ListingHive Review PROS & CONS (2023) – Free WordPress Directory & Listing Theme

People can find services in different niches or industries thanks to business directories. Organizations can also use those resources to find potential customers or business opportunities. Website owners can make an additional income by operating their own online listing or business directory sites.

Most listings will have descriptions, locations, reviews, and photographs. These lists are often sorted by specific criteria such as location, category, and other attributes.

Directories are a great way to monetize a website with user-generated content. Whether you’re looking to create a niche directory or a directory to list vendors, you can easily do it in WordPress.

The ListingHive theme makes it possible to create whatever kind of listing and directory site you want to have. In this ListingHive review, I will show what theme offers, how to create a listing or directory site easily, as well as its pros and cons.

 

ListingHive Review

Creating a unique listing and directory site is simplified thanks to an efficient ListingHive WordPress theme. You can use this lightweight, modern theme to craft real estate sites, classifieds, service marketplaces, job boards, business directories, and much more.

 

 

You can visit the official WordPress theme repository to download this theme free of charge or visit the official site. The theme is based on the free directory, listing, and classifieds plugin called HivePress and it is from same authors as the ListingHive theme. For more details, see HivePress review.

The same team has also created several other themes specially designed for certain aspects. ListingHive theme for creating directory site, RentalHive theme for booking site, ExpertHive theme for creating an on-demand marketplace, for creating a freelance marketplace site like Fiverr, there is a TaskHive theme, and a JobHive theme for a job board site.

 

 

If you want to know more about those themes, you can check my RentalHive review, ExpertHive review and TaskHive review.

 

Customization Options

ListingHive is a minimalistic blog theme created explicitly for directory and listing sites. Combining ListingHive with the HivePress plugin allows for almost endless possibilities.

ListingHive’s design is very basic, and you will not find many customization options under settings. Just the basic ones. The look and feel can be influenced by changing fonts, background images or main colors. The WordPress customizer is used to make changes in ListingHive.

WordPress block editor Gutenberg works well with ListingHive. Blocks can be used to create different layouts. Everything will look exactly the same on the frontend. No shortcodes or custom HTML are necessary.

 

 

Elementor and other page builders can be used with this theme. In case you use Classic TinyMCE editor, you will need to use available shortcodes to manage design.

Changing the primary and secondary colors for the site, setting header backgrounds, switching fonts, and other important functions can be achieved with a few easy mouse clicks. If you don’t want to start from scratch, I recommend importing the ListingHive sample content. You don’t have to do this, but it’s a good way of trying things out beforehand.

It doesn’t take long to customize your site. Start at the Appearance menu and then select the “Customize” option. Now you can make all the edits that you want. You can see your revisions as you make them in the live preview.

 

Integration With HivePress

One of the secrets to ListingHive’s success is its connection with HivePress. HivePress is a free WordPress plugin that can be used to create various types of listing and directory websites. You can even create sites for classifieds, real estate, job boards, business directories and other specialties.

If you want more flexibility, you can integrate any of the free or paid HivePress add-ons:

• Memberships – You can charge a fee for people to see and search the available listings on your website. Or you can limit access to specific listing attributes, individual listing pages, or all of your listing pages. You can restrict access to review submissions and messages as well.
• Marketplace – Create a fixed-price service or digital download marketplace.
• Requests – HivePress, by default, uses a question and answer system. This extension allows users to receive offers and make requests.
• Search alerts – Users can be alerted via email if any listing corresponding to their user’s search criteria appears.
• Social links – Add social links to vendor and listing pages.
• Opening hours – Add opening hours to search listings and other listing types.
• Statistics – View listing views over the last thirty days.
• Tags – Add listing tags. The specified tags can then be used to search for listings based on those tags.
• Paid listings – Charge users to renew, feature, or add listings.
• Claim listings – Charge fees for claiming listings.
• Authentification – Use third-party services for site visitors to sign in.
• Favorites – Allow users to create lists of favorite listings.
• Reviews – Users can review and rate listings.
• Messages – Allow users to send and receive private messages.
• Geolocation – Adds option to search listings based on location.

Combining various extensions can help you create a one-of-a-kind marketplace.

 

How ListingHive Works?

On the site’s main page, users can browse and search for different listings. The service listing page displays all available services, which can be sorted and filtered by different categories.

 

 

All directory listings have their own descriptions. If users want further details about a particular listing, they can send a private message to the service provider.

Listings can be posted and browsed by buyers. Sellers can review buyers’ requests and make offers on different listings. Sellers and buyers can manage messages and requests and perform other actions from the frontend admin panel.

The site owner can make money from their listing site in different ways. Some ways include charging a flat fee for every listing or charging commission fees for all transactions.

 

Front-End

Good online marketplace experiences don’t require use of the WordPress backend dashboards. That is why frontend dashboards are provided to buyers and sellers on ListingHive.

Sellers and buyers can check active requests and listings, view previous orders and statistics, and complete other tasks all on frontend dashboards. Submissions are made using the forms that website owners create, and site users can create new listings as needed.

The frontend submission form allows images to be added when creating listings using “Add Media” button. Unfortunately, videos don’t have their field, but you can use the listing description field to embed the video.

 

 

The free “Messages” extension must be installed and activated before users can send and receive private messages. Messages will be shown to listing owners as comments on specific listings that are active. The general public won’t be able to view or respond to those messages, as they will remain private.

 

 

Primary search, filter, and sort options are available on an “All Listings” page. HivePress settings let you use a certain page as your Listings page or you can create a brand new listing page.

Basic layout settings can be set on a Listings page. Some of those choices include assigning the amount of featured and regular listings that will be included and showing Category pages.

Frontend dashboards let listing owners change their listings at any time. Listings can always be changed or deleted. Frontend controls can also be used to adjust profile images, change password, name, email, and other profile settings.

 

 

Built-in search and filter feature will show on Listings page. If you look at the top of the page, you’ll notice the handy keyword and location search form. The location search field will be active if the Geolocation extension is activated.

 

 

Users can review and rate different listings when the free HivePress “Reviews” extension is installed and activated.

 

 

The backend will display user ratings and reviews as comments. Ratings on the search/Listing page can be used to sort various listings.

 

Integration With WooCommerce

HivePress integrates with WooCommerce opening dors for various monetization options. WooCommerce payment gateway options make it easy for site to receive and process customer payments.

Customers can be charged for listings once the free “Paid Listings” extension is activated. This extension works well with WooCommerce and is essential to utilize shopping cart functions and receive payments. You can quickly turn your site into a paid listings site with the Paid Listings extension, HivePress, and WooCommerce.

 

How HivePress Works?

HivePress has pre-assigned post types and taxonomies. HivePress controls all of its own categories, post types, and fields.

The preset post type is “Listings.” The predetermined Listings custom taxonomy is “Categories.” Listing Categories and Traditional post categories work in much the same way.

 

 

Images can be added to represent various categories in Listing Categories. HivePress functions allow those images to be displayed on the frontend.

The “Attributes” section controls specific types of listing data. Every attribute’s field type, place holders and other primary and custom settings can be found here. You can change attributes as needed.

 

 

Any attributes that you want to use as search options can be managed in the HivePress attribute settings. You can use them as sorting selections if you’d like, and you will have complete control over how search choices will be displayed to site visitors.

 

ListingHive Pricing

ListingHive theme is free, as well as the HivePress plugin. HivePress plugin offers seven free extensions. There are also eight paid extensions that cost from $29 to $39 for usage on 1 site.

You can check the ListingHive demo if you are still not sure if it fits your needs.

 

ListingHive Review Conclusion

There has been increased interest in directory and listing sites and other types of on-demand services. This looks to only grow in the years to come. People have seized this opportunity by creating their own online service marketplaces.

All kinds of industry and specialized directory and listing sites can be created with ListingHive and HivePress. You can have a fully functional site that you can monetize.

ListingHive is an amazing resource! It’s ideal for anyone who wants to have their own website for classified ads, real estate listings, service marketplaces, job boards, business directories and many other purposes.

If ListingHive is not what you need, then I suggest you check Directorist review as alternative option.