Getting Started – Set up and Manage Categories

Before you start adding content to your site, the first thing you should do is take some time to determine what you believe will be important to your visitors. Such as Neighborhood Profiles for all the areas you service or want to service – so visitors can get a clear idea of what makes a neighborhood “great” or worth considering, Market data – so visitors can see what is going on with homes for sale, sold, etc., and any other information clients typically request from you. This will help you determine what initial Categories you should create. Also, when you are trying to think about what to add next to your site, you will have a better idea of what areas you need to focus on. Usually, we have created a few basic categories for you that every real estate website should contain: Neighborhoods, Market Reports, Featured Listings. For more information on where Categories are typically displayed, be sure to check out Basic Overview of a WordPress Website.

To add and manage your Categories you will use the Manage Categories section of your WordPress administrator.

1. Login to your WordPress Website Administrator. Look for the ‘admin’ link at the bottom of any page on your website.

2. Click the Posts link located in the main navigation bar at the left of the page > then Categories.

3. Enter the Category Name. This is the name that will display on your site under the Categories section. If you are not familiar with where the categories section is, please check out Basic Overview of a WordPress Website. (See the special Note about categories at the end of this page)

4. Enter the Category Slug. This is the name of the category that will display in the URL (the link path to your page). We recommend just leaving this blank, as WordPress will complete this for you.

5. If this new Category is intended to be a Sub-Category of another, then choose the Category Parent from the drop down select box. For example: If you are writing about a Neighborhood entitled Heavenly Valley, and you wish to have this appear under the Neighborhoods category, then you would choose Category Parent > Neighborhoods. The Category Parent drop down list will only contain a list of Categories you have already created.

6. You can ignore the Description, we do not use that field.

7. Click Add Category.

8. To help you find a Category you wish to manage (edit), use the Search Categories feature. Enter the Category or just part of the Category name in the form field and click the Search Categories button. Any Category that contains the name you entered will be listed below. This will be very useful as your site grows.

9. To edit an existing Category, just click the name of the category, make your changes then click the ‘Edit Category’ button to save your changes.

Note: Any Category you create will only show up on your website after you have added a Post to that Category. This is a good thing. You don’t want visitors clicking on a Category – only to find nothing is there.