How To Create A Blog Page In WordPress
This tutorial shows you how to easily add a separate blog section to your WordPress site, allowing you to run a website and a blog on the same domain.
See these tutorials for additional information:
- How To Set A Home Page For Your Website
- WordPress Posts vs WordPress Pages Explained
- How To Create Pages In WordPress
- How To Use WordPress Posts Excerpts
- WordPress Themes Explained
Why Create A Separate Blog Page On Your Website?
Normally, when you visit a website’s home page, you think of a landing page with fixed content describing who you are, what your business does, and links to your products or services, whereas a blog typically displays your site’s latest posts.
By default, an “out of the box” WordPress installation acts as a blog. What this means, is that your home page displays a dynamic and self-updating list of your most recently published posts.
If your site currently has a fixed home page but no blog section or your home page is displaying your site’s latest posts (i.e. a blog) but you would like it to have a ‘fixed’ home page and a blog section, this tutorial will show you how to create a blog page on your WordPress site that will automatically display your most recent published blog posts.
How posts display on your site depends on the WordPress theme you have installed and are actively using. To learn more about using WordPress Themes, see this tutorial: WordPress Themes Explained
Many eCommerce themes, for example, allow you to configure your site to display your shop on the home page and provide a separate blog section to display your most recent posts.
For example, here is the theme options page of a popular WordPress eCommerce theme called Avada…
As you can see, the Avada theme already comes with its own built-in blog section, so there’s no need to create a separate blog page if you’re using this theme.
In a separate tutorial, we show you how to change the home page of your site from a ‘blog’ listing your most recent posts, to a more traditional-looking website where visitors will be greeted by a fixed home page when they arrive on your site via your main domain URL (e.g. https://yourdomain.com).
To learn how to set any page on your site as the main home page, see this tutorial: How To Set A Home Page For Your Website
What if you would like to have both a website and a blog set up on your domain but your current theme doesn’t give you the option of configuring a separate blog section?
In other words, what if you would your visitors to land on a fixed page when they arrive on the main page of your site and view your latest posts too?
Simple… just create a ‘blog’ page!
To create a section on your site that will display your most recent posts, do the following:
First, you will need to create a new page.
Log into your WordPress admin area and select Pages > Add New from the main menu.
Name this page whatever you want (e.g. Blog, News, Updates, Latest Events, Special Deals, etc.). For simplicity’s sake, we’ll just call this page Blog.
Important: Leave this page completely empty. Do not type anything into the content editor section.
After naming your page, click on Publish to create your Blog Page.
You have now created your Blog Page, but we’re not quite done yet. There’s one more step to complete.
You still need to instruct WordPress to make this page your site’s Blog Page, where your latest posts will display.
In the WordPress menu, select Settings > Reading.
In the Reading Settings screen, set the following options:
- Select A static page.
- In Posts page: select the blank page you have just created from the dropdown menu. (In this example, it’s the page called Blog)
- Click the Save Changes button to update your settings.
Note: The Reading Settings screen also lets you specify how many posts to display on your blog page.
Finally, make sure to include your new Blog Page in your navigation menus.
If you need help with this step, see this tutorial: How To Use WordPress Menus
Now, when visitors click on your site’s ‘Blog’ menu link, they will view the latest post entries published on your site.
WordPress Blog Page – FAQs
Here are frequently asked questions about setting up a blog page in WordPress:
How do I set up a main Blog Page in WordPress?
- Navigate to your WordPress dashboard and go to Settings > Reading.
- Under the “Your homepage displays” section, choose the “A static page” option.
- Select the page you want to use as your main Blog Page from the dropdown menu for the “Posts page” option.
Can I customize the layout of my main Blog Page?
Yes, you can customize the layout of your main Blog Page using WordPress themes and page builders. Themes often offer various templates for blog pages, and page builders allow you to design custom layouts without coding.
How can I display specific categories on my main Blog Page?
You can display specific categories on your main Blog Page by using plugins or custom coding. Plugins like Category Posts Widget enable you to showcase posts from selected categories on your blog page.
Is it possible to paginate posts on the main Blog Page?
Yes, you can paginate posts on the main Blog Page to improve navigation and user experience. In WordPress Reading settings, you can specify the number of posts per page, and WordPress will automatically create pagination when the number of posts exceeds the set limit.
How do I add a featured image to my blog posts displayed on the main Blog Page?
To add a featured image to your blog posts, edit each post and locate the “Featured Image” option in the post editor. Upload or select an image to serve as the featured image, which will be displayed on the main Blog Page alongside the post excerpt.
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Congratulations! Now you know how to create a blog page on a separate section of your WordPress site to display your most recent posts.
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Updated: July 5th, 2024