How to Add a New Category on WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
So, you’re ready to expand your WooCommerce store and offer more product variety? Great! A key step in organizing your products and making them easier for customers to find is by using categories. Think of categories as the digital shelves in your online store. This article will guide you through the process of adding a new category on WooCommerce, step-by-step, even if you’re a complete Read more about Woocommerce How To Import Multiple Products From Csv Files beginner.
Think of it like this: Imagine you’re selling clothes. You wouldn’t just pile everything into one big heap, would you? You’d separate them into categories like Check out this post: How To Make Your Woocommerce Website Faster “T-shirts,” “Jeans,” and “Dresses.” That’s exactly what WooCommerce categories do for your online store.
Why Are Categories Important?
Before we dive into the “how-to,” let’s understand why categories are so important for your WooCommerce store:
- Improved Discover insights on Woocommerce How To Invoice With Wholesale Numbers User Experience: Categories make it easier for customers to browse your products and find what they’re looking for quickly. A well-organized store leads to happier customers and higher sales.
- Better SEO: Using relevant keywords in your category names and descriptions can improve your store’s visibility in search engine results. Google loves organized websites!
- Product Management: Categories help you manage your products more efficiently. You can easily filter and organize products based on their category.
- Easier Navigation: Categories form the backbone of your store’s navigation menu. They allow users to easily jump between different sections of your store.
- Name: This is the name of your category. Choose a clear and descriptive name that your customers will understand. For example, “Running Shoes” or “Organic Coffee.”
- Slug: The “slug” is a URL-friendly version of your category name. It’s automatically generated based on the name you enter, but you can customize it. Keep it short and lowercase, using hyphens to separate words (e.g., `running-shoes` or `organic-coffee`).
- Parent Category: This allows you to create subcategories. If your new category is a subcategory of an existing category, select the parent category from the dropdown menu. For example, if you’re creating a category called “Trail Running Shoes,” you might select “Running Shoes” as the parent category.
- Description: Add a brief description of your category. This is a great place to use relevant keywords to improve your store’s SEO. For example, “Find the perfect running shoes for any terrain. We offer a wide selection of trail running shoes from top brands.”
- Display Type: Choose how you want the products in this category to be displayed. You can choose to show just products, just subcategories, or both.
- Thumbnail: You can upload an image to represent your category. This image will be displayed on your store’s category pages. Choose a high-quality image that is relevant to the Check out this post: How To Set Product To Be Published At Midnight Woocommerce category.
- Name: Handbags
- Slug: handbags
- Parent Category: (Leave this blank if “Handbags” is a top-level category)
- Description: “Browse our stylish collection of handbags, including totes, clutches, and crossbody bags. Find the perfect handbag to complete your look.”
- Display Type: Products
- Thumbnail: Upload an image of a beautiful handbag.
- Think about your customer’s journey. How would they naturally browse your products? Structure your categories in a way that makes sense to them.
- Creating Too Many Categories: While it’s important to be organized, don’t create too many categories. This can overwhelm your customers and make it difficult for them to find what they’re looking for.
- Using Vague Category Names: Use clear and descriptive category names that your customers will understand.
- Ignoring SEO: Don’t forget to use relevant keywords in your category names and descriptions to improve your store’s SEO.
- Not Assigning Products to Categories: This is a crucial step! If you don’t assign products to categories, they won’t appear in the category pages.
How to Add a New Category in WooCommerce
Here’s the step-by-step guide to adding a new category to your WooCommerce store:
1. Log in to your WordPress Dashboard: First, log in to your WordPress admin panel. This is usually done by going to `yourdomain.com/wp-admin`.
2. Navigate to Products > Categories: In the left-hand menu, hover over “Products” and then click on “Categories.”
3. Fill in the Category Details: You’ll see a form on the left side of the screen. This is where you’ll enter the details for your new category. Here’s a breakdown of each field:
4. Click “Add New Category”: Once you’ve filled in all the details, click the “Add New Category” button. Your new category will now appear in the list on the right side of the screen.
Example: Adding a “Handbags” Category
Let’s say you want to add a new category called “Handbags.” Here’s how you would fill in the form:
Organizing Your Categories
Once you’ve added a few categories, you’ll want to organize them. You can easily rearrange the order of your categories by dragging and dropping them in the list on the “Products > Categories” page.
Here’s a tip:
Assigning Products to Categories
Now that you’ve created your categories, you need to assign your products to them. Here’s how to do it:
1. Edit the Product: Go to “Products” in the WordPress menu and click on the product you want to assign to a category.
2. Find the “Product Categories” Box: On the right side of the product edit screen, you’ll see a box labeled “Product Categories.”
3. Select the Category: Check the box next to the category (or categories) you want to assign the product to. You can assign a product to multiple categories if it’s relevant.
4. Update the Product: Click the “Update” button to save your changes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Conclusion
Adding and managing categories in WooCommerce is essential for creating a user-friendly and SEO-friendly online store. By following these steps, you can easily organize your products, improve your customer’s shopping experience, and boost your sales. Remember to focus on clarity, organization, and SEO when creating and managing your WooCommerce categories. Good luck!
