How to Create WordPress Posts & Pages - From Zero to Blogger in 30 days (2015)

From Zero to Blogger in 30 days (2015)

How to Create WordPress Posts & Pages

Now that you've installed WordPress to your domain name, it's time to start creating some content!

You'll do this in the form of "posts" and "pages". This tutorial will guide you through the differences between the two, and teach you how to get started with your business blog.

Posts Vs. Pages - What's the Difference?

POSTS

You can think of posts as a diary type listing, except businesses and information sites all use them too. Posts are dynamic. Depending on how you set up your posts they’re usually listed in reverse chronological order (just like a diary) with the most recent date being at the top of the list.

All posts appear on the home page, or the blog page, or even a "news" section, depending how you set up your blog posts to appear in your settings area of your dashboard. You also have an archive of posts in which anyone can see old posts and entries by looking.

Readers can read posts via a few methods, such as clicking on categories, recent posts, and archives and even via RSS feed. They all have a category and can be tagged too. The great thing about WordPress is that you are in complete control of whom, how and when anyone sees your blog posts via your settings area of your Dashboard.

PAGES

Think of pages as static website pages just like "old style" websites used to have. Pages don't use categories or tags to differentiate themselves.

Like blog posts, there is no limit to the number of pages you can make on your WordPress website or blog. You can hide pages from view, and link to them on other pages, or make them private completely. You can make pages main menu items, and submenu items using various plugins and features depending upon the theme you choose.

Unlike a blog post, when you create the new page, you will create it and usually not change it very much. A good way to think of this is that every menu item is a page including your Contact page, your About page and so on.

How to Create a New Blog Post

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There are two ways to create a new page. Either click the + New button in the top toolbar, or click Add New under the Posts menu.

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Now you'll see an editor that looks like this. As you can see from the image above, you can enter a title into the space indicated. This is the title as it'll show up in public on your website, so make it catchy! We’ll talk more about headlines later on.

You can then use the editor in the box below to enter your post content. Let's look at the formatting options a little more closely...

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As you can see, the formatting options are very similar to what you'd use if you were typing a document on a word processor like Microsoft Word.

You can make your text bold, center-aligned, or change its color. You can also create sub-headings within the post to make it easier for your visitors to read. This is all very easy to get used to and the best way to learn is by playing around with it yourself.

There are just a few options that aren't the same as a word processor that are worth going over.

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Add Media: This button is what you click if you want to add pictures, videos, audio files or any other media files. You can either upload them straight from your computer hard drive, or you can select a file that you previously uploaded to the Media Library.

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The More Tag: You may have noticed that many websites include an excerpt of the content on their homepage, with a link that says "read more". If you want to do this on your own site, click this button to insert the "more" tag at the point at which you want your excerpt to end.

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You may have also noticed the Visual/ Text toggle button on the right hand side. You don't need to worry about this unless you need to insert some HTML code into your post. If so, make sure you do so using the Text editor. We’ll talk more about this later on.

Categories, Tags & Featured Image

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Once you've written your post, you'll probably want to change some of the settings on that same post screen. Before you do, though, always save your post as a draft to make sure you don't lose anything!

Categories: In the categories box, you can choose an appropriate category to assign to this post. If you haven't created one yet, click "Add New Category"

It is well worth using categories, as this helps visitors better navigate your site better and find content related to what they’ve just read. You can also add categories to your navigation if you have topics that you want to highlight.

When you first set up your site you will need to edit “uncategorized” from your categories. You do this by editing the category and changing the name. I use the generic word “blog” to replace uncategorized. It’s worth remembering that this will be the default setting if you forget to add your post to a category.

Featured Image: If your theme supports it, you can use this option to choose an image from your Media Library, or upload one from your computer. The image will then show however your theme is set to display it.

For all other images, you can just add them directly within the post editor.

Tags: These are another way to label your posts. It's a good idea to add keywords related to your posts here, but it's totally optional.