The static home page
Hello everybody
Firstly, can I say thank you for all your comments on my last post, they are very much appreciated.
In this post, I will be discussing the static home page and how to set it up, if that’s what you have decided to go for.
When you first set up a Wordpress site you will get the default settings and if you go to the menu you will see this
You will notice it says the word "custom" on the home tab, if you keep it like this then your home page will display your latest posts, most people want to change this so you need to take the following steps to create a static home page
Step 1
Go to pages and then click add new give your page a title, most just use home or home page you can call it whatever you like
Put your main keyword in the heading section so when you publish it is SEO friendly so it has your heading set with your keywords
Click publish
Now your home page is published the next step is to go to
Settings > reading
In reading change the the settings so it looks like this
Don't forget to save changes in the menu so it all takes affect, I have enclosed a picture of the menu settings so you can also see to check the 2 boxes to make sure your menu displays correctly on your site
Now go back to you menu and delete the custom tab and the sample page and now you have a static home page ready for editing.
Your home page will now be static and so your posts will not appear on it, not everybody wants this option but if you do this is the best way to do it.
I know you may all be thinking "so where do my posts go then" don't worry I will be showing you how to create your own blog within your WP site later.
There is also other ways to display pages, but more of that later, one step at a time as they say.
Before I move on to posts in another blog I just wanted to help you with some design and website planning tips
I will be giving you a simple formula to use when thinking about the design of your site, once you have chosen you niche.
There’s nothing more daunting than staring at a blank page on your site and thinking “now what”
So look out for my next post called "The 3 things visitors want to know when they come to your site" Keep you visitors happy and success will follow.
I hope this little info burst has helped anyone that has just begun their journey into the amazing, but sometimes daunting world of Wordpress design
Small steps every day and before you know it, you will be building your own amazing sites that you can be proud of and hopefully give you passive income for many years to come.
To all your success
Barry
Recent Comments
47
Hi Barry,
first of all thank you for such a great tutorial.
I'm currently working on content building for my lesson and going through "Get Started Here" Training Course 2, Lesson 3. I have some minor experience about WP but I noticed very quickly that I've still got enough to learn.
I have problems finding an appropriate theme and one after another gets deleted, because little things I want just don't work out. I'm not really sure if that's the themes fault or my lack of proper skills. I tend to blame my skills...lol.
I'm looking forward to see your other blog posts regarding Wordpress. I even have to reconsider a static home page now as it might be more fitting for my niche.
Thanks again and keep up the great work.
Take care,
Nicole
It dooesn't work with my website!! maybe because of the theme or template? http://www.makemywebsite.siterubix.com
I'm so confused. The menu on my site (www.howtosucceedataffiliatemarketing.com) shows the "Home" page. When I got to my dashboard and my pages it is not there. I would like the home page to be static and show the whole article I published as it is my sales/lead capture page. I do not want my posts to show up on this page. What do I need to do to make sure the posts don't show up on the home page? Thanks. --- Ginger
STATIC FRONT PAGE...... In your website dash board it says Appereance click on that it has a menu pick Create. Your website home page should pop up with a side menu. In that side menu look for page displays click it should bring you to what you are looking for....... GOOD LUCK....
Step 1 create a blog page for you posts to go on
step 2 publish this page blank but with a title called, blog
Step 3 Go to the settings then click reading
Step 4 Go to the posts page drop down menu and select the page you published called blog
Step 5 save changes
Now all your posts will go on the blog page
Barry
Hi Barry,
Phew.... round and round I went with this one. The major challenge I had is that the "Home" page didn't show up in the selection box where you assign the "static" page. The home page for my site was part of the template.
My pages menu includes:
Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing
Blog
About Me
Privacy Policy
When I go to Appearance/Menus I get:
Under Most Recent
Blog
Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing
Privacy Policy
About Me
Under View All I get:
Home: Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing ( have no idea how this happened)
Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing
Blog
About Me
Privacy Policy
My menu structure shows:
Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing
Blog
About Me
Privacy Policy
Home (custom)
The tabs on my site read:
Home
Blog
About Me
Privacy
I don't know how I managed to do it but the Home page is now static and the blog page works. Don't know what, if anything, I should do about cleaning up the messed up menu and page listings. Do I need to worry about this or can I just leave well enough alone?
Thanks for your help.
Ginger
Its quite possible that you had 2 menus going at once and got confused
In menus make sure you have clicked the right menu option as when you start a Wordpress site they have a default menu
Go to menus and look up at the top and you will see a tab called MANAGE LOCATIONS - click here - and then you will see a drop down menu with the words above reading "Assigned menu" make sure the menu you want is selected as primary navigation
Keep going you will get there in the end Wordpress can be a steep learning curve
Barry
"Steep learning curve" is an understatement (LOL). I only have one menu if I check the "primary menu" box the first tab on my website will change from "home" to "Getting Started" (I shortened the original label). The "home" tab then shows up at the end of my tabs (after Privacy Policy). Since I only have one menu, can I just leave the "primary menu" box unchecked and call it a day? And will this affect pages I add down the road. .... it's tough being a newbie. :)
Thanks
Ginger
Without seeing your back end configuration its hard to tell you what's best, if everything is working as you want it then it should be ok
Are you aware that you can easily change the order of the menu by dragging and dropping the menu tabs up or down then save changes and it will then change the menu order on the website
I do know about the click and drag and have the tabs in the order that I want. Everything seems to be working okay, so I'm just going to leave it alone. Thanks so much for all your help.
that is very informative, I have decided to stay with the rolling blog for now. thank you for sharing
You can shuffle stuff around after the fact. I had to do that and it worked out ok. Copy and paste and the edit buttons were my best friends. Still have the extra illusive "home" tab floating around but I wound up hiding it under the "Privacy Page" so you don't see it in the main menu.
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It could be because of the theme you are using