Should Your Blog Have a Static Homepage (Whatever That Means)?

Should your blog have a static homepage?Open up a brand-new invoice in your browser and go to the homepage of your blog.

What do you realise?

There’s a good chance you see your recently completed affixes. This is, after all, what most WordPress topics default do. And if you’ve been blogging for a long time, it might be how you expect a blog’s homepage to look.

For some bloggers, it’s a perfectly good select. But for others, a roster of announces isn’t what they require first-time readers to see.

Many enormous blogs use a static homepage to soon pioneer who they are and what the hell is do, and to time readers towards specific actions( which might well include speaking their blog ).

Here’s the difference 😛 TAGEND

Tim Ferriss’s homepage is a classic blog one, with recent developments pole at the top 😛 TAGEND

Copyblogger’s homepage, by differ, is a static one 😛 TAGEND

Of course, countless blogs with static homepages schedule their most recent affixes. For instance, on ProBlogger we have our recent posts and podcasts listed on the homepage 😛 TAGEND

But we also have lots of other elements, such as our “I need help to…” section that links to our different portals, all is in accordance with different readers’ needs.

Could a Static Homepage Be the Next Stair for Your Blog?

In the podcast occurrence on 3 Key Things Bloggers Do to Develop Their Blogs into Businesses, I talked about how blog homepages have evolved over the years- from the long register of full announces that was standard when I started in 2002, to the portal-like static homepages that are becoming increasingly common today.

As John Stevens employs it in his post The 9 Conversion Habits of the World’s Most Successful Bloggers 😛 TAGEND

Create a homepage instead of targeting consumers straight to your latest blog announces. This gives people an opportunity to do so much more than merely realize them predict your recent content.

So should you consider altering your home page from a classic inventory of blog berths to a static page?

Absolutely.

But first, here’s something to think about.

How Does Your Blog Make Money?

If you make money from marketing, it makes appreciation to design your blog to maximise sheet ends. Having a inventory of blog affixes as the front page might be working perfectly well for you here. And you may not have much else you want to point readers towards, anyway.

But if you make money from selling products or services, a static homepage would likely be a better fit for you. It gives you get them right in front of brand-new readers, rather than having them tucked away on your sidebar.

If “youre using” your blog in a slightly different route- as a showcase for your book, perhaps, or as a lane to build identification within your manufacture- then either type of homepage can work just fine. You might want to look at what people with similar blogs are doing.

How to Establish a Static Homepage

The good information is that( technically telling ), it’s easy to be established by a static homepage on any WordPress blog.

Here’s what you need to do.

Compose Your Homepage Itself

# 1: Record in to your WordPress dashboard, and click “Add Page”.

# 2: Compose the new page with whatever content you crave there.( We’ll come to what you might include in a moment .)

# 3:( Optional) Remove the sidebar( s) from your new sheet. Find the Page Attributes box( perhaps on the right hand area of your screen ), and under’ Template’ select a’ No sidebars’ or’ Full width’ option.( This is available in most topics .)

It’s up to you what entitle you have selected for your sheet. “Welcome” or “Home” can work fine, or you can just leave it off if you don’t require a title on your homepage.( You can still publish the page without a deed .)

Set Your New Page as Your Homepage

# 1: Extend to Settings- Interpret. Under “Your Homepage Displays”, hand-picked “A static page”.

# 2: In the “Homepage” drop down, adopt the new page.

# 3: Click the blue “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.

Now, when you visit your blog’s homepage, you should see your new sheet there rather than your recent blog announces. You is very easy to toggle it back if you want to just experiment it out for now. Just change the “Your Homepage Displays” designating to “Your recent posts”.

What Should You Include On a Static Homepage?

It’s wholly up to you what you put on your homepage. However, most bloggers have most( if not all) of the following 😛 TAGEND

# 1: A goal word or appraise testimony, meeting it clear what books can expect from the blog, or from you.

For instance, Rachel Corbett’s personal blog describes her on the homepage 😛 TAGEND

On Digital Photography School’s homepage, we have 😛 TAGEND

# 2: A newsletter signup button or shape. Numerous blogs facet this prominently on their homepage, as going new visitors onto your email index is a great way to make sure you can stay in touch.

Here on ProBlogger, we have an orange “Subscribe to ProbloggerPlus” button near the highest level of our homepage, and a signup form at the bottom.

# 3: Ties to your recently completed blog announces. Numerous static homepages include the designation and featured persona from the pole, as we do on ProBlogger.

Some bloggers also include an extract from uprights. But if you do this, be careful your homepage doesn’t end up gaping cluttered. Brooke from Her Packing List obstructs her recent affixes( with excerpts) division gazing clean-living by including only three of her latest posts in a clearly defined opening on a contrasting background.

# 4: A link to your blog.( You can include this whether or not you included your recent uprights .) This might well be an idol or button to click on. On ProBlogger, we have “View All Posts” beneath the index of our three most recent posts.

# 5: A link to a “Start Here” page, or potentially to various starting points. Large, long-running blogs often include these to facilitate brand-new readers find their hoofs rapidly. On Planning With Kids, for example, Nicole Avery has this section on her homepage.

As I alleged, you don’t be incorporated into all these elements. But each of them is value carefully considering.

How to Draw Your Static Homepage Look Great

WordPress’s default themes tend to be put up for classic blog homepages. So if you’re use the topic that landed pre-installed on your blog( or even a different free topic ), you may want to consider investing in a premium theme that lets you include dynamic content, such as a schedule of recent blog posts.

This type of theme will give you much more control over your homepage, and a great-looking professional blueprint too.

We recommend( and are affiliates of) Thrive Themes and StudioPress, which means we receive a commission if you are buying via our connections below.

One we use extensively is Thrive Architect, a page developer by Thrive Themes this enables you to design your whole place, your sales sheets and other bring sheets. And it works in conjunction with Thrive’s conversion-focused WordPress topics or any WordPress theme of your select. It’s especially good for homepage designing with it’s full-width and horizontal separate layout options.

Another good static homepage answer is the themes by StudioPress( our whole squad has exercised their themes at one point ). These are specifically designed for different niches and business natures. Here got a few examples.

You might want to look at other people’s static homepages for insight.( StudioPress has a great Showcase gallery for that .) Which ones look attractive and undertake, and why?

But don’t pack your homepage with too many different options. Focus on the things readers will most likely want to time( e.g. read some of your best uprights ), and the things you want them to do( e.g. find your email index ).

Which Type of Homepage Would Be Right for Your Blog?

If you blog as a hobby, or your priority is driving sheet attitudes, it may be worth sticking with the default setting blog homepage.( Some bloggers also feel this is a more “authentic” approach, which is able to or may not be important for your target audience .)

But if you make money selling commodities or services, it’s probably worth swapping to a static homepage. This allows you to carefully direct readers’ event from the moment they land on your site.

You may previously have a static homepage in place. If you do, take a few minutes to review it. Make sure the information there is fully up to date, and that you’re working the page to carefully guide books to the most important parts of your site.

Are you thinking of changing your homepage? Or are you confident that what you already have is right for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Image credit: George Coletrain

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