What are Categories?
Categories help East Texas Locals organize Businesses by the type of work, service, or subject they represent so customers can find relevant local Businesses more easily.
Categories describe what a Business does
Categories are one of the ways East Texas Locals organizes Businesses in the Directory.
They describe the type of work, service, or subject connected to a Business so people browsing ETL can find Businesses that match what they’re looking for.
A Category is about what the Business does. It is different from a Coverage Area, which relates to where the Business participates or appears within East Texas Locals.
Categories are part of the ETL Directory structure
East Texas Locals maintains the Category structure so similar Businesses can be organized consistently.
Categories are therefore more than custom keywords or tags that anyone can create. The available Category structure is part of how the ETL Directory is organized.
Depending on the options available to your Business, you may be able to manage ordinary Directory Category selections through your Business experience.
If a Category you need is unavailable or something does not look correct, East Texas Locals Support can help review the situation.
Ordinary Directory Categories and Official Partner Categories are different
A normal Directory Category helps classify and place Businesses in the Directory.
The Official Partner Category is a separate relationship. It is the protected Category connected to an approved Official Partnership and follows different rules from ordinary Directory Category selections.
Being listed in a Category does not automatically make a Business the Official Partner for that Category.
Likewise, other Businesses may still appear in an ordinary Directory Category even when an Official Partner holds the Official Partner designation for it.
Not sure whether your question is about a Category or a Coverage Area?
A simple way to think about it is:
Category = what kind of Business or service is this?
Coverage Area = where does that Business participate or appear in ETL?
See “Category versus Coverage Area” if you want a fuller comparison.