The Listdom Setup Wizard gives a new directory a guided starting structure. Open Listdom → Help → Open Setup Wizard, choose Business Directory, City Portal, or Service Marketplace, and answer the questions for your site. Completing the questions applies the selected setup, then gives you a route to the resulting directory page.
That starting structure can include pages, search and directory shortcodes, categories, locations, fields, and optional demo content. Make the important decisions before finishing the questions, then check the resulting visitor journey. This walkthrough focuses on those decisions so the first setup leaves you with something understandable to maintain.
Describe the directory before choosing a blueprint
A useful setup begins with a small project brief. Write down whom the directory helps, what they need to find, and the area or specialty it covers. “Local businesses” is a broad description. “Independent home services for residents in three neighboring districts” gives you a more useful starting point.
Then identify the first visitor task. A resident may want to find an electrician, check coverage, and contact the business. A city visitor may want to compare places to visit by neighborhood. A service customer may need to evaluate providers before making an inquiry or reservation.
Also decide who will maintain the records at launch. An administrator-curated guide can begin without public submissions. An owner-managed directory needs an account and editing journey. You can refine those workflows later, but the initial structure should support the people you actually intend to serve.
Keep the first scope small enough to review. One useful category and a coherent location structure are a better basis for testing than an elaborate taxonomy nobody has populated. The complete Listdom setup guide covers the wider build; the Wizard is the focused starting step within it.
Open the Wizard from Listdom Help
In WordPress administration, go to Listdom → Help and choose Open Setup Wizard. The Help area also contains the Directory Health & Launch Checklist, which you can use after applying the setup to review outstanding configuration.
Before running the Wizard on an existing site, make a current backup and identify the pages, layouts, and taxonomies already serving visitors. If your directory is in active use, review the changes in an appropriate test environment first. A guided setup is still a configuration change.
Do not treat the Wizard as a theme installer. Listdom manages directory functionality; your WordPress theme and page design control the wider presentation. A useful resulting directory page may still need your navigation, branding, spacing, and supporting content.
Choose the blueprint that matches the first use case
The available starting points are Business Directory, City Portal, and Service Marketplace. Choose the one closest to the directory’s central task, rather than the one whose name sounds most ambitious.
| Example project brief | Blueprint to consider | What to check in the resulting setup |
|---|---|---|
| Help residents find businesses by type and area | Business Directory | Business categories, locations, and the discovery page |
| Help people explore a city’s places and services | City Portal | Local organization and the visitor’s route through the city guide |
| Help customers discover suitable service providers | Service Marketplace | Provider information, useful fields, and the search journey |
These examples describe fit, not a promise that selecting a label completes every commercial or operational workflow. A service marketplace still needs decisions about inquiries, submissions, booking where relevant, payments where relevant, and moderation.
If two blueprints seem plausible, return to the first visitor task. The best starting point is the one whose structure needs the fewest unnecessary concepts. You can expand a clear directory; a confusing initial model makes every later page harder to maintain.
Answer the setup questions using real requirements
Work through the questions that apply to your site. Use the project brief rather than answering for every feature you might someday add. Each choice should help explain the directory you are building now.
Distinguish a category from a location and a field. A category groups the kind of listing; a location groups the area; a field can describe a specific attribute. If you use all three to express the same idea, later search and submission forms may become unnecessarily repetitive.
For an illustrative home-services directory, “Plumbing” could be a category, “North District” a location, and “Emergency callout available” an attribute captured through the appropriate field design. That structure gives editors and owners separate questions to answer.
Do not expand the setup merely to fill every possible choice. If you do not yet know how visitors will use an attribute, note the question and keep the initial model understandable. Once you have representative listings and actual search tasks, you can judge whether the additional structure is useful.
Review your choices before completing the questions
Treat your answers as configuration decisions. Completing the final applicable question starts applying the setup; do not rely on a separate final plan-review screen to stop the process. Use Back to reconsider an answer before finishing, and make a deliberate choice about Generate sample listings at the directory-type step.
Start with the discovery route. Which page will visitors open? Which saved search and directory layouts should support it? Will the categories, locations, and fields help visitors narrow that collection? The shortcodes, search forms, and pages guide explains those relationships before you configure unfamiliar components.
Use these review questions before proceeding:
- Does each directory page you need have a clear purpose?
- Have you decided whether the directory needs addresses and location filters?
- Can your team or listing owners supply the prices and opening hours you intend to show?
- Does the planned search structure support the first visitor task?
- Will listing owners need frontend management, or will administrators maintain the content?
- Have you made an intentional choice about optional demo content?
The questions also include whether search engines and AI tools should understand the listings. Choosing that option enables structured data and AI-readable discovery settings. Review the resulting configuration in Listdom → Settings → SEO & GEO, including which public information you intend to expose. Machine readability helps systems interpret your directory; it does not guarantee search rankings or AI recommendations.
On an existing site, identify the pages and saved configurations already in use. The setup reuses compatible existing items when possible, but that is not a blanket promise to preserve every setting. Keep a backup and review notes. Answer the optional anonymous-usage-data question according to your preference; it is separate from making listing information readable by search systems.
Decide whether demo content will help
Optional demo content can make a new layout easier to understand. It gives you something to inspect while learning how listings and results fit together. That is useful on a fresh test site where an empty collection makes it hard to judge the page structure.
It is not verified inventory for a public directory. Before launch, identify sample content and remove or replace it according to your project plan. Avoid presenting example businesses, contacts, or locations as genuine recommendations to visitors.
If you already have a representative set of real listings, additional samples may add work rather than clarity. Choose based on whether you need examples to learn the interface or real records to test the intended directory. The first-100-listings plan explains how to build a useful opening collection after the structure is ready.
Complete the questions and inspect the resulting page
Finish the questions once your choices are settled, then let the setup complete. On Your directory is ready, choose View your directory to open the resulting page. The completion screen also provides Manage your listings. Its optional email subscription is separate from the directory setup.
First check whether the page expresses the intended task. Can a visitor tell what the directory covers? Are the search controls appropriate? Do results lead to a useful listing page? A generated starting page is a chance to validate the structure before adding large amounts of content.
Then inspect the supporting configuration in WordPress. Use Listdom → Shortcodes for saved directory layout rules and Listdom → Search and Filter Builder for search forms. Changing the page’s introductory paragraph will not correct a layout filter that excludes the wrong collection.
Test one representative listing through the journey. If you used demo content, remember that this checks configuration with sample data. Repeat the important checks with real, reviewed inventory before treating the directory as ready for visitors.
Finish the tasks the Wizard does not decide for you
The Wizard prepares a starting structure. You still need to decide how the directory operates. Review owner access, public submission, moderation, notifications, and any commercial features you actually use.
For an owner-managed directory, test the frontend dashboard and account journey with the intended role. An administrator’s ability to edit a listing does not prove a new owner can find the right form or return to the dashboard after signing in.
If the directory sells packages or accepts booking payments, configure and test that workflow separately in a safe environment. Selecting a marketplace-style starting point does not establish gateway credentials, payment readiness, refund policy, or successful checkout.
Review presentation too. Add understandable navigation, a clear explanation of the directory’s coverage, and useful listing information. Plugin setup and theme design meet on the final page, but changing one does not automatically complete the other.
Use the launch checklist as a follow-up review
Return to Listdom → Help and inspect Directory Health & Launch Checklist. Work through Priority Fixes, review warnings, and use Skip only for optional checks that genuinely do not apply. Select Refresh health check after making changes.
A higher score means the detected Listdom setup is more complete. It is not a security, performance, accessibility, or legal certification, and it does not replace testing with a visitor account.
The Directory Health and launch-checklist reference explains the checks and their scope. Use it to organize remaining work, then open the public directory signed out. Search, open a result, follow a contact action, and test the owner journey if you offer one.
When the result differs from your expectation
If the page exists but shows no useful listings, check the inventory and saved layout restrictions. If the search goes somewhere unexpected, inspect its destination and the intended results page. If an existing item was reused, verify that you are editing that item rather than a similarly named duplicate.
If the page works but the design feels unfinished, review the theme and page composition. If the Help checklist still shows work, inspect its specific items instead of rerunning the Wizard repeatedly in the hope of clearing the score.
For an established directory, make the smallest correction that addresses the problem. You do not need to recreate a whole structure merely because one field, form, or page assignment needs attention. Keep the useful starting setup and continue building from a tested visitor journey.
FAQ
Where is the Listdom Setup Wizard?
Open Listdom → Help and choose Open Setup Wizard. The same Help area contains the Directory Health & Launch Checklist for reviewing outstanding configuration afterward.
Which directory blueprints can I choose?
The Wizard offers Business Directory, City Portal, and Service Marketplace. Choose based on the first visitor task and settle your preferences before completing the setup questions.
Will the Wizard replace my existing directory automatically?
It can reuse compatible existing items, but your answers still configure the site. Back up an existing directory and review your choices before finishing; do not assume every configuration change is automatically reversible.
Do I have to import demo content?
No. Demo content is optional. It can help explain a new layout, but it should not be presented as verified public inventory.
Does finishing the Wizard mean my directory is ready to launch?
No. Check the resulting pages, real listing data, owner access where relevant, and any payment or submission workflows. Use the launch checklist and test as the intended visitor.
Can I change the setup later?
Yes. Continue configuring the relevant pages, saved layouts, search forms, taxonomies, and fields. Review the actual dependency before making a change so you preserve working visitor journeys.
