a Jobs custom post type in WordPress

  1. Install and activate the free Easy Post Types and Fields plugin from WordPress.org.
  2. Look for Post Type → Manage in your WordPress dashboard. Click 'Add New'.
  3. Click 'Create New' on the next screen.
  4. Enter the singular and plural post type names.
    • Singular Label - The singular name for your jobs, e.g. 'Job' (make a note of this, as you'll need it to list the vacancies using the WordPress job board plugin in Step 2).
    • Plural Label - A plural name for your vacancies, e.g. 'Jobs'.
    • Click 'Next'.
  5. Select the type of information you wish to display and click Create.

Next, it's time to use the Easy Post Types and Fields plugin to create custom fields and taxonomies. These let you store extra data about each job vacancy in WordPress, such as job grade, hours, job description download link, and the 'Apply now' button.

Use custom fields to store one-off data about each job, such as the job reference or 'Apply now' link or button. Use custom taxonomies for data that you want to use to filter the WordPress job portal. For example, you might want to add filter dropdowns so that people can refine the jobs list by grade or hours, so use custom taxonomies for these.

Tip: You only need to create custom fields or taxonomies for data that WordPress can't store by default. Your Jobs custom post type can have all the standard WordPress core fields such as title, content, excerpt, featured image, tags and categories. You just need to create any additional fields that are needed on top of this, such as working hours or salary.

1b. Create custom fields for storing extra data about your jobs

  1. Head over to Post Type → Manage in your WordPress dashboard.
  2. If you want to add a custom field to a custom post type, click on the custom fields button for the respective custom post type. If you can't locate your pre-built post type in the list, it should be in the other post types tab (Such as posts, pages, products, or media).
  3. On the manage custom fields page, click on the Add new button to add a custom taxonomy.
  4. Give your custom post type a name, slug, and select the field type (text or visual editor). Click the Add custom fields button.
  5. Repeat these steps for all the custom fields that you wish to create.

1c. Create custom taxonomies for grouping and filtering the jobs

  1. Go to Post Type → Manage in your WordPress dashboard.
  2. This time, click on the Taxonomies button for the post type you wish to customize.
  3.  Click on the Add New button.
  4. Enter the singular and plural names and the slug for your new taxonomy, as before. (Remember to make a note of the singular label for Step 2.)
  5. Click on the Add taxonomy button.
  6. Repeat the steps above to add more custom taxonomies.

Now, you'll see a 'Jobs' section on the left of the WordPress admin. This is where you'll manage the vacancy in your WordPress job board. When you create a job board, you'll see all the extra fields available to fill in for each job listing.

1d. Add vacancies to the WordPress jobs plugin

Next, it's time to add the job vacancies to WordPress:

  1. Go to Jobs > Add New on the left of the WordPress dashboard.
  2. Add all the information for the job and click 'Publish'.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each job vacancy.

Tip: To create clickable links, you should either add the HTML for a link to a Text custom field, or use a WYSIWYG Visual Editor field and add a link using the 'Insert/edit link' icon from the WordPress toolbar. If your WordPress theme comes with buttons, you can also add buttons to these fields. For example, you might want to create a 'Download' button where people can access a PDF of the job description. (If your theme doesn't have a button style, then I recommend the free Shortcodes Ultimate plugin.)

Ok, so now you've finished creating the backend infrastructure for your website job portal. The next step is to use Posts Table Pro as a WordPress job board plugin that will list your jobs in a filterable table layout on your public-facing website.

Step 2 - Create a WordPress job board page

  1. Install and activate the Posts Table Pro WordPress table plugin.
  2. Once activated, the setup wizard will appear and guide you through the process of entering your license key.
  3. Once you have installed the plugin, you can use the automatic setup wizard to create your first table. However, if you prefer to start right away or are already familiar with the plugin, you can create new tables anytime by going to Post Tables → Add New.
  4. Follow the table wizard and customize your table by columns, filters, sort, and more.
  5. To add your table to your WordPress site, you have two options. Firstly, you can use the Gutenberg editor by adding a 'Post Table' block and customizing it further with your preferred settings. Secondly, you can copy the shortcode from the WordPress table builder and paste it anywhere on your site, such as a page, post, or widget. You can find the shortcode for each table in the main list of tables in Post Tables → Tables.
WordPress job directory plugin

2b. Choose your columns

On the table builder, you can add columns to your job board. To customize the columns displayed on your board, you have the option to select which columns to display and in which order. For instance, you can add:

  • Image
  • Title
  • Company
  • Hours
  • Locations
  • etc.

You can add a column by choosing the type of column from the dropdown menu and selecting 'Add'. As you add columns, they appear in the list of columns above, and you can rearrange them by dragging and dropping the sort icon on the left or the column title.

2c. Add filters to help people find a job

If you're planning to list more than about 5 jobs, then I recommend adding filter dropdowns at the top of the WordPress job board. You can add filters for categories, tags, or any custom taxonomy - each as a separate dropdown. This job portal has 3 filters, so users can find jobs of all stripes based on the country, location, and working hours:

WordPress job portal plugin

To add a filter, select the appropriate option from the dropdown menu and then click on the 'Add' button.

Lastly, choose how to sort the table. You can set the default sorting option and the sort direction.

Job seekers can now sort by any column or use the search box or filters to find a job. If you've included any custom taxonomy columns in the list of jobs, then they can also click on this to filter the table. Any links or buttons will appear as clickable links on the job board.

Step 3 - Configure the single job page

In your WordPress job board, you'll see that people can click on the job title or image to access a separate page about that job. This page will show the job title, main content (where you may have added the full job description or person specification), and possibly the featured image - depending on your theme.

The easiest way to show extra information such as location and salary is to add this within the main content box for each job. There are 2 ways to automate this:

  1. If you're technically minded, then you can create a custom template for the Jobs post type and use it to display the custom fields and taxonomies. For non-developers, I recommend posting a job on Codeable - this is a good way to find good developers with specific skills.
  2. If you don't want to create a custom template, then you can use Posts Table Pro to display the custom fields and taxonomies directly on the single job pages. I'll tell you how to do this next. It's a neat way to show custom fields and taxonomies for specific jobs without having to edit any template files.

Use Posts Table Pro to show the extra job fields on the single vacancy page

WordPress job board plugin single vacancy
On the Cardiac Output job site, I used Posts Table Pro to display the custom fields and taxonomies for each job at the top and bottom of the individual job page.

For example, in this screenshot, you can see two extra tables, which I added directly to the main content box for the job vacancy. The first table shows the job image, working hours, company name and location. The second table appears under an 'Apply for this job' heading and contains the contact details for enquiries, plus buttons linking to the downloadable job description and website.

The process for showing these fields on the single job vacancy page is similar to creating a table listing all your jobs, which I showed you in Step 2. However, there are a few differences to be aware of:

  • Add id="123" to the Posts Table Pro shortcode, replacing 123 with the ID of the job vacancy post. You can find the ID by going to the Edit Job screen for that job, and looking for post=123 in the URL. For example, if the URL ends in /wp-admin/post.php?post=33563&action=edit then the ID for the post is 33653.
  • Add links="none" to the shortcode to disable the links to the single job page. Your users are already on that page, so these links aren't needed!
  • Add page_length="false" reset_button="false" search_box="false" totals="false" to the shortcode. This will remove any elements you don't need such as the number of jobs and search box, which aren't appropriate here.

For example, I used this shortcode to create the table shown at the top of the above screenshot:

[posts_table post_type="job" include="123" columns="image,tax:hours,cf:company,tax:location" shortcodes="true" links="none" page_length="false" reset_button="false" search_box="false" totals="false"]

Step 4 - Automatically expire vacancies from the job portal on the closing date

Expire post WordPress plugin
Lots of WordPress job boards need to automatically expire the job listings when the closing date passes. This saves manual work, as you don't have to set a reminder to delete the job on the closing date.

You can easily achieve this by adding the free Post Expirator plugin. Install the plugin and it will add a 'Post Expirator' box on the right of the Add Job screen. Use this to set a job vacancy expiry date to change the job status to 'Draft' when it expires.

Can jobseekers apply for a job vacancy online?

It's easy to add an 'Apply online' facility to your WordPress job board or portal.

You just need to create an enquiry form to use alongside the WordPress job board plugin.

You can do this using any WordPress contact form plugin. These instructions are for Contact Form 7 as it's free and hugely popular, but any contact form plugin is fine. (Tip: If you're planning to add a 'Submit a job' facility anyway, then you might as well use Gravity Forms for this. As you'll see in the next section, you'll be needing Gravity Forms so that employers can upload a job.)

  1. Install Contact Form 7 and go to the 'Forms' section on the left of the WordPress dashboard.
  2. Use the Contact Form 7 Documentation to create a Job Application form with all the fields you need. You can create short or long text fields, check boxes, radio buttons, and even extras like file uploads.
  3. Add the contact form to a separate page on your website.
  4. Next, add an 'Apply for Job' link to one of the fields in your job board. I recommend creating a custom field for the job application link (see Section 1b, above). You can display this as a column in the job board table (see Section 2). For each job, add a clickable button or link to the page with the contact form.

Do I need a separate application form for each job?

It's entirely up to you. The simplest option is to create 1 job application form and use it for all your jobs. Include a compulsory 'Job Title' field in the form so that applicants can tell you which job they're applying for.

Alternatively, you could create a separate form for each job. This is obviously more work, or you could ask a developer to dynamically generate separate forms for each vacancy and link to these from the 'Apply for Job' column in the job board.

Can I link to a 3rd party job applications page?

Absolutely. If you want people to apply via a third party job site (e.g. NHS Jobs if you're listing NHS jobs), just link to that URL from the 'Apply for Job' column in your WordPress job board, instead of using your own contact form.

If you're just using the WordPress job board plugin to list your own job vacancies, then you can stop now and start setting up your jobs portal. Keep reading if you want employers to be able to post job vacancies directly to your website.

You may also like: how to create a WordPress member directory

Can employers submit and pay for jobs online?

WordPress job portal submit a job form
If you want recruiters to be able to post jobs on the website, then you can do this with the Gravity Forms WordPress forms plugin. You need to add a 'Submit a Job' form to your website where employers can enter all the vacancy details. You can also use it to take other information such as the employer's contact and payment details. This method means there's no need for each recruiter to set up their own company profile in order to post jobs to your site.

When a job advertiser submits the job vacancy, you will receive an email notification and a new job post will automatically be added to your WordPress job board. (If you want to approve each vacancy before it's added to the job board, then you can hold each post for moderation by an administrator.)

Check out our full tutorial on how to use Gravity Forms to create a form, which will automatically add job posts to your website. You can also see it in action on the TV Production Contacts website - they followed the instructions in this tutorial to create their own 'Post a job' form:

Post a job form

You can use this method for free job listings, or you can take payment via invoice or PayPal:

  • Manual payment for job listings Set up the form as described above. Make sure it's held for moderation if people have to pay before the job advert goes live. Manually send an invoice to the job advertiser.
  • PayPal payment for job adverts Gravity Forms has a PayPal add-on that lets employers pay using PayPal before they can submit a vacancy to your WordPress job board.

How will you use the WordPress job search plugin?

In this tutorial, I've told you everything you need to know about how to combine different, simple job board software to create a fully functioning jobs site. You've learned how to create a dedicated 'Jobs' section within WordPress. You know the customization potential of adding extra fields of information to your jobs. You've also learned to list your jobs in a front end WordPress job board, with extra features such as job search and filters. And you know how to set up approvals for the email alerts you'll receive each time a recruitment agency submits a vacancy to the site.

Now it's time to put it into practice. Posts Table Pro comes with full support, so get in touch if you need any help or advice. I'd love to hear how you get on with our WP job manager plugin - please leave your comments below.

Best WooCommerce order form plugin

Have you ever noticed how long it takes to add products to the cart in WooCommerce? Customers have to visit a separate page for each product so that they can select quantities, choose variations etc. You can speed up the customer journey by adding a quick WooCommerce bulk order form to your website. To do it, simply install a WooCommerce order form plugin.

Order forms allow customers to view and compare a longer list of products than the traditional WooCommerce layout. For lots of stores, an order form fits aligns better with how customers browse and buy products. They can see everything on one page, compare products and make quick buying decisions. This encourages more sales by enabling customers to shop quickly and efficiently.

WooCommerce Product Table order form

WooCommerce Product Table is the perfect way to create a quick order form. In fact, people keep telling me it's the best WooCommerce order form plugin around! We've built a quick order form demo so you can see how it works – go ahead and have a play.

Of course, an order form layout isn't for everyone. In this post we'll help you choose between using a WooCommerce order form plugin and the standard WooCommerce shop layout, so you can rest assured you're creating the ideal product layout for your store. Once you've learned all about WC order forms, I'll provide step-by-step instructions plus a video tutorial on exactly how to set it up.

What is a WooCommerce order form?

By default, WooCommerce displays e-commerce products in a standard format, with each product occupying a relatively large amount of space.

This typical store layout has a grid format with 3 or 4 products per row. Each will have a large featured image, a title, a short description, a price, and an Add to Cart button. Customers click through to a single product page to read more information before adding the item to their shopping cart:

Default WooCommerce layout example

A WooCommerce order form is an alternative way to list products. Presented in a structured table format, each product takes up a single row in the table, and product images are much smaller. The layout is far more compact and often includes extra features, such as sort options and filters. The screenshot below shows what you can create:

WooCommerce order form plugin example

An order form plugin lets you list many more products on a single page than you could in the default WooCommerce store layout. And, instead of clicking through to the single product page, customers can select variations, specify a quantity and add their chosen items to the cart – all directly from the order form.

Boosting sales with an alternative layout

Both the traditional category layout and order form view use the Woo cart and checkout. Once a customer has chosen their products, the process for placing an order is identical.

The real difference is how the products are presented in the first place. This is a key part of the buying process: it's the point when customers are exploring your products and making buying decisions. The layout has a big impact on your sales and conversion rates, so it's vital to choose the right layout for your products.

Comparing the two layout options for listing WooCommerce products, you can see how a WooCommerce order form plugin (or WooCommerce bulk order form plugin) makes much better use of space than a traditional store layout:WooCommerce order form layout

Using the product table, you'll fit twice as many products into the same amount of space. Because of the compact layout, it's also possible to fit in plenty of extra features, including filter dropdowns, a search box, sorting, and the ability to select quantities and variations. This is why we often refer to it as a WooCommerce bulk order form – because it's so much easier to order higher quantities.

What sort of websites need a WooCommerce order form plugin?

While the standard WooCommerce shop format is great for some stores, there are many cases when an order form gives customers a better buying experience.

A WooCommerce order form plugin is ideally suited to stores where customers don't want to hang around browsing, but instead want to quickly choose from a list of products. Let customers add multiple products to their carts from a quick one-page order form. 

WooCommerce quick order form

How to create a WooCommerce order form

Watch this video tutorial below to learn how to create a order form in WooCommerce. You can watch me create the exact order form shown on the demo site then create your own on your WooCommerce site! Alternatively, read the quick setup guide or the step-by-step written instructions below the video:

Quick setup guide

  1. Install the WooCommerce Product Table plugin on your WordPress site.
  2. Use the plugin setup wizard to control how you want the order form to work.
  3. Go to Pages → Add New and add the [product_table] shortcode.
  4. Publish the page and view the order form.

Detailed written tutorial

To start, you need a WordPress website with WooCommerce set up and some products added.

Step 1: Install the WooCommerce order form plugin

  1. Get WooCommerce Product Table and install it via Plugins → Add New.
  2. Get your license key from the confirmation email and enter it into the setup wizard or WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Product tables.

Step 2: Configure your order forms

The next step is to choose all the default settings for your product order forms. You can either do this on the plugin settings page or in the setup wizard.

The settings you choose here will apply to all the order forms on your site. If you plan to create multiple order forms, then you can override most of the settings directly in each order form.

For an order form, I recommend considering the following settings:

Choose what data to display in the order form

The 'Column' option lets you control which columns appear in the order form. You can display various data about your products including SKU, ID, name, description, short description, date, categories, tags, image, reviews, stock, weight, dimensions, price and Add to Cart button. The plugin supports product attributes and custom fields as separate columns in the table, e.g. size or color.

WooCommerce order form with variations
You can choose whether the 'Buy' column includes product variations and quantity picker, or whether you want customers to click through to the single product page to view the variations. And if you're using the Product Options plugin to add extra product add-ons, then these will appear in the order form too.

You can also choose whether to have normal add to cart buttons, multi-select checkboxes, or both. Or if you use WooCommerce Product Table with the free WooCommerce Custom Add to Cart plugin, you can even replace the cart button with a simple cart icon:

WooCommerce cart icon plugin
Use filters to help customers find your products

The WooCommerce order form can include filter dropdowns above or filter widgets alongside the table. This lets customers filter by category or product categories, tag or attribute. You can either include all possible filters or choose specific ones to appear.

Here's an example of the filters that come with the order forms in Product Table:

WooCommerce order form with filters

Or for even more filtering options, you can use it with our advanced filtering plugin - WooCommerce Product Filters. By using both plugins together, your filters can look more like this:

WooCommerce Product Filters Table Integration
Change the sort order of the products in the order form

You can choose how the products on the order form are sorted by default. Customers can also sort the products by clicking on a column header.

Control the number of products per page

Your order form can be as short or as long as you like. Simply choose how many products appear on each page before pagination links appear at the bottom. (You can even choose the style of pagination buttons, or display all your products so that no pagination is needed.)

Use lazy load to improve performance in big order forms

The lazy load option speeds up the order form load time for WooCommerce stores with many products. This uses Ajax to load products one page at a time, so if you have thousands of products then this makes a big difference.

Step 3: Create an order form page(s)

  1. Create a new page which you will use for your order form. If you prefer, you can tick the box on the settings page to enable the order form layout on your main shop and category pages instead.
  2. Add any content that you like to the page. For example, you can add text or other content above and below the order form. You can also add subheadings (e.g. one for each category) and insert a different order form after each one.
  3. Go to the part of the page where you wish to add a WooCommerce form. Add the following shortcode to the page: [product_table]
  4. Publish the page and view it.

On your= order form page, you'll see all your products listed in a neat table layout. Tweak the settings to configure your order form in whichever way you like.

If you want to create multiple order forms - either on the same page or multiple pages - then that's fine too. Just use the shortcode options to control which products appear in each order form. You can include specific products by their ID, product categories, tags, and more. You can also exclude products by ID or category.

WooCommerce Product Table categories screenshot

Step 4: Add bonus features to your order forms

Now we've looked at the essential features for a WooCommerce order form, I'm going to tell you how to supercharge it even further. You can do this by using other plugins to add bonus functionality.

Add an on-page popup cart and checkout

A WooCommerce order form is all about bringing the shopping experience to a single page. For this reason, it makes sense to also bring the cart and checkout experience to the same page!

You can achieve this by adding a cart popup plugin to the order form page. The Fast Cart plugin is designed to work alongside your WooCommerce order form like this:

Product table with fast cart

And also this:

WooCommerce popup checkout page

Either use it as a popup cart, or skip the cart and open the checkout as soon as customers add products to their cart from the order form. That's the quickest way to shop because customers can add products and complete their order from the same page!

Add product quick view
WooCommerce Product Table Quick View Magnifying Glass

Your order form can contain various columns of information about your products. However, you may want to display extra information that won't fit in the order form layout. Or you may want to sell product variations or other options without cluttering up the order form page.

You can solve this dilemma by using WooCommerce Product Table with the WooCommerce Quick View Pro plugin. This adds quick view buttons or links, which open extra product information and purchase options in a user-friendly lightbox window. It's a great way to show extra information without taking customers away from the order form.

Disable the WooCommerce single product page

By default, customers can click on a product title or image in the order form to view a separate page for each product. Most product order forms don't need this feature. You can disable these links if needed so that the only way to view a product is on the order form page - especially if you're using quick view instead.

Add additional fields and custom fields to the order form

WooCommerce Product Table makes it easy to add additional fields to your order form. This is useful if you need to add media such as PDFs with more information about a product, or you just need other meta information.

We have a full tutorial on how to use WooCommerce custom fields here.

Create a printable WooCommerce order form

Since publishing this article, some of our customers have asked about how to create a printable order form. The idea of this is that customers can print the order form on paper and fill it in manually. They can then post it to place the order the old-fashioned way.

In response, we've created a separate tutorial on how to create a printable order form.

What types of product sell best in a quick order form?

Now we've learned how to use the best WooCommerce order form plugin, let's consider when to use one. After all, all products are different and some lend themselves to the order form layout better than others.

Let's take a look at some examples of when an order form layout is the best way to go:

WooCommerce wholesale order form

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro prices 1

Trade customers typically make regular orders of products they're already familiar with. They don't want to spend ages browsing multiple product pages.

A compact wholesale order form lets them quickly select multiple products and instantly add to cart. This is more efficient for wholesale users than a more traditional WooCommerce product layout, which is too visual and spaced out. It's ideal for bulk wholesale buying.

For best results, use WooCommerce Product Table together with its sister plugin WooCommerce Wholesale Pro. Product Table provides the order forms, and WooCommerce Wholesale Pro adds other B2B functionality like wholesale registration and pricing. You can choose whether to enable the order form view for all customers, or just wholesale users.

Large product directory

A lot of our WooCommerce Product Table plugin users have HUGE e-commerce stores with thousands of products. A WooCommerce directory plugin is a good way to list large numbers of products in a directory structure.

For example, one website uses WooCommerce Product Table to display thousands of ball bearings for sale. Customers can use the filters to find the type of ball bearing they require based on product attributes such as size and color. They can then tick the products they want, add to cart and buy online. This would be a cumbersome process using the traditional WooCommerce shop layout. Not to mention that large pictures of ball bearings aren't necessary! Check out our tutorial on how to create a WooCommerce product catalogue.

Here's a review from a customer who's increased sales by using Product Table to list thousands of products in a quick order form:

Great Plugin!
I needed a simple table to display thousands of products in table form and this plugin did the trick. Plus, it is super simple for the customer to select many items at one time. Before I installed I was lucky to get orders with three items, now I AVERAGE ten products per order. Support is also really good too. I highly recommend this plugin.

WooCommerce bulk order form

Similar to a wholesale order form, a WooCommerce bulk order form is useful for ordering large quantities of products. If a customer is buying products in bulk, they won't want to browse through the standard WC layout. A product table is perfect as a bulk order form because they can quickly order as many products as they like.

'Build your own product' configurator

WooCommerce Product Configurator Plugin

Lots of WooCommerce websites let customers choose multiple items from a list to build a box, create their own pizza, build a luxury hamper, or similar. Customers can select items from a list and add them all to a cart with a single click. An order form is ideal for this 'build a product' format or product configurator.

Case study – using an order form plugin to sell hampers

Barks and Squeaks is an online store selling gifts and treats for fur buddies and their owners. As well as offering individual products, the Barks and Squeaks store sells hampers. To do this, they've created an order form using our WooCommerce Product Table plugin. This enables customers to quickly pack a hamper full of lots of products, without changing pages:

Build your own product example

Which WooCommerce stores don't need a quick order form?

As you can see, a WooCommerce order form plugin is the right choice for lots of stores, but it isn't for everyone.

If you answer 'Yes' to any of the following questions, it's worth considering whether the standard WooCommerce shop format is a better fit:

  • Does your store only have a few products?
  • Do you sell highly visual products that will benefit from big images or multiple images?
  • Do customers need to spend a long time reading detailed information about your products before deciding to buy?

As an example, imagine you own an online boutique clothing store. Think about how your customers would use your store. Big images will definitely play a crucial role in encouraging sales. Your customers will also be happy to take their time browsing items and reading detailed product information. They may then go on to make a considered purchase of one, two, or perhaps a few items.

With a WooCommerce order form, customers can click through to a single page for full product information. You can also increase the size of the product images for a more visual table:

Large image product table

But ultimately, deciding on the right layout to use comes down to which one best suits your particular customers. With smaller purchase quantities and less need for quick purchases, your imaginary boutique clothing store is likely to benefit from the highly visual layout characteristic of the standard WooCommerce shop format.

Create a quick WooCommerce order form today 🚀

How your customers want to shop should dictate your store's product layout. The default WooCommerce shop layout works for customers who are happy to take their time browsing images and reading descriptions. But, when your customers need to buy multiple items quickly, a WooCommerce order form plugin is a much better solution.

We'd love to see your WooCommerce form – share your website in the comments below. We might even link to it from the WooCommerce Product Table showcase!

Pods tutorial create WordPress custom post type

Over 100,000 WordPress sites run the free Pods plugin. It's a fantastic way to create custom post types, custom fields, and taxonomies - everything you need to store extra data. Keep reading to discover an easy way to install Pods and list the data in a searchable, sortable table.

At Barn2, we love the WordPress Pods plugin because it makes it so easy to add extra content types to any WordPress website and has a list of premium addons. Instead of messing up your site by adding everything as pages and posts, you can create WordPress custom post types or CPT and create custom settings pages. Your new custom post types appear as separate sections on the left of the WordPress admin menu. They're perfect for storing articles, events, publications, members, directory listings, or something completely different. However, there is a problem.

While Pods is a wonderful and versatile plugin for creating custom post types, fields, and taxonomies in WordPress, it does have a limitation regarding displaying the custom data in the back end, which is great for storing and organizing information for internal use. However, it does not include any functionality to display the custom data on the front end, meaning that you will need to use additional tools or code to display the information on your website.

The solution is to use WordPress Pods plugins with the Posts Table Pro plugin. Posts Table Pro is a WordPress table plugin that displays your custom post types, fields, and taxonomies in a searchable, filterable table. It's the perfect way to show custom content.

Posts Table plugin
Using Posts Table Pro to display custom data creating using Pods

This Pods WordPress plugin tutorial is the complete guide on how to use Pods to create WordPress custom post types, custom fields, and taxonomies. I'll show you how to create each of these extra content types. You'll also learn how to display them on your website using Posts Table Pro.

In this article

WordPress custom post type fields plugin

Either read the whole article or click straight to the section you need. Alternatively, you can watch us create and display a custom post type in this video:

What are Pods?

Pods is a powerful and feature-rich plugin for WordPress. Whether you're looking to add custom post types, custom taxonomies, or custom fields that are meta boxes added to your posts to input additional information, this plugin provides you with all the tools you need to do so. Pods - Custom Content Types and Fields make it easy to create custom content types and fields, even for those without technical expertise, thanks to its user-friendly function.

One of the standout features of Pods is the level of support that it receives from a team of well-known WordPress.org experts. This ensures that the plugin is always up-to-date and in line with the latest development in WordPress.

I've obviously had my head in the sand for the last 4 years because according to the plugin changelog, Pods was released back in 2014 - and it has been updated every few months since then. For some reason, I only heard of it recently when customers started asking if our plugins work with Pods.

I did some investigation and discovered that lo and behold, Pods is a fantastic way for creating the extra data that people need to display using our WooCommerce and WordPress table plugins.

Download Pods

What are the alternatives?

There are various other plugins for creating WordPress custom post types, fields, and taxonomies. These include:

  • Advanced Custom Fields - Excellent for creating custom fields. There's a free and a Pro version. If you just need to create custom fields, then ACF is ideal for WooCommerce. ACF is compatible with Elementor, Gutenberg, WooCommerce, and WPML Multilingual plugin. But if you want custom post types and/or taxonomies too, then Pods is a better all-round plugin.
  • Toolset - This plugin is well-supported and from On the Go Systems, the company behind WPML. You can use it to create custom post types, fields, and taxonomies. I recommend Pods in this article because it's just as good as Toolset and completely free, but Toolset is a valid option too.
  • Custom Post Type UI - A free plugin for creating WordPress custom post types and taxonomies. I've used this a lot and it's a good option, but use Pods if you need custom fields too.

If you're using Posts Table Pro to list custom post types on your WordPress site, then you can equally create the data using any of the above plugins. However, we like Pods because you can use it to create custom post types, fields, and taxonomies. That way, you just need one WordPress plugin (Pods) to create and store the data, and another (Posts Table Pro) to display it on the front end.

How to create a WordPress custom post type with Pods

First, I'll show you how to use Pods to create a WordPress custom post type. I'm assuming that you have already installed the free Pods WordPress plugin. If you haven't done that yet, do it now.

  1. Add New WordPress Custom Post Type PluginNavigate to Pods Admin → Add New → Create New.
  2. On the 'Add New Pod' screen, choose 'Custom Post Type' from the 'Content Type (like Posts or Pages)' dropdown.
  3. Add a Singular and Plural label. This is how your WordPress custom post type will appear in the admin. For example, if you're creating a 'Documents' custom post type for a WordPress document library, then the Singular Label would be 'Document' and the Plural 'Documents'.
  4. Click 'Next Step'.
  5. The next screen lets you add custom fields to your custom post type. We'll look at this in the next section. For now, click on the 'Advanced' tab and scroll down to the 'Supports' and 'Built-in Taxonomies' sections. Tick any extra fields that you want to be available for your custom post type.
  6. Click 'Save Pod' and you can start adding custom posts straight away!
Edit Pod screen with WordPress custom post type link

Adding posts to your WordPress custom post type

Add WordPress custom post type Pods
'Add New' custom post screen with default fields

If you look to the left of the WordPress admin, you'll see a new link with the Plural Name you just added. To add a post to the custom post type you just created, go to [custom post type Plural Name] > Add New in the WordPress admin (e.g. Articles > Add New if your custom post type is called 'Articles')

The 'Add New' screen for your custom post type will look like my screenshot, plus any extra fields that you ticked in Step 5, above. Add all the data for your custom post and click 'Publish'. 

Keep reading to learn how to create custom fields and taxonomies for storing extra data in WordPress. Or if you want to get started with displaying your custom post types on your website without any extra fields, skip ahead now.

Creating WordPress custom fields with Pods

In this section, we'll explore how to use Pods to create custom fields for any post type in WordPress, including post types created with Pods, standard blog posts, pages, WooCommerce products, events, portfolios, and more.

Before diving into the process of creating custom fields with Pods, it's important to understand the various field types available. Pods offer a wide range of custom field types, including text, date, file uploads, checkboxes, and more. In this section, I'll provide a comprehensive list of all the custom field types you can create with Pods, to help you make informed decisions about which fields to use for your specific needs.

Pods custom field types

Posts Table Pro lets you display these Pods custom field types:

  • Plain Text - Unformatted text.
  • Website - A clickable link to any website or URL. Good for website links or downloads (e.g. in a WordPress document library).
  • Phone - Displays phone numbers. Use the 'Advanced' tab to select a format, and Pods will automatically add any dashes.
  • Email - A non-clickable email address. If you want to make it clickable, then I suggest adding it to a WYSIWYG field instead. That way, you can highlight the email address and add the link.
  • Plain Paragraph Text - Paragraphs of text with line breaks but no formatting.
  • WYSIWYG (Visual Editor) - Probably the most useful field type, this adds a full WordPress visual editor to your custom field. You can add any type of content and format it using the WordPress toolbar. You can even add images, videos, audio files, galleries, etc.
  • Date/Time, Date & Time - These 3 fields display dates and/or times. Use the 'Additional Field Options' tab to choose the format. Pods will show a date/time picker when you add data to this custom field. It will then show it on your website in the correct format.
  • Plain Number - Use this to store any number with no special symbols or extra formatting.
  • Currency - This field lets you display a currency or price. Use the 'Additional Field Options' to choose the currency symbol etc.
  • oEmbed - Displays any of the oEmbeds supported by WordPress. For example, if you paste a YouTube video URL then WordPress will automatically display it as an embedded video player using Posts Table Pro. (Note: You can also insert oEmbeds into the WYSIWYG field type.)
Add WordPress custom fields Pods plugin
I added data to various custom field types on a custom post
WordPress Pods Custom Field Types
Posts Table Pro displays the same custom fields like this

Pods custom fields that work but are less relevant/useful

  • Color Picker - With this field type, Pods will display a color picker when you add a custom post. Posts Table Pro will then show the hexadecimal value of the color. Not sure why you'd ever want to do this, but it's there if you need it!
  • Yes/No - In theory this field does work with our plugins. However, if you select 'Yes' then it will just display as '1', which isn't very user-friendly! I'd recommend a different field type for displaying this sort of information.
  • Code - Useful for displaying shortcodes or source code on your website.

Custom field types that can't be displayed using our plugins

  • Password field - You can use this to add an encrypted password in the back end, but the password column will appear blank if you try to display it using Posts Table Pro. This is for security reasons.
  • File / Image / Video - If you need to add files, images, or videos, then you can easily add these to one of the other field types. For example, you can add images using the 'Add Media' button of a WYSIWYG Visual Editor field, add videos by pasting a YouTube link to a WYSIWYG Visual Editor field or use the oEmbed field type.

How to create WordPress custom fields

Alright, now that you're familiar with the various custom field types that are available to you, it's time for me to guide you through the process of creating custom fields. Whether you want to add custom fields to a post type created using Pods or an existing post type, such as blog posts, pages, WooCommerce products, events, and others, the instructions will vary. However, don't worry, I'll walk you through the process step-by-step to make sure you end up with the custom fields you want.

Adding custom fields to Pods custom post types

  1. Go to Pods Admin > Edit Pods and click on the WordPress custom post type that you're creating custom fields for. This will take you to the 'Manage Fields' tab on the 'Edit Pod' screen.
  2. Click 'Add Field' and enter the data for your custom field:
    • Label - This will appear above the custom field on the add/edit custom post screen.
    • Name - (Generated automatically when you add the Label.)
    • Description (Optional.)
    • Field Type - Choose a supported type of custom field from the list above.
    • Options - Choose whether this field is mandatory when you create and save a custom post, or whether you can leave it blank.
  3. Click 'Save Field'.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 to create as many WordPress custom fields as you need.

Adding custom fields to other WordPress post types

To add extra fields to other post types such as posts, pages, products, or events, the instructions are the same as above. However, instead of Pods Admin > Edit Pods, you need to go to Pods Admin > Add New and click the 'Extend Existing' option. From there, you can add custom fields to any post type - not just those created in Pods.

Entering data for your Pods custom fields

As you move forward with creating or editing a post in your WordPress custom post type, you'll notice a section named 'More Fields' that displays all of your custom fields. This section is located just below the main content editor for the post.

Enter all the relevant information for your custom fields and proceed to publish or update the post. With Pods, you don't have to worry about formatting errors as it provides helpful warnings if you attempt to enter any information in an incorrect format.

Now that you know to add custom fields to your posts, I'll explain how you can create custom taxonomies using Pods. On the other hand, if you're eager to start showcasing the custom post types and fields directly on your website, feel free to move ahead.

How to create WordPress custom taxonomies

So far, you've learned how to create a custom post type using the Pods framework. You've also learned how to create custom fields for your custom post type. Next, I'll teach you how to create taxonomies for your post types.

  1. Go to Pods Admin > Add New and click the 'Create New' option.
  2. On the 'Add New Pod' screen, select 'Custom Taxonomy (like Categories and Tags)' from the Content Type dropdown.
  3. Add a Singular Label and a Plural Label. For example, if you need the custom taxonomy to store country data then the singular should be 'Country' and the plural should be 'Countries'.
  4. Click 'Next Step'.
Create WordPress Custom Taxonomy Pods
  1. Most people reading this article won't bother adding fields to their taxonomies because (a) this is a niche case, and (b) they're not supported by our plugins. So go straight to the 'Advanced Options' tab and scroll down to 'Associated Post Types'. This is really important, as it's where you link WordPress taxonomy with the post type that you need to use it on. Choose a post type from the list. This could be normal WordPress pages or posts, or a custom post type.
  2. Click 'Save Pod'.

How to add custom taxonomy terms in Pods

WordPress taxonomyNow you've created a WordPress custom taxonomy for your post type, it's time to add data to it.

You can add categories and tags to your custom post type, allowing them to be displayed in multiple archive pages and appearing on your home page or blog page. To do so, go to the "Add or Edit" page for the post type you want to apply the taxonomy to. Just like WordPress categories, you'll see the taxonomy option on the right side of the page.

At first, it will look something like this screenshot, as you haven't added any data yet. Click 'Add New Country' (or whatever you called your taxonomy) and add 1 or more terms. These will appear as checkboxes. You can make terms parents of each other to create hierarchical taxonomies in a nested structure:

Add WordPress taxonomy term plugin

Tip: You can also add, edit, delete and restructure your custom taxonomies centrally. Find the post type on the left of the WordPress admin, and hover over it to find the link for the taxonomy. This page will be just like the main 'Categories' page in WordPress, and you can use it to manage the taxonomy terms.

Displaying Pods content in the front end of your WordPress website

Pods is an excellent tool for creating custom post types, fields, and taxonomies that can store additional data in the backend of your WordPress website. However, displaying custom post types metadata on the front end can be challenging, especially for non-technical users who do not have the time or expertise to add custom code to their template files.

For those who want an easier solution, Posts Table Pro is a WordPress table plugin that can help display the Pods fields on the front end of your website without the need for complex coding. This plugin makes it easy for you to showcase the custom data stored in Pods in a dynamic and organized manner on your public-facing pages. So, whether you're a developer or a non-technical user, Posts Table Pro provides an accessible way to bring your Pods fields to life on your website.

What is Post Table Pro?

Posts Table Pro is a powerful WordPress plugin that provides an easy solution to display all types of WordPress content management system, including custom post types, custom fields, and custom taxonomies, in a table format. The Table is fully searchable and sortable, which makes it easier for visitors to find the information they're looking for.

Additionally, Post Table Pro offers a range of filter options, so you can choose to display only specific columns or items, making it a highly flexible solution for displaying data on your website. With it, you can create tables of custom post types and fields that are easy to navigate, making it the ideal choice for anyone who wants to display their Pods fields on the front end of their website.

You can also use the plugin to display WordPress custom post types, with each custom post appearing as a separate row in the table. It can also display custom fields as columns in the table. You can list custom taxonomies as columns in the table, and also as filter dropdowns above the table. With WordPress Pods, you can even create tables that list posts with a specific value for a custom field or a term for a custom taxonomy. You can then add custom taxonomy filters. Additionally, using the WordPress Pods get field value function, you can retrieve the value of a specific field for a post.

I'll show you how to do all this next.

How to list custom post types Plugin on a WordPress website

  1. Install the Posts Table Pro plugin.
  2. Set up Posts Table Pro using the instructions in the 'Getting Started' email.
  3. Go to Pages > Add New and create a page that you'll use to list the custom post type.
  4. Add the following shortcode: [posts_table post_type="your_post_type"]
  5. Replace your_post_type with the label for the post type you want to display. If you created the post type using Pods then this will be the Singular Label you added earlier. If you added the Label as multiple words, then you need to add an underscore (not a hyphen) between each word, as I did in my example.
  6. Now view your page, and you will see all the posts for that custom post type listed in a neat table layout.

At this point, your list of custom posts will look something like this:

List WordPress custom post types on website

You can use the Posts Table Pro knowledge base to show different columns, rename the columns, and much more.

How to list custom fields in the front end

Next, I'll show you how to list your Pods custom fields as separate columns in the table. Again, you'll need Posts Table Pro for this:

  1. Create a table using Posts Table Pro, as per the instructions in the previous section. Extend your shortcode to something like this: [posts_table post_type="your_post_type" columns="title,cf:your_custom_field_1,cf:your_custom_field_2"]. Replace the blue text with the Singular Label of the custom fields you want to display. If the Singular Label consists of more than one word, then you need to add an underscore between each word. In my example shortcode, I have shown you how to add 2 custom field columns. You can add as many as you like - separated by commas, with cf: before each one.
  2. If you want to display formatted content (e.g. links, text formatting, HTML, shortcodes or video), then you should also add shortcodes="true" to the shortcode. For example: [posts_table post_type="your_post_type" columns="title,cf:your_custom_field_1,cf:your_custom_field_2" shortcodes="true"]

Now, your table will look something like this:

Display WordPress custom fields on website

How to show custom taxonomies in the front end

By now, you've learned how to display WordPress custom fields in a table with extra columns for custom fields and other data. You should see new fields appear in the sidebar of your dashboard or the label you designated. Now, let's extend it by showing a custom taxonomy:

  1. Use Posts Table Pro to create a table, as per the instructions in the previous two sections.
  2. Extend your shortcode by adding tax: followed by the Pods custom taxonomy. For example: [posts_table post_type="your_post_type" columns="title,cf:your_custom_field_1,cf:your_custom_field_2,tax:country" shortcodes="true"]. This time, replace the text in green with the actual Singular Label (separated by underscores if it's multiple words) for your WordPress taxonomy. If you want to show multiple taxonomies, then just separate them with commas and make sure you add tax: before each one.
  3. Save the page and view the table.

Your table will now contain the custom post title, custom fields, and custom taxonomies:

List custom taxonomies WordPress plugin

Nice!

People can click on any custom taxonomy in the table to filter by that term. Read on to discover how to add taxonomy filter dropdowns above the table too.

Now you know how to create WordPress custom post types, fields, and taxonomies, and to list them on your website. Let me show you how to create tables that display only those posts that have a specific custom field value or taxonomy. Additionally, I'll explain how to add custom taxonomy filters to help users easily find your posts. This can be done by using WordPress Pods get field value that provides access and display the custom fields and taxonomies of your posts. With this plugin, you can easily filter and sort posts based on their custom field value or taxonomy term.

How to list posts based on a custom field value

You can use Posts Table Pro to show posts with a specific custom field value. For example, if you have a custom field called 'Vegetarian' then you can create a table listing all posts with a custom field value of 'Yes'.

To do this, you need to add cf="<field name>:<field value>" to the posts table shortcode. To use my example with Posts Table Pro, this would be:

[posts_table cf="vegetarian:yes"]

How to list posts with a specific custom taxonomy term

It's also possible to use our plugins to show posts that are labelled with a specific custom taxonomy term. For example, if you have a custom taxonomy called 'Country' then you can create a table listing all posts with the term 'France'.

You can do this by adding term="<taxonomy_label>:<term slug or ID>" to the posts table shortcode. To use my example with Posts Table Pro, this would be:

[posts_table term="country:france"]

How to let your users filter by custom taxonomy

Finally, I'll tell you how to add custom taxonomy filters above the list of posts. The filter will appear as a dropdown list - 1 for each custom taxonomy. Users can refine the list of posts by clicking on the taxonomy terms in the dropdowns.

To do this, add filters="tax:<taxonomy_label" to your posts table shortcode. For example, this shortcode will list posts with filters for the country and year taxonomies:

[posts_table filters="tax:country,tax:year"]

WordPress custom taxonomy filter plugin

How to password protect custom post types

Before we close, I'll quickly tell you how to hide your WordPress custom post types from public view. There are lots of reasons you might want to protect some or all of a custom post type. For example, you might be creating a private document library that only specific people can access. If you're a designer then you might need a private portfolio that is hidden from public visitors to your website.

There are 2 ways to do this:

  • Password protect categories within your custom post type
  • Create private custom post-type categories that are only visible to logged-in users based on their role

You can learn how to use both methods in our tutorial: Password Protect Any WordPress Custom Post Type (In Just 5 Minutes).

Pods: The verdict

In conclusion, Pods is a top-notch plugin that offers a comprehensive solution for creating Pods - custom content types and fields, and taxonomies within the WordPress platform. You can also create custom content types and fields by writing code, but it requires a good understanding of the functions.php file and custom CSS codes. With its user-friendly interface, versatility, and support from a team of WordPress experts, Pods provides an efficient and effective way to enhance the functionality of your website.

Used alone, you need some technical know-how to display Pods custom fields on the front end of your WordPress website. However, that's not a problem because you can use Posts Table Pro to list your Pods data, without needing any technical expertise.

What do you think of Pods compared to other plugins for creating custom data in WordPress? Did you find this Pods WordPress plugin tutorial helpful? Please let me know in the comments.

Posts Table Pro Pods

WordPress podcast hosting guide

Discover the best WordPress podcast hosting options to build your listener base, and how to set them up.

Podcasts have never been more popular, and for good reason: they're highly engaging, and a great way to draw attention to your business, sell your products, and earn money through advertising – but they also take a good deal of work to create. You need microphones, audio editing, and podcast hosting. It's easy to focus on the first two on this list, but quality WordPress podcast hosting is going to let you take your podcast to the next level.

In this article, I’m going to tell you why it’s important to choose the best WordPress podcast hosting option which will give you maximum exposure. We’ll talk about why it can be a great idea to host podcasts on your WordPress website. I’ll also show you how to display them more effectively in a way that keeps your podcast episodes evergreen so that people can continue to find and enjoy them long after they’re published. We’ll do this using the Posts Table Pro WordPress plugin, which is perfect for displaying podcast episodes and playlists in a searchable, filterable table.

Podcast player WordPress preview
Use the Posts Table Pro plugin to create a searchable table of podcast episodes

Why does podcast hosting matter?

Choosing the right podcast hosting platform can make all the difference in the success of your podcast. While microphones and audio editing software are important, podcast hosting is equally crucial. A quality podcast hosting platform will enable you to upload and share your podcast episodes easily and ensure that your listeners can access them quickly and without interruption.

The right podcast hosting platform can also provide advanced features and tools to help you grow your audience, such as analytics to track listener behavior and preferences, as well as built-in marketing and promotion tools. It can also give you full control and ownership over your podcast content, allowing you to decide how and where it is distributed.

Therefore, it's important to invest in a reliable podcast hosting platform that can offer fast and secure hosting services for your listeners and help you grow your audience and monetize your content. Without a good podcast hosting platform, your podcast may not be able to reach its full potential, and you may miss out on valuable opportunities to engage with your listeners and grow your brand.

Self hosted WordPress podcast hosting vs managed hosting

When it comes to podcast hosting, there are two primary options available: self-hosted WordPress podcast hosting and managed hosting. Both options have their own pros and cons, and understanding the differences between them is crucial for choosing the best hosting solution for your podcast.

Self-hosted WordPress hosting means that you are responsible for hosting and maintaining your own website and podcast. This means that you will need to purchase your own web hosting plan and install WordPress on your own server. You will also need to install and configure podcasting WordPress plugins, such as Seriously Simple Podcasting or PowerPress, to manage your podcast content. This option gives you complete control over your website and podcast, but it also requires technical knowledge and can be time-consuming to set up and maintain.

Managed hosting, on the other hand, is a hosting service where the hosting provider takes care of all technical aspects of hosting and maintaining your website, including security, backups, updates, and optimization. Managed hosting services often include a range of additional features and services, such as automatic updates, and advanced caching. This option is ideal for podcasters who want a hassle-free hosting experience and do not have the technical knowledge or time to manage their own hosting.

Why is self hosted WordPress podcast hosting better?

Self hosted WordPress podcast hosting can be a better option for several reasons. First, it gives you full control over your podcast and website. You have the freedom to customize your site as you wish and can choose which plugins and tools to use to manage your podcast content. This flexibility is particularly useful if you have specific design or functionality requirements.

Another advantage of self hosted WordPress podcast hosting is that you have complete ownership and control over your data. You are not reliant on a third-party hosting service to store and manage your content, which means you can back up and restore your data at any time.

A self hosted podcast also offers greater scalability, as you are not limited by the storage or bandwidth restrictions of a managed hosting service. This means you can upload and share as much content as you need, without worrying about running out of space or exceeding your monthly bandwidth allowance.

Getting started with WordPress as a podcast hosting platform

If you are looking to create a successful podcast, one of the most important decisions you will make is choosing the right hosting platform. While there are many hosting options available, WordPress stands out as a great choice for podcasters.

WordPress for podcast hosting is that it is highly customizable. With WordPress, you can choose from a wide range of themes and plugins to create a unique and professional-looking podcast website. You can also customize your site's design and functionality to meet the specific needs of your podcast and your audience.

In this post, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to use WordPress as your podcast hosting platform. You will learn how to create a filterable and sortable database for your podcast episodes, as well as easily navigable archives, analytics, and email signup forms on your self hosted WordPress website. Additionally, we will cover how to keep your listeners engaged by automatically sending them new episodes via email.

Animated screenshot of the self-hosted podcast hosting, podcast library

Our step-by-step guide covers all you need to know about getting your podcast working, including:

  • Getting a WordPress website online.
  • Adding podcast episodes to your site using the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin.
  • How to list podcast episodes in an archive using the Posts Table Pro plugin.
  • Submitting your podcast to iTunes, measuring its success with analytics, and turning listeners into subscribers with an email newsletter signup + auto sending of new episodes.

We'll keep costs to a minimum here: you'll need to pay for WordPress hosting (and a domain name, if you need one) and the Posts Table Pro plugin for podcast archives, but that'll be it. You can get a head start by getting Posts Table Pro right away.

Visit Podcast Archive Demo

Get started with WordPress

Back when it was hard to get high-quality hosting at reasonable prices, hosting companies would get a bit huffy about the large amounts of data transferred by podcasters' audio files. Because of this, it might have made more sense to subscribe to an all-in-one podcast hosting service. Compared to a website with just text and a few images, podcasts do use more data.

Thankfully, we now have ready access to super fast, reliable hosting, so the data transfer issue is becoming increasingly irrelevant. For most, going the self hosted podcast route is now by far the most beneficial.

By choosing the open source software, WordPress, rather than a traditional podcast hosting service, you'll maintain complete ownership over your podcast content. You'll also be able to maintain a core focus for your podcast marketing, with a central point to direct social media and search engine traffic to, a place to analyze listener numbers and engagement, and the option to hook listeners or advertise in whichever way fits your business model.

Overall, it's just much more flexible.

To get started, all you need is:

  1. A domain name
  2. A WordPress hosting plan
  3. A WordPress theme

If you already have a WordPress website up and running, skip ahead in one section, to add your podcast episodes to WordPress.

If you don't already have a website ready to go, read on. Here are the three steps you need:

1. Domain name

Firstly, you'll need a domain name so people can find your website and podcast easily. If you have a domain name already, you'll simply need to direct it to your WordPress hosting. If not, you can pick one up for a few dollars through a domain name provider, such as NameCheap. You should pick a domain name that matches either your brand or your podcast name (Domain Wheel is great for generating ideas).

2. WordPress hosting plan

We've previously discussed in detail how to choose a host for your WordPress website. For the purposes of hosting your podcast, we recommend getting started with some robust managed hosting, such as that offered by WP Engine.

WP Engine specializes in WordPress hosting, offers exceptional support, and has useful tools you can access directly from your WordPress dashboard.

The other benefit of using a WordPress hosting specialist like WP Engine is that all the work of installing WordPress is done for you. That means you'll be able to get on with the important business of designing your website and getting your podcast online.

3. WordPress theme

There are thousands of free and premium themes available in the WordPress theme directory – you can search and install these from your WordPress Dashboard by going to Appearance → Themes → Add New. One of the recent (free) themes which are included in all WordPress installations (the Twenty Something series) would be a convenient starting point. You can always change your theme later.

If you aren't familiar with WordPress, check out our top tips on creating a low-maintenance WordPress website. If you choose your theme wisely, you won't even need to do any code – perfect for non-techies! CodeinWP has a good list of free WordPress themes.

Make your own podcast hosting: Add podcast episodes to WordPress

Now you have your WordPress website ready, the next step is to upload and organize your podcast files.

There are a couple of ways you can go about uploading your podcast. The less desirable option is to add your media files directly to a post or page on your WordPress site. This will work fine in that people will be able to access your podcast on your website. However, it makes it tricky to measure your podcast's success, and even trickier to get the formatting correct for submitting to iTunes.

To solve these issues you can create a specific custom post type to make sure all the information is in the right place. Instead of reinventing the wheel, we recommend taking the quicker, easier (and free) alternative, which is to use a plugin that does exactly what you need it to.

Seriously Simple Podcasting

The Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin is ideal for WordPress podcast hosting. It's free, and does all of the above for you:

  • Creates a custom post type automatically, so it's easy to upload, assign metadata and manage your podcast files in one place from your WordPress website
  • Supports both audio and video podcasts
  • Pairs with extensions, including one that lets you analyze podcast usage stats
  • Formats your podcasts ready for submission to iTunes

First up, you'll need to add this plugin to your WordPress site. Go to Plugins → Add New and search 'Seriously Simple Podcasting'. Click Install Now then click Activate.

Starting to use Seriously Simple Podcasting

Once installed, the Podcast menu item is added to the sidebar in your WordPress Dashboard, and a new custom post type podcast is created:

Screenshot of podcast custom post types in WordPress

If you're going to group your podcast episodes by series, you'll need to create a series category.

To do this, go to Podcast → Series. Fill out the fields to give your first series a name (e.g. Series one) and, optionally, a description. Click Add New Series.

Go ahead and create another series (or multiple other series) if you have more podcast series ready to upload.

Add podcast episodes to your WordPress podcast hosting

Next up, you'll want to start adding your podcast episodes to the site.

Head over to Podcast → Add New. Just like you would do with a new blog post, you'll need to give your podcast episode a title. I've called this example 'First ever podcast episode':

Podcast episode.

If you like, you can include a full description or transcript of your podcast episode in the content box just under the title in the editor. And, if relevant, you can select which series the podcast belongs to on the righthand side of the editor. You can also add any relevant tags to each episode. We'll show you listeners can filter your podcast episodes by these taxonomies later on.

Podcast series.

If you then scroll down, you'll find the Podcast Episode Details box. Here is where you'll upload your first podcast episode.

Podcast episode details.

Checklist of steps for adding each podcast episode

These are the steps you need to run through for each episode:

  1. Select whether you're uploading an Audio or Video file, click Upload File, upload your first podcast file, then click Select.
  2. You can manually add the duration and file size, or leave these fields blank to auto-calculate.
  3. Add in the date recorded so listeners will know how old or new your podcast is.
  4. If necessary, there's also the option to mark specific episodes as explicit or choose to block them from appearing in any external podcast libraries to you submit your podcast.
  5. It's a good idea to add a summary of the episode in the Excerpt box as we can display this later in our searchable podcast library.
  6. Add your podcast's series and any relevant tags. Users will be able to use these to quickly filter the episodes they want.
  7. Hit Publish and your first podcast is ready to go!

Add in any remaining podcast episodes, by going to Podcast → Add New again and repeating the steps above.

Once you've added all your episodes, it's time to display them nicely on your website. Next, we'll cover how to enhance your self hosted WordPress podcast hosting, by creating a sortable podcast archive that can display your latest episodes in a convenient format.

How to list podcast episodes in an archive: quickly find episodes

Your website needs to be an easy place for visitors to listen to your podcast. Visitors should be able to find episodes they're interested in, easily listen to them, and sort through your archives. This section will show you how to list podcast episodes on your WordPress site.

Seriously Simple Podcasting lets you display your most recent podcasts, but just displaying a long list of podcasts in the order of newest to oldest isn't always the most helpful – especially if you're trying to engage new listeners or those who have missed a few episodes.

A better solution is to create a library of your podcasts by displaying them in a sortable and searchable table. This will let your listeners quickly sort through episodes, conveniently listen to them, and makes everything extremely simple for you.

The Posts Table Pro plugin can pull in all the information you've already added using Super Simple Podcasting. It uses this information to autogenerate your podcast library, in a sortable, filterable, and searchable list. This is the perfect format for podcast archives.

Plus, each time you add a new episode to your website, Posts Table Pro will update your library automatically :)

Animated screenshot of the self-hosted podcast hosting, podcast library

WordPress podcast hosting is superior :)

The animated screenshot above shows this in action. Note how listeners can even conveniently filter by podcast series!

In addition to the benefits mentioned already – listeners can search all your podcast episodes in one place, easily find the episode(s) they're looking for by sorting the table or filtering by series or tags, and listen to episodes directly from your podcast library – you can even add newsletter signups to this page in order to keep listeners hooked, which we'll cover after this section.

To get started, purchase and download the plugin.

Your purchase will include instructions on installation and setup. Once installed, decide whereabouts on your website you'd like to display your podcast library. This might be on your home page, or on a separate podcasts page. In this example, we'll be putting our podcast on a homepage.

How to create your sortable table

When you've chosen where to display your podcasts, generating your podcast library is simple. Upon installing the plugin, an automatic setup wizard will initiate and provide a comprehensive guide to creating your first table.

The instructions below will describe each step involved in creating a table.

  1. Choose a name for the library and select the post type you want to display. Here we're displaying the custom post type podcast.
  2. Select the posts or podcast episodes to include in your library.
  3. Customize the columns you want to display in your table by selecting which columns to add and in what order. You can also rename or hide column names and remove columns as needed. I suggest adding a column for episode date, title and listen now.
    Customize columns in WordPress table plugin
  4. Add filters. will set your table to be filterable by the podcast series, as shown in the example below. You can also add filters like tags and categories.
    Animated screenshot of the self-hosted podcast hosting, podcast library
  5. Customize the sorting options for your table, including the default sorting option and the sort direction

Display your podcast library

Once you have completed creating your table with the Post Table Pro plugin, the setup wizard will confirm that you are finished and provide instructions for inserting the table onto your website. By choosing one of these two options, you can easily add your table to your website and make it accessible to your visitors.

  • Use the "Post Table" block in the Gutenberg editor.
  • Copy the shortcode from the table builder and paste it anywhere on your site. This option gives you the flexibility to place the table on any page, regardless of its content.

Ready to publish your podcast

When you're done making your library look great, click Publish and the page will publicly display the table with your podcasts. Nice work! Visitors can now easily find your entire archive of podcasts, and you've made a fantastic self hosted podcast solution.

You can use a similar technique to create a WordPress audio library. The linked post will even show you how to use WooCommerce Product Table to sell access to your podcast.

Podcast hosting: next steps

Now your WordPress podcast hosting is all setup and your podcasts are beautifully displayed on your website, you're ready to get promoted and grow your podcast further.

This section will show you three advanced next steps you can take, two of which you can only do because you've chosen to self host your WordPress podcast hosting. We'll show you how to submit your podcast to iTunes, how to set up podcast analytics, and how to add an email signup box in order to convert listeners into long-time subscribers.

Submit podcast episodes directly to iTunes from WordPress

To increase your audience reach, you need to submit your podcast to iTunes.

Yet another useful feature of the Seriously Simple Podcasting WordPress plugin, is that it organizes your podcast episodes in an iTunes-friendly format. Once you've uploaded your episodes to your WordPress website, you're almost ready to submit them all in one go to iTunes.

Screenshot of the iTunes podcast library

Before you do, you'll just need to go to Podcast  Settings → Feed details and upload a Cover Image for your podcast.

Once you've done that, to submit your podcast to iTunes, simply go to Apple's podcast submission page and sign in using your Apple ID (or create one if you don't have one already).

The Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin will autogenerate a URL for your podcast. You can find this in your WordPress Dashboard by going to Podcast → Settings  Publishing.

The URL you need is the Complete feed and will be something similar to https://yourwebsite.com/feed/podcast

Copy and paste your Complete feed URL into the box on the iTunes submission website and click Validate:

Submit podcast to iTunes.

You'll then see a preview of how your podcast will appear on iTunes.

Once iTunes is happy your podcast meets the requirements, and you're happy with how everything looks, click Submit.

Podcasts can take up to 10 days to make their way through the iTunes approval process but are often processed much faster than that. Once complete, you'll be able to see your podcast in iTunes – alongside the best podcasts in the world.

While you're waiting for your podcast to be approved on iTunes, it's worth getting your analytics set up too. We'll look at these next.

Podcast analytics

If you want to successfully grow your podcast audience, it's important to keep track of how many listeners you have, and how they're consuming your podcasts.

There is a multitude of analytics tools out there, but seeing as we've already installed Seriously Simple Podcasting, let's go ahead and use their add-on plugin, Seriously Simple Stats.

Just like the name suggests, this plugin is seriously easy to use and ideally suited to measuring the success of your podcast.

Among other things, it can measure where people are listening to your podcast (e.g. iTunes, your website, or via a download), how many listeners you have, and what your most popular episodes are.

This is all vital information you can use to optimize future podcasts, source sponsorship, and boost advertising revenue.

You can download Seriously Simple Stats free from the WordPress plugin directory. Go to Plugins → Add New then search "Seriously Simple Stats". Click Install Now then click Activate.

Seriously Simple Stats Example.

You can access Seriously Simple Stats right from your WordPress dashboard, head to Podcast → Stats. Your stats will start showing up here over the coming days.

The industry secret is podcast stats are horribly unreliable: keep in mind that a download to your podcast isn't necessarily a listen to your podcast. My podcast app, for example, downloads the latest episode of my favorite podcasts every week. I don't necessarily listen to them, and if I do listen, I don't necessarily listen all the way through.

Don't be disheartened by this; given podcasts are downloaded and listened to separately, there's no prospect of fixing this in the short term. What you can do, however, is keep your listeners hooked by connecting with them in your email inbox and your podcast app. We'll cover how to handle this next.

Collect email subscribers for your podcast using MailChimp

Don’t miss out on turning one-off listeners into long-term subscribers! Getting inside your listeners' email and their podcast app is a great way of ensuring listeners know about the latest episodes, and what you're doing, and are excited about the podcast in the long term.

We'll let you collect email subscribers by adding an email subscription box to your podcast page using MailChimp and the MailChimp for WordPress plugin. This is a major benefit of handling your WordPress podcast hosting yourself.

First, sign up for a free MailChimp account if you don’t already have one. The free account lets you have up to 2,000 subscribers, which is plenty to be started with.

Next, add the MailChimp for WordPress plugin to your site: in your WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins Add New, then search "MailChimp for WordPress plugin". Click Install Now then click Activate.

You’ll need to pair this plugin with MailChimp. From the Dashboard, head to MailChimp for WP → MailChimp, and click Get your API key here. Copy your API key from MailChimp and go back to MailChimp for WP → MailChimp. Paste the key into the API Key box and click Save Changes.

Once connected, you’ll also need to create a new list in MailChimp to start collecting email subscribers. From MailChimp, go to Lists → Create List Create List, and fill out the details.

Add your email signup form to WordPress

Next, create the signup form for your website. From your WordPress Dashboard, go to MailChimp for WP → Form, give your form a title, select the MailChimp list you want subscribers to be added to then click Add new form.

The plugin will generate a shortcode for your form. Click Get shortcode, copy the shortcode, and paste it on your podcast library page so listeners can easily subscribe to future episodes:

Animated screenshot showing podcast Mailchimp setup

You'll be collecting podcast subscribers in no time! Hooray! You know, however, need to be emailing new episodes out to your subscribers. You can automate this by connecting your podcast RSS feed to Mailchimp. Our popular tutorial on how to create an RSS-Driven Campaign in MailChimp shows you how to do this, and take a step out of your podcast email setup.

Best practices for podcast SEO on WordPress

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is crucial for any website or content to gain visibility on search engines such as Google. It involves optimizing your website's content to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index, and ultimately rank it higher in search results. Similarly, optimizing your podcast for SEO can help it reach a wider audience and increase its visibility.

Tips for optimizing your podcast for search engines

  1. Use descriptive titles and descriptions: Make sure to use descriptive titles and descriptions that accurately reflect the content of your podcast episodes. This will help search engines understand what your podcast is about and display it in relevant search results.
  2. Include relevant keywords: Identify relevant keywords and incorporate them naturally into your titles, descriptions, and episode summaries. However, avoid keyword stuffing, which can negatively impact your SEO.
  3. Use transcripts: Transcripts of your podcast episodes can be helpful for SEO as they provide search engines with text to crawl and index. They also make your content more accessible to those who may prefer to read or skim content rather than listen to an entire episode.
  4. Optimize your website's metadata: Ensure that your website's metadata, such as titles and descriptions, are optimized for SEO. This can help your website rank higher in search results, which can indirectly help your podcast gain more visibility.
  5. Use internal linking: Internal linking, or linking to other relevant content within your website, can help improve your website's overall SEO. By linking to other relevant content, you can also help search engines understand the context and relevance of your podcast.

Troubleshooting common WordPress podcast hosting issues

Even with the best WordPress podcast hosting, issues can sometimes arise. Here are some common issues you may encounter and how to troubleshoot them:

Slow website performance

Slow website performance can lead to a poor user experience and may cause visitors to leave your site. This issue can be caused by a number of factors, such as poorly optimized images, an outdated WordPress version, or a plugin conflict.

To troubleshoot slow website performance, you can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to analyze your website's speed and identify areas for improvement. You can also try optimizing your images by compressing them and resizing them to the appropriate dimensions. Updating WordPress and plugins to their latest versions can also improve website performance.

Audio file playback issues

Audio file playback issues can be frustrating for listeners and may cause them to stop listening to your podcast. These issues can be caused by incorrect file formatting or encoding, insufficient bandwidth, or compatibility issues with the podcast player.

To troubleshoot audio file playback issues, make sure that your audio files are in the correct format (usually MP3) and encoded at the appropriate bitrate. Check your web hosting plan to ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth to handle podcast downloads and playback. You can also test your podcast on different podcast players to ensure compatibility.

RSS feed issues

RSS feed issues can prevent your podcast from being distributed to popular podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. These issues can be caused by incorrect RSS feed formatting, missing or incorrect tags, or a plugin conflict.

To troubleshoot RSS feed issues, use a tool like Cast Feed Validator to analyze your RSS feed and identify any formatting errors. Ensure that your RSS feed includes all the necessary tags, such as title, description, and artwork. If you are using a podcast plugin, try disabling it to see if it is causing the issue.

Self podcast hosting is easy! Now you're ready to go

Choosing to manage WordPress podcast hosting yourself is remarkably easy, and this tutorial has shown you everything you need to know. We've shown you how to set up WordPress, add the podcast, and then make use of features you can only get if you self host your podcast, including a sortable archives page, and effective email signups.

Just to recap, here are the main steps needed to host your own podcast using WordPress:

  1. Set up a WordPress website – with managed hosting and a simple theme.
  2. Download the Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin.
  3. Upload all your podcast episodes to your website.
  4. Download the Posts Table Pro plugin.
  5. Customize your searchable podcast library using the table builder.
  6. Power up your podcast by submitting it to iTunes right from your website, and monitoring your analytics using Seriously Simple Stats.
  7. Automatically email your podcast subscribers with new episodes.

Now you have the equipment to make your podcast and your website can delight listeners.

Please let us know how your self-hosted podcast library is working for you. We can't wait to see the clever things you do with it!

Whether you are a small business owner looking to expand your product offerings or a large retailer looking to tap into the wholesale market, this free guide is for you. Discover everything you need to know about how to build your own WooCommerce wholesale store.

WooCommerce is great for creating an e-commerce site, but it doesn't distinguish between retail and wholesale customers. That's no good because B2B buyers have different needs from other customers. As well as needing wholesale pricing and discounts, they're already familiar with your products and want a quicker, easier way to buy.

The problem is: How can a company like yours add a WooCommerce wholesale area without affecting the experience for normal public customers?

Luckily, there's an easy solution - simply install the best WooCommerce wholesale plugin.

What to expect from this WooCommerce wholesale tutorial

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro prices 1

This is the complete step-by-step guide on how to build a WooCommerce wholesale store. Keep reading if:

  • You're looking to expand your business and tap into the wholesale market.
  • You currently take wholesale orders manually and want to automate this through your website.
  • There's already a wholesale ordering plugin on your website, but it doesn't fully meet your needs.

This tutorial will take you through the process of setting up your wholesale store from scratch. You will learn how to:

  • Add a WooCommerce wholesale area to your existing online store (without changing anything for retail customers).
  • Create a 100% private wholesale-only online WooCommerce store.
  • Add a wide range of B2B features - including wholesale registration forms, pricing, custom user roles, and choosing which products to show in the WooCommerce wholesale and/or retail areas.
  • Grow your wholesale revenue by adding quick one-page order forms, designed specifically for wholesale.
  • Add a range of bonus features to make the wholesale buying experience even better.

By the end, you will have a fully functional WooCommerce wholesale store.

And the best part? You can set it up in 15 minutes, then sit back and let it do all the work for you. It’s way faster and way cheaper so you can start taking wholesale orders today!

What is the difference between a wholesale store and a regular WooCommerce store?

The main difference between a wholesale store and a regular WooCommerce store is the target audience and the pricing structure. I'll tell you more about both of these.

What is WooCommerce wholesale pricing?

Nearly all businesses offer tiered pricing to different types of customer. Their retail customers pay the recommended retail price, while wholesale buyers pay discounted business-to-business prices.

A regular WooCommerce store is typically geared towards individual customers who purchase products at retail prices. These customers are usually looking to purchase products for personal use or in small quantities. The pricing structure for a regular WooCommerce store is usually set at retail prices, which are higher than wholesale prices.

On the other hand, a wholesale store is geared towards bulk buyers who purchase products at wholesale prices. Wholesale buyers are usually looking to purchase products in large quantities for resale purposes. The pricing structure for a wholesale store is set at wholesale prices, which are lower than retail prices.

Wholesale buyers need a different buying experience

In addition to the pricing structure, wholesale buyers have different needs and expectations compared to retail customers. They are business people who are buying for practical purposes and not for pleasure. For example, they buy your products on a regular basis and don't want to spend time browsing. They need to quickly find their regular items and place an order, without wasting any time.

A good WooCommerce wholesale store will therefore offer a separate buying experience which is optimized for wholesale users.

WooCommerce Product Table screenshot
A WooCommerce wholesale order form provides a much faster buying experience

How NOT to set up wholesale ordering

Most WooCommerce wholesale stores get it wrong in one of these ways:

  • Amazingly, some companies have a public e-commerce store and still take wholesale orders manually. This is a huge waste of time and resources, when they could automate it so easily.
  • Others set up totally separate stores for different customer groups such as their retail and WooCommerce wholesale customers. Of course, this is extremely inconvenient. Your technology should be working for you, rather than creating work for you.
  • Most companies install a basic WooCommerce wholesale pricing plugin, but the wholesale area looks the same as the public shop. If you don't optimize the buying experience for wholesale users then it takes ages for them to select products and buy - reducing your wholesale revenue as a result.

Fortunately, there's a better way to create your wholesale WooCommerce store.

WooCommerce is one of the most powerful and widely-used e-commerce platforms on the web. Its integration into the WordPress Content Management System makes it endlessly customizable, with the broad range of plugins and add-ons available that change and expand its functionality.

With the best WooCommerce wholesale plugins, you can simply and effectively cater to WooCommerce B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) customer groups using the same system. You can provide a great wholesale ordering experience for WooCommerce B2B buyers, with an easy-to-manage back end for you.

WooCommerce Wholesale Plugin

Is WooCommerce good for wholesale?

Firstly, it's worth considering whether WooCommerce is the right platform for your wholesale store.

The short answer is that WooCommerce is a great platform for creating a wholesale store. While it can't be used for wholesale on its own, there are excellent add-on plugins available that add all the features you need. This includes WooCommerce wholesale pricing, user registration, bulk order forms, minimum order requirements, and tiered pricing.

In addition, WooCommerce is a flexible and customizable platform that can be tailored to your specific needs. You can choose from a wide range of themes and plugins to create a unique wholesale store that represents your brand and offers a great user experience for wholesale buyers.

People sometimes wonder "How much does WooCommerce cost?" Luckily, WooCommerce is completely free to use! Download it for free from wordpress.org, and you just pay for a domain name, web hosting and your WooCommerce wholesale plugin.

If you are looking to create a wholesale store, WooCommerce is a great platform to use. Next, I'll tell you how to set it up for this purpose.

This is your complete guide to creating a WooCommerce wholesale ordering store

This step-by-step guide will show you how to use the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro WordPress plugin to create a wholesale store. We'll cover all the essential features:

  1. How to create a private wholesale areaDiscover the easy way to restrict access to your WooCommerce wholesale ordering store. You can either create a completely hidden B2B store; or a public retail WooCommerce store with private wholesale area. It comes with everything you need including unlimited wholesale user roles and user registration (with or without moderation). You can also choose which products to show in the public and/or wholesale stores.
  2. Set wholesale pricing and discountsNearly all WooCommerce wholesale stores need to charge different retail prices and wholesale prices. What's more, many also need to charge different wholesale pricing to different groups of wholesale users. I'll show you how to add 3 different types of wholesale dynamic pricing.
  3. Create user-friendly wholesale layouts and order formsFinally, you'll learn how to list products in an easy-to-use WooCommerce wholesale ordering form. B2B customers don't want to browse through multiple pages or look at big images, so a wholesale quick re-order list is a must.

At the end of this tutorial, you will know how to create a WooCommerce wholesale store with all these amazing features. It's easier to set up than other WooCommerce wholesale plugins or WordPress membership plugins. You'll have everything you need to enable WooCommerce wholesale ordering today.

Video tutorial

To get started, watch the video or follow the written instructions in the step-by-step guide below.

Before you start – set up your basic WooCommerce store

If you haven't already done so, then you need a WordPress website with a domain name. You should also install the WooCommerce plugin on it. (If you don't know how, check out this guide on How do I set up a WooCommerce shop?) Add some products to get started. At this stage, all your products will be publicly available and presented in the default layout.

Keep reading to learn how to add a hidden WooCommerce wholesale area.

1. Create a private WooCommerce wholesale ordering area

Firstly, you need to add a wholesale WooCommerce store which is hidden from public view so that only approved wholesale customers can access it. You might choose to set up a standard online retail WooCommerce store with a separate private wholesale area. Or you can even have a 100% hidden WooCommerce wholesale ordering store that no one else knows exists!

You can do all of this with WooCommerce Wholesale Pro. This section will answer the question "How do I create a wholesale page in WordPress?" You'll learn how to use this fantastic WooCommerce wholesale plugin to add:

  1. Wholesale login page - with or without a registration form for new wholesalers.
  2. User roles - create additional wholesale custom user roles.
  3. Wholesale products - you can either use the same products in the public and wholesale areas (with special pricing and order forms for wholesale users, of course); or you can have completely different products for retail and wholesale.
  4. Menu links - Set up the wholesale store navigation.

All these steps are optional, so you can stick with the default options to set up the WooCommerce wholesale app even more quickly.

1a. Install the WooCommerce wholesale plugin

To get started, buy the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin. Install and activate the plugin, then add your license key using the instructions in the confirmation email.

As soon as you do this, the plugin will automatically create a wholesale user role, a Wholesale Store page, and a Wholesale Login page.

Your WooCommerce wholesale store is now 90% set up, and you haven't even done anything yet!

1b. Set up wholesale registration (optional)

Secondly, log into the WordPress Dashboard and go to WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → General. Choose whether or not to allow new users to register for the wholesale store:

WooCommerce wholesale plugin settings

If you enable wholesale registration, then:

  • The Wholesale Login page will also include a registration form.
  • You can choose whether new wholesalers can access the wholesale area immediately, or whether their customer account will be held for moderation by an administrator first.

If you disable wholesale registration, then you can still add wholesalers manually via the WordPress admin.

Edit your wholesale registration emails (optional)

The WooCommerce wholesale plugin comes with a range of emails for each stage of the wholesale registration process:

WooCommerce wholesale emails

When you install the wholesale plugin, these emails will be pre-populated with suitable wording. You can easily edit the emails at WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Roles if required.

Once registered, wholesale users will receive the same emails as your normal customers. These are provided by WooCommerce rather than the wholesale plugin.

1c. Add extra wholesale user roles (optional)

The WooCommerce wholesale plugin automatically creates one wholesale user role. If you want to charge different wholesale prices to different wholesale users, then you need to create a separate user role for each group.

You can easily do this at WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Roles:

WooCommerce wholesale roles settings page

If you enabled wholesale registration, then new wholesalers will be added to the default wholesale user role. You can then change their user role manually (for example, when you approve their account).

If you add new wholesale users manually via Users → Add New in the WordPress admin, then you can select the appropriate wholesale user role from the 'Roles' dropdown.

1d. Control the visibility of your WooCommerce wholesale products (optional)

By default, all the products in your WooCommerce wholesale store are available to everyone. Public users and normal customers see the standard price for each product, while wholesale users see the correct price for their role.

If you prefer, then you can choose whether each category of products is visible to public users or wholesalers only. You can easily do this under Products → Categories:

WooCommerce wholesale category plugin

This lets you sell different products or SKU's to retail and wholesale buyers.

1e. Set up the wholesale store navigation

Finally, you need to structure your wholesale store so that people can easily find their way around. This only takes a minute:

  • Link to the wholesale login pageSome WooCommerce wholesale stores add a wholesale login link to their public website, while others keep this private. You can add a link to the 'Wholesale Login' page to your menu or anywhere else on your site (e.g. the footer). Or if you want to hide the fact that you have a wholesale store, then you can send a link to the Wholesale Login page to your distributors (e.g. in the email to new wholesale users). As a result, retail customers will never know there's a hidden wholesale area.
  • Edit your navigation menuThe WooCommerce Wholesale Pro plugin cleverly shows and hides your menu links so that each user only sees pages they have access to. Make sure the main menu on your site contains all the required links for both the public and wholesale users. Each one will only see the correct links for them. For example, public visitors or normal customers will see the link to the Wholesale Login page. But they won't see any other links to wholesale-only content. If they login as a wholesale user, then the menu changes to hide any public-only links and display the wholesale-only content. Neat!

Case study: Wholesale navigation for Best Remy Hair Extensions

NRD Web Design used WooCommerce Wholesale Pro to build a private wholesale area for their client Best Remy Hair Extensions.

To ensure that wholesalers can find the hidden products and pricing, they added clear 'Wholesale Login' and 'Wholesale Registration' links to the website header. This creates an intuitive user experience for wholesale buyers, without affecting the navigation for normal customers. 

WooCommerce Wholesale Registration Login Plugin

Next, it's time to set up your WooCommerce wholesale pricing.

Wholesale pricing and discounts

The next step is to add the correct pricing and discounts for your wholesale users. You can set different pricing for each wholesale role - perfect if you have tiered wholesale discounts for different groups.

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro provides 3 easy ways to set wholesale prices:

  1. Global percentage discountOn WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Roles, set a % discount for each wholesale role. This will be deducted from the wholesale price of all products for users with that role, except for any products that have a category or product-specific discount.
  2. Category percentage discountFor greater control, you can set category-level % discounts which will affect all products in that category and its sub-categories (except for any products where you have entered individual wholesale pricing).
  3. Product-specific wholesale pricingFor even more fine-grained control, you can set specific wholesale variable prices for each product or variation. (Note: This option only appears for roles where you have enabled product-specific pricing on WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Roles.)
WooCommerce product wholesale price
An example of setting product-specific wholesale pricing for a variable product

Logged-in wholesale users will see the correct product pricing for their user role. The main price will appear crossed out, and the wholesale price will appear alongside.

If the product is also visible to guest users and non-wholesale user roles, then they will see the standard price as usual. Your WooCommerce wholesale pricing will remain secure and only wholesale users will ever be able to see it.

You can combine the different types of wholesale pricing as required, and the plugin will always show the correct price. For example, if you set a global, category-level AND individual product discount then wholesalers will just see the individual product discount. If there is no product-specific wholesale price then wholesalers will see the category discount, and so on.

How to set wholesale prices on your WooCommerce store

Adding a global wholesale price

wholesale user roles
  1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Roles.
  2. Click to edit each wholesale role.
  3. Add a whole number in the global discount field. This percentage will be deducted from all products, unless it is overridden by a category or product-specific wholesale price.

Adding category wholesale pricing

B2B ecommerce product isibility
  1. Go to Products → Categories.
  2. Either add a new category or edit an existing one.
  3. Add a whole number for each wholesale role. This will be deducted as a percentage discount off all the product pages (except for products where you set an exact wholesale price).

On this screen, you can also hide the category from public or wholesale users if required.

Adding exact wholesale product prices

WooCommerce variable product wholesale price
  1. Go to the main Products list in the WordPress admin and click on the product you want to add an exact wholesale price for.
  2. On the 'Edit Product' screen, scroll down to the 'Product Data' section. For simple products, go to the 'General' tab and add an exact price (not a percentage discount) for each wholesale user role. For variable products, go to the 'Variations' tab and enter an exact wholesale price per variation.

How to create user-friendly wholesale layouts & order forms

PolBazar24 One-Page WooCommerce Order Form

So far we've covered the best ways to protect your wholesale area from public users and to set wholesale pricing. But that's only half the journey to creating the best WooCommerce wholesale store.

The other half is the layout of your wholesale area. This is more to do with user experience and growing your wholesale sales rather than functionality.

There's little point having a private wholesalers section if it's clunky and difficult to use, or if it looks identical to your retail shop. You need to ensure that you're offering a visually different experience that's better catered to the needs of wholesalers.

Public eCommerce shops tend to use a standard layout with large product images and basic information. This is suited to retail customers who don't need to know detailed specifications for each product but do want eye-catching, persuasive visual listings. Customers can browse the products and click through to view more detail on individual product pages. They take their time to choose each product, and are happy to visit a separate page to choose quantities and variations for each one.

This retail-style layout isn't suitable for most WooCommerce wholesale stores. But strangely, nearly all WooCommerce wholesale plugins neglect this important fact, and leave the wholesale area looking the same as the public shop.

To fix the problem, WooCommerce Wholesale Pro is designed to work alongside its sister plugin - WooCommerce Product Table.WooCommerce Wholesale Pro wholesale default layout

WooCommerce Product Table offers a wholesale-friendly order form layout

Products are listed in a responsive space-saving grid or tabular layout with extra product data and instant purchase options.

This is more appropriate for wholesale customers, who are already familiar with your products. They want to see all the information at a glance, select quantities and variations, and make quick buying decisions from a one-page order form. They definitely don't want to waste time visiting a separate page for each product!

A product table wholesale layout provides an easy way for B2B customers to re-order their regular products, acting as a wholesale quick re-order list.

WooCommerce wholesale ordering plugin reviews

Case study #1 - PolBazar24 wholesale product table

WooCommerce trade store

PolBazar24 is a Polish food wholesaler. They've made it as simple as possible for customers to place an order using their one-page wholesale B2B re-order list powered by WooCommerce Product Table. It lists everything wholesalers need to know in a quick-to-view layout on the front-end, from a short description to the product wholesale price and weight.

The wholesale order form even shows whether the product is in stock. As most wholesale customers know what they're looking for, they just need to check what they want is in stock. Then all they have to do is enter the quantities they need, select any product variations, and click add to cart.

Read on to find out how to create your own wholesale product tables for WooCommerce.

Case study #2 - Yarn Gate wholesale product tables with quick view

WooCommerce wholesale quick view plugin

Yarn Gate use their WC wholesale website to sell high quality knitting yarn to B2B and the trade. They use Woo Product Table together with Quick View Pro and WooCommerce Attribute Swatches to create the perfect WooCommerce wholesale suite of plugins.

The developer wanted a quick one-page wholesale order form that would allow quick buying away from the single product page. They also wanted wholesale customers to be able to click on an image to select each color variation.

The best way to achieve this was to combine the three add-ons and select color swatches from a quick view wholesale lightbox.

Keep reading to learn how to achieve the same for your own WooCommerce wholesale website.

How to create wholesale product tables

  1. Get WooCommerce Product Table. You can buy it on its own, but it's cheapest to buy it as a bundle with WooCommerce Wholesale Pro. (You can do this on the WooCommerce Wholesale Pro sales page.)
  2. Install and activate WooCommerce Product Table using the instructions in the confirmation email.
  3. Go to the plugin settings page from the admin panel – WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Product Table. Enter your license key from the confirmation email, choose the default settings for your wholesale order forms, and click Save. You can customize every detail of your tables, from the styling to the table columns, filters and sort order.
  4. You can manually add product tables using a shortcode. However, it's best to set up your product tables centrally in step 3. Then go to WooCommerce → Settings → Wholesale → Layout and automatically enable the product table layout in the wholesale store. This will display the wholesale order form for logged in wholesale users, while keeping your default layouts for guests and retail customers.
  5. Save changes to make them live.

Getting more sales from your wholesale product tables

A WooCommerce wholesale pricing product table with variations.
Choose what to display in your wholesale order form

The WooCommerce wholesale table plugin is incredibly flexible. Here's a summary of the main features to list wholesale products:

  • Columns The table can contain various columns. It supports all the main WooCommerce data fields (title, description, categories, product attributes, tags, stock, etc.). You can also add extra product data through custom fields and taxonomies.
  • "Add to cart" buttons By including add to cart buttons, wholesale customers order online directly from the product table view. Choose whether to include a quantity selector and product variations. You can also create further options using the Product Options plugin. This way, you can create a wholesale order form for easy bulk ordering and quick re-ordering.
  • Wholesale enquiry forms You can replace the add to cart column with wholesale enquiry buttons. By adding buttons or links to the wholesale table, users can click through to a separate page with an enquiry form (created using a WordPress contact form plugin). Alternatively, use WooCommerce Product Table with a Request a Quote plugin.
  • Downloadable documents Lots of Woo wholesale stores provide downloadable files with technical product information. This is useful for downloadable promotional materials, specification documents, etc. You can add a column with an icon, button or text for each product linking to a downloadable PDF or similar.
  • Search, sort & filters Use filters to help wholesale buyers to find products quickly and easily.

Use quick view to speed up wholesale ordering

By now, you know how to create a one-page WooCommerce wholesale order form. But what if you want to show even more information or purchase options, without taking wholesale users to a separate page for each product?

You can do this by adding the WooCommerce Quick View Pro plugin. This wholesale quick view plugin lets you add quick view links or buttons to the order form. Trade customers can view extra product information, choose variations and add to the cart from a quick view lightbox.

Once they have made their selections, they immediately return to the wholesale order form where they can add more products to their order. As a result, it's much quicker than buying from a separate page.

There are lots of ways to tailor the quick view lightbox to your WooCommerce wholesale store. For example:

  • Choose whether or not to include images in the quick view popup. Many wholesale stores sell non-visual products, so there's no need to distract buyers with big images.
  • Decide whether to include quick view buttons, or just let customers open the lightbox by clicking the product name or image.
  • Change the wording of the Quick View button (e.g. to 'Configure Options', 'Read More' or 'Customize Product').
  • Choose which information to display in the wholesale lightbox.

Test your WooCommerce wholesale store

Now you've set up the WooCommerce wholesale plugin. It's also important to test the experience for both public and wholesale specific users.

  1. Log out and visit the shop as a guest. Can you see the correct products and pricing?
  2. Now login as a wholesale user. Again, can you see the correct products and pricing? Are the menu links intuitive, and can you see the wholesale order form layout (if you're using WooCommerce Product Table)?

Go back to the plugin settings and continue tweaking your wholesale store until it's perfect.

Add wholesale users to your WooCommerce store

Once you've finished testing the WooCommerce wholesale plugin, it's time to start adding wholesale users.

If you have enabled wholesale registration, then people can register for an account on the Wholesale Login page. You might also want to add wholesale users yourself. There are a few ways to do this:

  • Add wholesale users manuallyCreate a user account (Users → Add New) in the WordPress Dashboard for each wholesale user. Assign them to one of your wholesale roles.
  • Convert existing customers to wholesaleIf you want to convert an existing customer to wholesale, then you can easily do this by editing their account and choosing a wholesale user role from the 'Roles' dropdown.
  • Bulk import themIf you're migrating from another B2B eCommerce system and have a lot of wholesale users to import, then we have provided instructions on how to do this.

Whichever method you use to add them, your B2B e-commerce users can log into their account and access the private WooCommerce wholesale area. Guests and other user roles will never know it exists!

Bonus tips

Build a 100% private WooCommerce wholesale store

Some wholesale stores don't have a public eCommerce area at all. You can set up the WooCommerce wholesale plugin without a retail-facing store.

To do this, make sure all your product categories are marked as 'Wholesale Only'. This will hide them from public view and from search engines.

If you want to hide other parts of WooCommerce too - for example, the links to your cart and checkout pages - then we recommend using WooCommerce Wholesale Pro with our other WooCommerce B2B plugin, WooCommerce Private Store. Use WooCommerce Wholesale Pro for your wholesale registration, login, and to set different wholesale prices for each wholesale role - and use WooCommerce Private Store to ensure that those extra parts of your store are hidden from public view. (Note: Your non-WooCommerce pages - such as the homepage and blog - remain public.)

WooCommerce Private Store is designed specifically for stores that don't sell to the public. Just read what this happy customer said about it:

Exactly what I needed
Building a wholesale store, with a plugin, where only my accepted dealers can obtain access, was exactly what I was looking for - and Barn2Media provided exactly that plugin.... After watching the YouTube videos and communicating with Barn2Media, I had no doubts, that this was the right plugin for me - and it works just perfect....

Hide prices from non-wholesale users

Perhaps you have a wholesale-only store where you want the public to be able to browse the products, but not see the wholesale pricing. You can do this by using WooCommerce Wholesale Pro with the Catalog Visibility Options plugin:

  • Use Wholesale Pro to set up wholesale user registration, create wholesale user roles, and to add WooCommerce wholesale pricing and discounts.
  • Use Catalog Visibility Options to hide the prices and add to cart buttons from logged out users. You can also hide them from logged in users with non-wholesale roles.

When non-wholesalers visit your store, they can browse products as usual, but the prices and purchase options will remain hidden.

Create customer-specific wholesale products and pricing

Some WooCommerce wholesale stores provide specific products and/or pricing for each customer. For example:

  • You might sell custom products (e.g. branded items) that are specific to each wholesale user.
  • Alternatively, you might sell the same products to all your wholesalers, but need to charge user-specific pricing.

Luckily, the WooCommerce wholesale plugin comes with built-in product visibility options. You can choose whether each product category in your online store is available to retail customers, wholesale users, or both.

This is how to create wholesale-only products which are hidden from your retail store:

  1. First, set up WooCommerce Wholesale Pro, as described above.
  2. Next, go to Products → Categories in the WordPress Dashboard.
  3. Add or edit a product category. Either way, find the 'Visibility' settings which are added by the WooCommerce wholesale plugin. The default is 'Public and Wholesale', so change this to 'Wholesale Only'.
Wholesale category discount visibility options

Create retail-only products

Of course, you also might want to create products which are available to public retail customers but not wholesale users. You can do that with WooCommerce Wholesale Pro too.

Simply follow the instructions in the previous section. The only difference is that you need to set the category to 'Public Only', and this will hide it from the WooCommerce wholesale area.

Add wholesale-only payment methods

As we discussed earlier, wholesale buyers often have fundamentally different needs from normal retail customers. After all, wholesalers are regular customers who are buying in bulk, rather than browsing for their own personal use.

As a result, many WooCommerce wholesale stores need to offer different payment methods for each type of user. For example:

  • Imagine that you want to offer PayPal to retail customers but not wholesale buyers due to the high PayPal fees.
  • Maybe you want wholesale customers to pay by invoice or bank transfer/BACS, while requiring instant online payment from regular customers.

The solution is to use the role-based payments feature in WooCommerce Wholesale Pro:

  1. Go to WooCommerce → Settings → Payments.
  2. First, make sure you have added all the payment methods that you will be offering, such as PayPal, credit card, invoice, etc.
  3. Next, find the 'Payment Roles' page.
  4. For each payment method on your store, select which user role(s) it will be available to.

One you've done that, guests and normal customers will only see the payment gateways which are available to their role. Similarly, wholesale buyers will only see the payment methods for their role.

Create wholesale-only shipping methods

Shipping products to wholesale customers can be very different to shipping retail orders. That's because wholesale orders tend to be in bulk and involve much larger quantities. As a result, you may want to offer different shipping methods and costs to each type of customer.

For example:

  • Lots of online shops offer flat rate shipping costs or free shipping to retail customers. In contrast, they're more likely to cover their costs by offering weight-based shipping to wholesale buyers using a plugin like YITH Product Shipping.
  • In addition, some WooCommerce wholesale stores offer free shipping to their highest tier of wholesale users. This might be buyers with the highest historical sales, as offering free shipping is a way to reward them for their loyalty.

You can do this using the role-based shipping methods feature in WooCommerce Wholesale Pro:

  1. In the WordPress Dashboard, go to WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping.
  2. Add all the different shipping methods and costs that you require for each shipping zone.
  3. Now go to the 'Shipping Roles' tab within the same section.
  4. Use the options on the page to choose which shipping methods will be available to each user role. Select different shipping methods for retail and wholesale customers.

Or if you don't want to worry about shipping to wholesale users, consider a dropshipping arrangement where the order fulfilment is handled by a third party.

Ready to create a WooCommerce wholesale area in 15 minutes?

If you've been wondering "How long does it take to build a WooCommerce store?" then I hope this tutorial has given you the answer.

WooCommerce Wholesale Pro is a plug-and-play solution to help store owners and developers to create a professional wholesale area in minutes. It's the best WooCommerce B2B plugin for online store owners that want to sell to different types of customers.

No technical knowledge is needed. Just follow the instructions in this tutorial, and you'll be up and running in no time.

  • WooCommerce wholesale plugin with quick plug-and-play setup.
  • In-depth documentation and video tutorials showing you ever step and every click (absolutely no way to get it wrong!).
  • Technical support is available if you need any help.
  • Zero-risk 30 day money back guarantee. Love it or get a full refund!

Get the WooCommerce B2B plugin here, and start taking wholesale orders TODAY →