How to Setup Listify Theme for WordPress Like a Pro!

We’ve all been there.

Staring hopelessly at our computer screens with a ‘what now’ expression on our faces.

Sure googling for the next steps can help. But then you’re left trying to piece together bits of information to build a decent solution.

Things don’t always have to be this way. Especially when dealing with Listify setup!

We’ve done the piecing together of information for you, with simple to follow instructions, sans the developer jargon! :D

I will guide you through:

• Installing the Theme and Dependent Plugins
• Setting Up WP Job Manager
• Setting Up WooCommerce
• Creating the Homepage
• Creating Menus & Footer
• Creating Listings
• Customizing the Theme

And more… without importing the demo content.

Let’s dive right in!

Before You Start: 7 Things to Prepare

Before you install anything, take a few minutes to plan the structure of your site.

This step is easy to skip, but it saves a lot of rework later.

Here is what to decide first:

1. What kind of directory are you building?

Is your site for:

• local businesses

• service providers

• vacation rentals

• restaurants

• events

• job-style listings

• something else

Your answer affects the naming, categories, listing fields, and homepage messaging.

2. Will listings be free or paid?

Some sites allow anyone to submit listings for free. Others use paid packages, featured listings, or submission approval.

Decide this early so you know whether WooCommerce and paid listing flows matter in phase one.

3. Who will add listings?

Will listings be:

• added only by you

• submitted by users

• claimed by business owners later

This affects account setup, dashboard needs, and moderation.

4. What are your main listing categories?

Do not create 20 vague categories just because you can.

Start with a small, logical group of categories that reflect how visitors will search.

5. Do you need map-based discovery?

If location matters, maps cannot be treated as an optional extra.

You will need to plan for address quality, API setup, and location testing early.

6. What should visitors do first on the homepage?

Usually the answer is:

• search listings

• browse categories

• understand what kind of directory this is

That means your homepage should guide action, not just look visually full.

7. What will your first 5 sample listings be?

Use realistic examples from your niche.

That makes testing much easier than working with fake entries like “Listing One” or “Test Item.”

Installing the Theme and Dependent Plugins

Now, I’m going to assume you have purchased the Listify theme and are ready with a fresh new WordPress installation.

Step 0, is installing and activating the Listify theme!

Once you activate the theme, you need to install the needed plugins.

What I would have appreciated after theme activation, would be an automatic redirect to a “Setup Guide” or “Welcome Page”. But that doesn’t happen, so don’t hold your breath for it. ;-)

Just navigate to Appearance -> Setup Guide. Find the button ‘Install Plugins’ and click it. Don’t worry, the plugins do not get installed automatically; you are instead redirected to the Install ‘Plugins screen’. (Alternatively, you could directly head over to Appearance -> Install Plugins)

Liftify recommends 10 odd plugins to be installed. However, out of the plugins listed, WP Job Manager and WooCommerce are the only plugins that are required. The others are recommended but not required.

Instead of installing all the recommended plugins, I’d recommend you install only the required plugins to begin with.

With Listify, the listings are completely managed by the WP Job Manager plugin. So, let’s start by installing and activating the WP Job Manager plugin.

Setting Up WP Job Manager

WP Job Manager does provide a setup wizard, but Listify recommends you skip it, and manually create the pages.

Why is the setup wizard not recommended?

The reason could be because WP Job Manager creates pages for Job creation, editing and listing; with manual page creation you have the flexibility to create pages for listings of your choice- for e.g. listings, restaurants, services and so on.

Not a problem! Owing to the use of shortcodes, setting up the pages manually is pretty easy.

Creating Listing Pages

You need to create three pages:

1. Submit Listing: Create a page named ‘Submit Listing’ and add the [submit_job_form] shortcode and publish the page. Do note: Submit Listing and Edit Listing pages are required only if you want to allow other users to add and manage their own listings.
2. Edit Listing: Create a page named ‘Edit Listing’ and add the [job_dashboard] shortcode on it and publish the page.
3. Listings: The Listings page displays submitted listings. To create this page, add the [jobs] shortcode on it, and name it Listings. Set the ‘Listings’ template for the page, and publish it.

Once the pages have been created you’ll need to update WP Job Manager settings.

WP Job Manager Settings

Just head over to Listing -> Settings. Here you’ll be able to adjust WP Job Manager settings according to your preference.

Now, you could leave the settings under ‘Listings’ and ‘Listing Submissions’ as default; however I would like to bring your attention to a couple of settings you might want to adjust:

Under Listing Submissions:

1. Account Role: If you’d prefer the account role to be different, for example say ‘Owner’, then you’d have to change the value of this option.
2. Listing Duration: If you do not want listings to have an expiration date, clear this field.

PRO TIP: How to Create an ‘Owner’ user role

• Install and activate the User Role Editor plugin
• Under Users->User Role Editor click on ‘Add Role’
• Set the Role name (ID) as ‘owner’, ‘Display Role Name’ as ‘Owner’ and ‘Make copy of’ as ‘Employer’
• Click ‘Add Role’

Set Pages

Under ‘Pages’ you will have to set the listing pages you have just created.

1. Set ‘Submit Listing’ as the Submit Listing Form Page
2. Set ‘Edit Listing’ as the Listing Dashboard Page
3. And ‘Listings’ as the Listings Page

Remember to always save any changes made.

A professional WordPress redesign agency can help in creating customized themes for your website.

Setting Up WooCommerce

WooCommerce is used as the e-commerce cart on your listings website with Listify. Once again, Listify recommends that you do not use the setup wizard, and the reason’s the same. Since there isn’t a conventional store on your listings website, you probably do not need all the pages WooCommerce will create.

But instead of skipping the use of the on-boarding wizard altogether, here’s what I’d recommend. Just skip the first step, so that you do not create any pages. You can set the rest of the options as per your need.

Create My Account Page

Create a new page, add the WooCommerce My Account shortcode [woocommerce_my_account] on it, and publish the page. This page will allows users to login/logout from the frontend, and will also help them track their purchases/bookings.

We’ll not worry about creating a product at this moment. We’ll get to it in some time :)

Creating the Homepage

So, up until now, we were focused on the backend. Let’s move our attention to the frontend for a while.

Your listing website needs a super amazing homepage. But when building one, just make sure you do not ignore essential elements. By far the most important element is the search option. If you’ve noticed popular listing websites, this option is placed prominently right when the homepage is loaded. And you must’ve noticed the same on Listify’s homepage demo.

To create the homepage, create a new page and set ‘Home’ as the page template. You should be able to see the search option displayed on the page.

PRO TIP: To set an image as the background image of the search option, set it as the feature image of the page.

A great feature about selecting the ‘Home’ template, is that you can add additional sections as widgets under ‘Homepage’ widgets. For example, as shown in the Listify demo, you can add a category image grid, and recent listings.

Why am I not able to see the listing categories section, even though I’ve added the widget?

This is because you do not have any listing categories added. Try creating a couple of listing categories and add listings to the category.

Alternatively, if you wanted complete control on the homepage design, you could use a page builder plugin like Visual Composer and leave the template as default or set it as ‘Home (Visual Composer)’.

Now, once the page is ready set this page as the ‘Front Page’ under Settings -> Reading. Create another blog page and set it as the ‘Posts Page’.

Creating Menus & Footer

Listify WP theme offers support for four menu locations:

1. Primar
2. Secondary
3. Tertiary
4. Social (Footer)

The primary menu is the top navigation bar, and is the ideal location to add the login option (or the ‘My Account’ page).

The secondary menu is where your main menu items can be added. By default Listify adds the ‘Browse Category’ menu option to the secondary menu.

The tertiary menu is an optional menu, which can be displayed on certain pages using the ‘Show tertiary navigation bar’ option in Page settings.

This menu is displayed below the page title.

The social menu is added right at the bottom of your page, and is the ideal place to add links to your social profiles. The reason being that Listify automatically displays icons for social networks when the relevant links are added in the menu. You can optionally choose to add links to the “Terms & Conditions’ page, or the ‘Privacy Policy’ page in this menu.

Wondering how to add an icon to each menu item? It’s simple. Under Appearance -> Menu -> ‘Screen Options’ check the ‘CSS Classes’ option. Listify loads Ionicons, so you can use the icon name as a class to show the icon next to the menu name. For example, to display a clipboard icon next to the ‘Listings’ menu, set ion-clipboard as the CSS Class for the menu.

Adding Widgets to the Footer

The Listify theme provides a three column footer. You can head over to Appearance -> Widgets and add widgets under Footer Column 1/2/3 to display information in the footer.

The call to action right above the footer is also part of the footer and can be edited using an option under Appearance -> Customize -> Footer.

There are other options here too, that help you edit the copyright text and allow you to add an ‘As Seen On’ section.

Creating Listings

Moving on to the most important section – Creating a Listing! :)

Listings are the focus of your website. But, before we jump to creating a listing, let’s create a listing category. This will save us the trouble of having to edit the listing after creating the category.

Creating Listing Categories

Creating listing categories is pretty simple. It’s just like creating categories for posts in WordPress. Go to Listings -> Listing Categories and add new categories.

Creating a Listing

To create a listing, go to Listings -> Add New.

1. Add the name of the listing as the title
2. Description about the listing in the post description
3. Add the ‘Listing Data’,’Hours of Operation’, ‘Featured Image’
4. Add images for the listing under ‘Listing Gallery’
5. Categorize the listing under ‘Listing Categories’… and publish the post!

Your new listing should be created. Users of your site can create a listing from the frontend itself, using the ‘Submit Listing’ page.

PRO TIP: If you’re wondering how you can add the ‘Basic Amenities‘ section, you can do so using the WP Job Manager – Tags plugin (to add amenities as tags).

Add Location Map

To add the listing location on the map, you need to add the geolocation coordinates to the listing. These coordinates have to be added as custom fields. For each field below, you have to add a new custom field:

• geolocated – set this to 1 (this indicates that an address is available)
• geolocation_city
• geolocation_country_long
• geolocation_country_short
• geolocation_formatted_address
• geolocation_lat
• geolocation_long
• geolocation_postcode

You should get all of this above information by googling for the listing location. If you do not add this information, the location will not be marked on the map shown on the ‘Listings’ page.

Modifying the Listings Page

Now, we’ve already created the Listings page, and if you are happy with its appearance, good for you! But if not, here’s what you need to do! :D

First things first, to display the map on your listings website, you’ll have to create and set a Google Maps Geocoding API key.

• Go to your Google Developers Console API Manager, and create a ‘New Project’,
• then go to Google Maps Geocoding API, and click ‘Enable’

Enter the generated API key on your WordPress website under Appearance -> Customize -> Listings -> Map Settings

You could optionally add additional elements in a sidebar on the Listings page, by adding widgets under Appearance -> Listings -> Listings Archive.

Creating Listing Packages

Now, if you head over to ‘Submit Listing’ page, you should be shown the submission form directly. But if you notice on the Listify demo page, there are ‘Purchase Packages’. These purchase packages are created as products in WooCommerce using the WC Paid Listings plugin.

1. Go to Products -> Add Product
2. Under Product Data, add ‘Listing Package’ as the product type
3. Set the price, ‘Listing Duration’ (if applicable), and publish the product.

6 Listify Setup Mistakes That Still Waste Time in 2026

Even with a strong theme, a few setup mistakes can slow the whole project down.

1. Installing too many plugins too early

This creates clutter and makes troubleshooting harder.

2. Using only fake content for testing

Placeholder content rarely reveals the real UX problems.

3. Treating maps like a late-stage feature

If location matters, map setup should be tested early.

4. Designing the homepage before deciding the site structure

A homepage works better when categories, search goals, and listing flow are already thought through.

5. Focusing on visual polish before submission flow works

A nice-looking site still fails if listings cannot be submitted or managed properly.

6. Ignoring mobile until the end

Directory sites are often browsed on mobile. A crowded archive or a broken search experience can quickly hurt usability.

A skilled WordPress redesign agency can help develop a custom theme that matches your brand and improves usability.

Customizing the Theme

Apart from customizing the theme’s background, there are tons of other options available to customize the look of the theme under Appearance -> Customize.

• You can change the color scheme under Style Kit, or set custom colors yourself
• You can change the typography, map color scheme, listing layout…. and so on

If you’re good with the default look, you can leave the theme customization settings as is. To customize the theme beyond the options available, such as creating custom templates for Listify, you’ll need to contact a WordPress theme developer.

Here’s a summary of the tasks you need to undertake as part of WordPress Listify theme setup:

1. Install the theme and WP Job Manager and WooCommerce plugins
2. Create Listing pages (Submit Listing, Listings, Edit Listing) with WP Job Manager shortcodes and update WP Job Manager settings
3. Setup WooCommerce, and create the account page
4. Create the Homepage using the template provided by Listify and add widgets as needed
5. Set the primary, secondary menu
6. Add footer widgets, and customize the footer as needed
7. Create listing categories and listing packages

Surely, there are quite a few plugins (recommended by Listify) which you could use to add more functionality on your website. But let’s save all that discussion for another day. :)

For those of you who have used Listify to create their website, feel free to post any information that could be of help to our readers.

And for those of you, who need help setting up Listify, we would be more than happy to help you. Here’s how we can set up and install the Listify theme on your website. :-)

Resources for Further Learning:

Must have plugins for building a Listify Rentals Website.

5 Reasons to use Listify Theme to Build a Website like Airbnb

What Modern WordPress Redesign Services Focus On in 2026

Pretty, Polished, Underperforming: The Real Problem in Website Design WordPress

FAQ’s:

1. How do I customize the appearance of Listify theme?
   Access the “Customize” option in your WordPress dashboard under “Appearance” to modify Listify’s appearance easily.
2. What are the recommended plugins to enhance Listify functionality?
   Recommended plugins include WooCommerce, WP Job Manager, FacetWP, Yoast SEO, WPML, Gravity Forms, and WP Review Pro.
3. What are the best practices for managing listings on Listify?
   Regularly update listings, use categories/tags effectively, enable user submissions, optimize titles/descriptions, utilize featured/promoted listings, monitor reviews, and backup data.