📖 Adding Pages to WordPress

WordPress sites are made up of a blog page that organizes the blog posts and static pages. Static pages are regular web pages with static content. The blog page consist of posts that are displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first) on a page and are generally updated frequently.

Adding Static Pages

Static pages have static content. For landing pages or content that is stable, you should build static pages. To display those newsworthy articles your site is generating to keep your content fresh and your visitors coming back, use a blog post page.

Content that is well suited to pages relate to general site information. Some examples of stable site content are Privacy Policy, Contact Us and About Us. If your site is built for eCommerce, you might have weekly sales or other landing pages that are used temporarily for call to action events. You will need to add menu items for your visitors to find your pages.

Pages
  • Pages contain stand alone information that generally does not change (much) over time.
  • Pages are independent of other pieces of content on the site.
  • They do not have categories or tags.
  • Pages by default are added to the main navigation bar of the site.
  • Pages can include blog posts in addition to the static information.
Visual Editor
  • Create content without using html.
Text Editor
  • Add html tags to create your post in html instead of the visual editor.
  • Not all html elements are available.
Buttons with special functionality
  • Kitchen sink (far right menu in WP editor) - displays second row of tools.
  • Paste as Text - strips all formatting so you can paste text only. You will lose any formatting that is in the original text.
  • Clear Formatting - strips out formatting after pasting into editor window.
  • Insert symbol - allows you to use special symbols and creates the HTML entities for them.
  • Insert more - adds a click to read more link to save space on home or archive page.
  • Post editor includes categories and tags area.

Principles of Good Content

Good content should be appropriate for your business, for your users, and for its context.

  • helps users accomplish their goals
  • helps business accomplish its goals
  • considers the actions, feelings and capabilities of the user

Good content has a clear, specific purpose.

  • break a larger goal into smaller, specific steps and create content for each step

Good content is user-centered.

  • avoid internal jargon and proprietary names
  • provide help

Good content is clear.

  • easy to understand
  • easy to use
  • well-organized

Good content is consistent.

  • consistent language
  • consistent presentation
  • style guide

Good content is concise

  • include only what is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the site
  • if you must include mission statements, legal documents, press releases, etc., put them in a separate page accessible to those who want to see them
  • use subcategories to organize long lists
  • limit audiovisual elements and keep them short

Good content is supported

  • keep factual data current and accurate
  • moderate user content
  • time-sensitive data updated regularly

Tips and techniques for writing good web content:

  • Pick a good title.
  • Address your readers directly.
  • Keep sentences short and clear.
  • Provide a summary.
  • Provide links to more detailed information.
  • Paragraphs should contain only one idea
  • Put most important information first
  • Write objectively and literally.
  • Start paragraphs with keywords (readers scan left hand margin)
  • Passive voice is OK
  • Spell and grammar check