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Mainstay: guide for business owners

Thank you for choosing Mainstay. This guide takes you from installing the theme to getting your first quote request, without touching any code. The same guide is inside WordPress at Appearance > Mainstay guide.

1. Install (5 minutes)

The download contains several files. The one you upload to WordPress is mainstay.zip (not the whole download).

  1. Go to Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme > Upload Theme, choose mainstay.zip, then Install Now and Activate.
  2. A notice at the top of the screen recommends Mainstay Core, the theme’s companion plugin. Press Install and activate Mainstay Core. It adds your business details, services, reviews, the quote form, call tracking and the one-click demo content. (It is also in the download as plugins/mainstay-core.zip, for Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.)
  3. Optional: mainstay-child.zip is a child theme for your own code. Most businesses do not need it.
  4. Recommended: install Yoast SEO or Rank Math (Plugins > Add New) for search titles and Google Search Console.

If WordPress says “The package could not be installed. The theme is missing the style.css stylesheet”, you uploaded the whole download: unzip it first and upload mainstay.zip.

2. Add the demo content (1 click)

Go to Appearance > Import demo content, choose a demo and press Import demo content.

You get a complete example business: services with photos, sample reviews, the About, Service areas, Reviews, Questions, Get a quote and Contact pages, and a few articles. Your own pages are never changed, and you can run it again any time. Skip this step if you want to start from an empty site.

Templates, designs and colours

Mainstay comes with 6 templates, each a complete website for a different trade: plumbing, electrician, heating and cooling (HVAC), roofing, locksmith and cleaning service. Pick one in Appearance > Import demo content.

Then choose a look:

  • Design (Appearance > Mainstay settings > Home page > Design): Classic, Split, Bold centre, Clean light or Emergency.
  • Colours (Appearance > Editor > Styles): Default, Clinic, Forest, Ember or Signal.

Any template works with any design and colours. Try them all on the live demos with the Try a design button.

More choices:

  • Reviews layout (Mainstay settings > Home page): Grid, Slider, Spotlight or List. Each Reviews block can override it in the editor (the block’s Settings panel).
  • Form layout (Mainstay settings > Quote form): Step by step or All on one page. Each quote form block can override it.
  • WhatsApp number (Mainstay settings > Business): adds a WhatsApp button for phones.
  • Starting fresh: Appearance > Import demo content > Remove demo content clears the template and turns off demo mode.
  • Your own quote questions (Mainstay settings > Quote form): rename the first two questions, change the “When” answers, hide fields you do not need, and add up to 5 extra questions, one per line. Property type: House | Apartment | Business * gives choice buttons; the * makes it required.
  • Several locations (Mainstay settings > Business > Locations): one per line, Name | Street | City | State | ZIP | Phone. Add the Mainstay: Locations block (or the “Our locations” pattern) to a page.
  • Online booking (Mainstay settings > Quote form > Booking link): paste your booking page from Calendly, Cal.com, Acuity, Square or Setmore, then add the Mainstay: Booking block (or the “Book online” pattern).

3. Put in your business details

Go to Appearance > Mainstay settings. Everything on the site reads from here, so you only type it once:

Setting Where it shows
Business name, type of business Header, footer, Google business details
Phone Top bar, every call button, the call bar on phones, footer
Email Footer; quote requests are sent here
Address, or “Hide street address” if you go to your customers Footer, Google business details
Opening hours, emergency service Opening hours block, top bar, quote form
Service areas (one town per line) Service areas block, footer, Google business details
Licence or registration Footer
Hero headline, text and photo The top of the home page
Trust points Under the hero headline and on service pages
Social and review links Footer

Texts can use {business}, {phone}, {city} and {areas}, which fill in your own details.

4. Make it yours

What Where
Logo Appearance > Editor, click the header, then the logo, and Replace
Colours Appearance > Editor > Styles: pick a ready-made style, or Colors to change the palette
Fonts Appearance > Editor > Styles > Typography
Menu Appearance > Editor > the header, then the menu
Footer texts Appearance > Editor > the footer
Any page (About, Questions…) Pages, then edit like a document. Click any text to change it; move a section with the arrows in its toolbar, or remove it from the ⋮ menu
Add a ready-made section In the editor, click +, then Patterns > Mainstay: numbers row, why choose us, how it works, story timeline, photo with text, towns we cover, reviews, services, emergency call and hours, questions, contact cards, quote form and more. Then change the words and photos
Custom CSS Appearance > Editor > Styles > the menu > Additional CSS

5. Services and reviews

  • Services: the Services menu. Each service has a title, a short summary (the “Excerpt”, shown on the cards), the full text, a photo, an icon and an optional price line such as “From $89”. Drag the order with Page attributes > Order. Each service gets its own page, and Google sees it as a service you offer.
  • Reviews: the Reviews menu. Add the customer’s name, their words, the stars, their town and the service. Only publish real customer words. Made-up examples are marked “Sample” and labelled on the site; replace them as real reviews come in.

6. Quote requests

The quote form asks three short questions: what the customer needs, when, and how to reach them.

  • Every request is saved under Quote requests (with a red counter for new ones) and emailed to you.
  • Give each request a status (New, Contacted, Booked, Closed) and a note, so nothing gets forgotten.
  • Add the form to any page with the Mainstay: Quote form block.
  • Link to the quote page from anywhere: /get-a-quote/. A link like /get-a-quote/?service=Drain%20cleaning ticks that service for the customer.

7. Calls, tracking and Google

Appearance > Mainstay settings > Tracking and custom code:

  • Google Analytics 4 and Meta Pixel: paste your IDs.
  • Count call clicks (on by default): every tap on your phone number is counted as a “phone_call” event in Google Analytics, and quote requests as “generate_lead”. Useful if you run Google or Meta ads.
  • Google business details: the theme tells Google your business name, type, phone, address, service areas and services automatically. Also claim your free Google Business Profile and link it under Social and review links.

8. Before you go live

  • Put in your real business details in Mainstay settings.
  • Replace the demo services, pages, photos and sample reviews with your own.
  • Turn off Demo mode (Mainstay settings > Quote form). While it is on, the quote form sends and saves nothing.
  • Send yourself a test quote request and check it arrives (and is not in spam).
  • Tap your phone number on your own phone to check it calls the right number.

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