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Directory Listing Management

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Setting Up your Directory Categories

1) Click the Admin/Directory menu

2) If you are just now setting up your Directory, you will need to add at least one Category to assign your Directory Listings

3) If you have Categories already created, click the "Make a new Resource" to add your next Directory Listing.

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1) Click the "Make a new category"

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1) Category Placement - Most Categories are "Top Level Categories" which means there are no sub-categories under this category.  In the example above, there are Top Level Categories "Advertising, Media & Events", and multiple sub-categories. To create a sub-category, select the Top Level Category

2) Title - Be very thoughtful when entering a Title.  The Title field will determine the permanent URL of this Category and will be in the URL of all Listings in this Category.  For Search Engine Optimization of your Category pages, use a keyword phrase you think people would search in Google to find this page.  After you save the Category, you can return and change the Title to anything you wish, but the URL of the Category will always be the original Title when you 1st Saved this category.

3) Description - This is an optional field.  If you want text or images to be displayed at the top of your category page, enter the text here.

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4) Category Layout - This is an advanced feature used if this Category needs to have a different page layout from other Categories. Most of the time you will leave the "Default Link Page Layout" set.

5) Link Layout - This is an advanced feature used if this Directory Detail pages need to have a different page layout from other Directory Detail pages. Most of the time you will leave the "Same as Category" set.

Adding New Directory Listings

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Understanding the Directory Summary Page

1) Make a new Resource - Because the Directory system is used for many purposes the word "Resource" is used to define a Directory Listing. Click the "Make a new Resource" to add a new listing.

2) Edit Current Listings - To edit a current listing, click the Title of the listings

3) Files - You can attach PDF and Audio Files to your listing. From within the edit screen for the listing you can place the attached PDF on the page or you can place an audio player on the page to play your attached audio file.

4) Attach Images - You can attach images from the Summary screen, without having to opend the edit screen for your Listing. Either click on the image icon or the number indicating how many images are already attached to the page.  NOTE: you cannot attach a image to a Listing until the Listing has been saved.

5) Directory View - By default the view of the Summary page shows all Categories, Sub Categories and Listings.  You will notice the more Listings you have the slower this page loads. This is because it takes your website time to format all these Categories, Sub Categories and Listings.  If you want to quickly display Listings, without displaying Categories or Sub Categories, click the "Show Alphabetical View" link.  To return to the Default view, click "Show Category View"

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Alphabetical Directory View

This view loads much faster than the Default view of the page. You also have two new search features.

1) Alpha Search - Click the Alpha character to quickly display Listings that begin with that character

3) Search Field - Enter any portion of the Title of a listing, and click the SEARCH button to quickly display your Listings that meet your search criteria. 

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1) Title - Enter the Title of your Listing. The Title will also become part of the URL of your Listings, so if you want this Listing to be Search Engine Optimized, enter a title that someone would type in a Google search.  An example of a Search Engine Optimized Title would be "Santa Barbara Website Designers - Ameravant Web Design"

2) URL - This is a required field ONLY if you want the Listing to automatically display and link to visit the website of the person or organization you are Listing: if this is the case, enter the web address here.  If you do not wish to link out to another website this field is NOT required. NOTE: you MUST start the URL with "http://".  If you start the URL with "www" the public link will not work.

3) Blurb - The Blurb field content shows on the Category page where this Listing is assigned.  It does not show on the Detail page for this Listing.

4) Approve for Public Viewing - If checked, the Listing is public.  If you want to hide the listing, simply uncheck this box.

5) Feature - In addition to Listing being displayed in the directory, they can be displayed on individual pages around the website.  For the Listing to qualify for other pages, it must be "Featured" by clicking this checkbox.  (A custom Layout must be added to other pages for the listings to appear on those pages.)

6) Hide Resource Detail Page - By default all Listings have a Detail page, which is a dedicated page just for this one listing.  If you do not want to display a Detail page, click this checkbox.  You will notice when this box is clicked, the BODY field at the bottom of the page disappears so you are not able to add content to the Detail page.

7) Primary Category - All listings  must be assigned to at least one Category. If you do not see any Categories listed, go to the top of this User Guide page and add your 1st Category.

8) Secondary Categories - A single listing can be displayed in multiple Categories.  Click the "Secondary Categories" link to see a listing of all categories.  Click the checkbox next to each Category you want to display this listing.

9) Short Description - This is a META Description for the page.  It should be no longer than 3 sentences and describe the content of the page.  Google looks at this Description to determine the focus of the page, so if you are concerned about Search Engine Optimization, use sentences that contain keyword for this Listing.

10) Tags - Tags are optional.  They used to be popular in Directories and Article systems.  In more recent times Tags are not used as much.  They are a way to sub-categorize a listing. Since listings already have categories and sub categories, there is no real need for Tags. We recommend you leave this field blank.

11) Body - This is where you add content for the Listing's Detail Page. The Edit functions are the same as when you add Pages to your website.

Search Support for More: