Onboarding is the popular terminology for users adopting and remaining on a software platform. The learning curve involved with wordpress and our BePro Listings product is dependent on the user. This article covers how you and your customers can best understand our software and begin using it effectively
FEATURES
BePro Listings is the most powerful Directory Builder plugin available for the WordPress CMS (content management system). With over 20 addons, this software can be customized to fit most, if not all, of your directory needs. In doing so, it provides a large amount of configuration options
Understanding which options are relevant to your needs is time consuming but important for defining a path of approach. You should consider BePro Listings to be a great foundation that can be built upon. You need to figure out if what you want to build can be done on this platform and then what tools are necessary to execute it
SHORTCODE BUILDER
Delivering the features of BePro Listings is often facilitated by Shortcodes. There are over 7 stock shortcodes provided by BePro Listings and its addons contribute to that number. So to simplify the learning curve associated with these shortcodes we have created two mechanisms
The first tool is our all in one shortcode. Its a simple shortcode that calls other shortcodes for you. Inevitably, it quickly shows several features on any page or post. It allows both you and your customers to understand whats possible with the software. It also has templates for removing the map etc; However, this tool is designed to introduce you to BePro Listings and we anticipate users will abandon it once they understand whats possible
The second option to consider is our Shortcode Builder. Via a tinymce button, a lightbox reveals an informative tool for building shortcodes. It features all of the available shortcodes and their options. You then simply select the shortcode and options that you need. Once selected, adding the resulting shortcode to the page is as easy as clicking “Use Shortcode”. This process makes using shortcodes a breeze
DESIGN
BePro listings comes with its own responsive design. Several of our features have multiple templates like listing results and categories. This layout is designed to blend with most designs and provides a quick start. With that said, we fully expect that customers will customize the layout as needed
We sell directory themes specifically configured to work with BePro Listings. This radically reduces the time needed to learn how BePro Listings works. Theme templates already have shortcodes integrated and simply showcase the features when assigned to a page. For many, this is the fastest way to get started and at $1 is a very low cost approach.
Although we sell themes, there is no limitation to compatibility. BePro Listings can integrate into any theme. Our development team is often tasked with simulating an existing design or integrating into an existing theme. Since BePro Listings uses template architecture to showcase information, there is literally no limit to the design. With that said, you need a developer to make this leap. We did not design the theme so its impossible to make the plugin automatically work with it.
CONTENT AND MEDIA
The edit process is familiar to any page or post. This is done on purpose, making content management as painless as possible. Users can enter descriptions, addresses, price and other content and the same listing page in the admin. This makes it easy to see all related information on one place
BePro Listings also supports media types in its base free form. With our recently launched a gallery preview option allowing users to clearly, see, edit, and add new images to a listing. This makes it extremely easy to manage the images associated with a listing which is a feature sorely missing from WordPress
EXTENDING
We have incorporated many wordpress hooks and filters into BePro Listings. For the layman, this means lots of opportunities to extend features with addons. We feature over 20 BePro Listings addons during the creation of this article. They cover various features including, media, customer engagement and content management
There are countless ways to extend and customize the BePro Listings experience with custom code. This is demonstrated by the major features and changes that addons deliver to BePro Listings. There is nothing stopping you or your development team from creating your own addons and further customizing the BePro Listings experience.
ONBOARDING PROCESS
Its smart to start simple with BePro Listings. Create the pages you think you will need, then use the shortcode builder to help you find features that will fit those pages. Once you see BePro Listings taking the shape of your needs, you should then find the addons that will fill any gaps
Notice that we recommend starting with the base free plugin before buying anything. If the free product doesn’t paint the right picture, then the addons cannot enhance the picture. Confirm BePro Listings works for your theme, server and other addons you have decided to use. If the base free BePro Listings plugin works well, then the addons will take you the rest of the way.
DOCUMENTATION, FORUMS AND TUTORIALS
We feature lots of resources for understanding BePro Listings and its addons. Use our extensive documentation page to understand what features are available and how to go about using them. This is meant as a high level approach
Our subscription membership takes this a step further, providing in depth video use cases and tutorials. We focus on various markets and how they may best utilize the software we create. We recommend this as a first stop for anyone planning or already using our software. It can answer a lot of questions you have and share insight into things you didn’t know existed
Forums are another great resource for the BePro Listings community. We offer FREE support on all of our products both paid and free. This means that there is an easy place to go for answers. Let our dedicated support team help you to understand whats possible or address and functionality issue you find with the platform. With BePro Listings, you always have development support available
CONCLUSION
Setting up a website on BePro Listings can be really simple or it can take a while. The difference comes down to the level of customization that’s needed. Create a simple directory featuring a few listings or a multi-directory website with each directory featuring unique content and features. There is no light switch that can accommodate everything; However, with some configurations BePro Listings fits several directory market niches
