Now that you have hopefully finished “How To Start A WordPress Blog Complete Guide Part One” and “How To Write A Good Blog Post Complete Guide Part Two”, we will move on to “How To Build A Custom Blog Page In WordPress Complete Guide Part Three?”
In the first two parts we set up your new WordPress Blog and wrote your very first Blog Post. Now it is time to learn how to set up your static Blog Pages.
What is the difference between a static blog page and a blog post?
Most blogs have a combination of blog pages and blog posts. Here are the differences between the two types of pages.
Blog Page
A static blog page is a page on your blog that features permanent content that is usually featured on your main menu.
Examples of a Static Blog Page:
- About Page
This page describes who you are and what your blog is about. - Contact Page
This page usually contains a contact form that your audience can use to email you regarding any questions or comments they may have. - Content Pages
Static Pages are a good place to feature the main drawing card to your blog. A good example of this would be a Complete How To Guide such as this. - Legal Pages
You will need to at least set up a Privacy Policy to cover basic policies concerning your blog. You can create your own or install a plugin to make it easier. - Links Page
You can set up a links page to trade links with other similar blogs in your niche.
Blog Post
The main difference between the page and the post is the WordPress post is published with a time stamp which can be visible in the extension of the url. This keeps your blog post organized by date allowing you to keep your blog posts new and fresh with the newest post showing up first at the top of your main index page.
Another main difference is that a blog post utilizes categories and tags which make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for. They can search through potentially thousands of posts by searching for certain tags or browsing through your categories.
Here is an example of a page and a post in WordPress:
Blog Page: forexample.com/staticpage.html
Blog Post: forexample.com/2020/12/16/blogpost.html
WordPress gives you the ability to choose from many permalink options for your blog posts. Some people like to display the date while others choose to show only the post title. You also have the option of using your own custom permalink.
Public Author
A WordPress post will also have an author publicly displayed on the post for readers to see. This makes posts a little more personal and builds trust with the reader. Pages do not have this unless purposely added to the page.
RSS Feed
Your blog post will also be added to your blog’s RSS Feed. your blog’s RSS Feed will give readers the ability to subscribe to your Feed and read your blog using an RSS Reader. Pages are not included in this reader. It only show your blog’s latest posts.
Post Formatting
Another significant difference between a page and a post is that your post will have custom formatting. This can include several useful tools for building your page.
Now that you have seen some examples of pages and posts lets move on to actually building your first page.
Step One of “How to Build a Blog Page in WordPress?”
Login to your WordPress workspace and find pages on the menu. Click add new and you will be taken to your new page workspace. The WordPress platform has many plugins that can be used to build an effective and seo friendly page. For the sake of this blog we will be using “CoBlocks” along with Yoast SEO.
What is “CoBlocks”
CoBlocks is a plugin that integrates with the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor. It is a quick and pains free way of adding rich content to your blog page.
Blocks allow you to add rich content such as:
- Headings
- Images
- Lists (Ordered and Unordered)
- Media and Text
- Paragraphs
- Quotes
- And More!
Blocks are a great way to add content and prevent you from having to learn and edit your own html code.
Step Two of “How to Build a Blog Page in WordPress?”
The section will explain in detail how to start adding actual content to your page but first you must do a little research to decide what your title will be and what keywords you are going to use. If you are setting up a basic page such as an “about me” page or a “contact” page you won’t need to focus on your keywords as much.
Pick Your Title
First you will need to pick your title for the page. Let’s assume you are going to start with an easy page such as your “about me” page. This page is important to your blog as people may want to know more about the author. It’s a good way to make your blog personal and to connect with your readers. I would recommend that you have a good head shot on this page. It will help build trust with your readers.
Go ahead and enter the title of your page at the top of the workspace. This title will automatically be set as an H1 Heading. Headings are very important for the structure of your blog pages or posts.
Here is an example of how might structure an “about me” page
H1 – About Me
H2 – What is my Blog About?
H3 – Examples of what I will be Posting
Ordered or Unordered List
H2 – Why I started this Blog
H2 – Thank You for Visiting my Blog
Write Your Content
Begin writing your first paragraph explaining what type of content you are going to be providing to your readers. To insert a heading simply click in the workspace and choose the heading symbol from the block menu. It is the first option on the menu bar.
Finish writing your content using the headers to divide your content into easily readable sections. This will keep your blog page flowing in a nice easy to understand format. Keep your paragraphs short and make sure you have at least one heading or subheading for every three hundred words. If you don’t, Yoast SEO will remind you.
Step Three of “How To Build A Blog Page In WordPress?”
After you have finished writing the content on your Blog Page, it is time to edit and check for errors. Go ahead and proof read your text. Although WordPress automatically uses spellcheck as you are writing, you want to look over the structure of your paragraphs and sentences to make sure everything flows.
Preview Your Blog Page
A great way to check out your work before publishing the Blog Page is to “Preview” it using the Preview function in the workspace. Locate the Preview link at the top right of the workspace next to “Publish.”
Check Yoast SEO
As we spoke about in the previous article “How To Write A Good Blog Post?“, you should use the plugin “Yoast SEO” to check your page for SEO and Readability errors. If you haven’t already installed the plugin, go ahead and do so now. It is a great tool for optimizing Blog Pages and Posts.
Once you have the plugin installed, scroll down to the bottom of the page you are building. You will see Yoast SEO. The SEO section will highlight the areas of your Blog Page that need improvement. As I mentioned earlier, this is not as important if you are only building your “About Me” Page but very important if you are building a keyword driven page designed to draw traffic and visitors.
My previous post describes in detail each section of the Yoast SEO plugin and how to utilize it properly. Here is the short version.
Check The SEO Section For Errors
We covered this in are previous article but lets do a quick review.
Look for any red dots under SEO in Yoast. If you see any fix them. Most of them are easy fixes. The goal is to have all green dots and a green smiley face on the SEO tab at the top.
You will need to add the following:
- Focus Keyphrase
This is the main keyword combination you want to focus on for your page. Think about how you want others to find your page and what they would search for in the search engines. - Slug
This is the extension of your url that the search engines will use to display your page. You want to include your focus keyphrase in the slug. - Meta Description
This is the description search engines will use to describe your specific page when it appears in the search results. Make sure to use your focus keyphrase in this as well.
Common issues:
- Inbound Links
These are links that point to your blog page. Don’t worry about this at the moment. Your page will automatically be linked from your index page once you publish it. Later on I would recommend pointing to your page from other pages on your blog. - Outbound Links
Try to link to at least a couple of other pages or posts on your blog. You can also link to other blogs and websites when you are building certain pages such as a links page. - Keyphrase in Subheading
I normally always have to deal with this one. You will want to have a good ratio of keyphrases in your subheadings. - SEO Title Width
You will want to keep your Title width long enough to include your focus keyphrase but under sixty characters. - Alt Image Tag
Make sure to add your focus keyphrase to at least a few of your images for search engine optimization.
Check The Readability Section For Errors
Scroll down to Yoast SEO and check the readability section for errors. Similar to the SEO section, you will want to look for any red dots next to the item and fix them accordingly. Make the appropriate corrections until they are all green dots and you get the green smiley face.
Common Issues:
- Active Voice vs Passive Voice
This is another issue I face often. Too much Passive Voice and Yoast SEO will alert you. You should only have a certain percentage of Passive Voice in your blog page. Click here for a detailed version on what the difference is and how to use the correct amount of Passive Voice. - Transition Words
Make sure you use enough transition words in your blog page. Transition words improve your pages readability making it easier for your visitors to read. Click here for a detailed explanation of Transition words and how to use them properly. You will need to use them in at least thirty percent of your sentences.
Readability doesn’t always impact your search engine optimization but it will keep your readers coming back if your content is easy to understand.
A Couple More Things:
Click on the “Post” tab on the right side menu of your workspace in WordPress. You will have the option to “Hide page title.”
Here are a few examples of why you might want to hide your page title:
- A Unique Index Page
You may want to create a specific style of index or home page with a graphic logo and not a text logo. - Landing Page
You may need a landing page for a certain script or plugin. A “Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter!” landing page is one example.
Make sure you have a green smiley face for Yoast SEO and Readability. If not fix any issues. Now make sure that your Permalink URL Slug is set with your focus keyphrase in the Slug.
Finally add a featured image if you like. It will appear at the top of your page. Put your focus keyphrase in the alt image tag of your title.
Step Four of “How To Build A Blog Page In WordPress?”
Now that you have hopefully followed all of the steps above and completed writing your Blog Page it is time to Publish it!
Go ahead and read over your page and check for any errors you missed. You can preview it again to make sure you like how it looks.
Once you are satisfied with the page, go ahead and click Publish on the top right of the workspace. This will make your Blog Page visible for all to see. You can always revert back to draft if you made a mistake and realize that you aren’t ready to publish it quite yet.