WordPress isn’t just a blogging platform. It’s a Content Management System, and as such, it’s often used for small businesses (or even large corporate websites) that want to include a blog, or some of the other easy to use features or plugins that WordPress as a platform provides.
One of the most common questions that I receive as a designer and all-around WordPress geek is How do I create a front page for my website or How can I use WordPress as a website for small business? or Can I put my WordPress blog as a separate tab or page?
They’re all asking the same question – and the answer is yes. Follow these incredibly simple steps to leverage the main page of your WordPress blog as a chance to showcase your products, services or just yourself by adding a static home page.
Create the new pages
- Go to Pages –> Add New
- Create a new page; we’ll call it “Home”
- Add whatever content you want for your main page here. This could be links to your product offerings, a list of your services, your personal motto or a variety of featured content such as newsletter subscription forms, favorite posts, photos and more.
- Publish the page
Lather, Rise, Repeat, with a variation:
- Go to Pages –> Add New
- Create a new page; we’ll call it “Blog”
- Leave the content area completely blank. WordPress will fill this area automatically with your posts and
- Publish the page
Tell WordPress to use Home as a static page
- Go to Settings –> Reading in your WordPress admin panel
- Toggle the radio button from Your Latest Posts to A static page
- Select from the drop-down box:
- First, your Home page as the home page
- Second, your Blog page as the blog
- Save your changes
Check your work
Go to your website and view the newly changed structure. If your theme automatically adds new pages to the navigation, you will see Blog and Home as pages as tabs/links, and the content you placed on the Home page will appear on the front of your website now. If your theme does not automatically add new pages to the navigation, you will need to edit your theme options or Header.php file (usually) to include the new pages.
