Pages vs. Posts

If you’re new to WordPress you may be wondering what’s the big deal behind Pages and Posts. At first glance they appear to be one and the same: if you were to create either a new page or a new post you’d be presented with nearly identical interfaces and in many cases the public appearance of pages and posts will look the same.

Don’t let this fool you. There’s a very fundamental difference between the two and that difference is what makes CMSs, like WordPress, great platforms for integrating blogs with traditional websites.

Pages

Think about the kind of pages that make up a typical website. Most often you’ll see pages like “Home”, “About Us”, “Services”, “Contact Us”, etc. Within WordPress these are often treated as Pages; documents that have no particular regard for the time they were posted.

For example, when you visit the “About Us” page of your favorite company’s website you don’t expect the content to be very different from what was available there a week ago.

Posts

Now take a moment to think of your favorite news website. A news site is an ideal example of when you’d expect content to be different from the last time you visited — after all, news just wouldn’t be news if it weren’t current. In the case of news sites, Posts are most often used to write articles.

When you publish a post within WordPress it knows to treat the post differently than the way it treats a page. For example, when you enable a blog within your BoldGrid theme, it will list all of your published posts in reverse chronological order on your Blog page.

Your BoldGrid site can contain both pages and posts, i.e. you may have an “About Author” page to compliment your weekly blog. When done well, utilizing pages and posts in this way can help you build a more engaging experience for your visitors.

 

Categories and Tags

If you write about a variety of subjects, categories can help your readers find the posts that are most relevant to them. For instance, if you run a consulting business, you may want some of your posts to reflect work you’ve done with previous clients, while having other posts act as informational resources. In this particular case, you can set up 2 categories: one labeled Projects and another labeled Resources. You’d then place your posts in their respective categories.

Categories are accessible from the post editor. There you can create new categories and assign them to your posts.

Tags, on the other hand, allow you to label your posts with relevant topics. For instance, within one of your resource posts you may choose to write about a set of project management tools. While you can certainly create a new category called “Project Management Tools,” you may not plan to write about the topic often enough to justify giving it a dedicated category. Instead, you may want to tag your post with several topics that exists within the post; e.g. project management tools, communication, time tracking, etc.

What’s great about tags is that they are searchable and provide your users another way to find content on your site. Anyone searching for “project management tools” will be able to locate any posts you’ve tagged with those words!

 

Plan Your Content

If you’re considering adding a blog to your site, you’ll want to have a plan beforehand. Planning your blog will help your subject matter remain consistent over time. It’ll also help you determine whether or not there’s enough material to maintain a steady stream of posts.

One pitfall many new bloggers run into is starting a blog that isn’t posted to frequently enough. A shortage of recent posts can give your visitors a bad impression of your business. One may think “I wonder if they’re still in business” or “they may want to hire a writer.”

A blog, like any other customer facing aspect of your business, communicates your brand. If it isn’t maintained and given proper attention, people will notice. Post regularly and keep your content fresh. Give your audience a reason to visit often.

 

Find Your Audience

While on the topic of audiences, you’ll likely want to identify yours early on. If your blog is going to be set up to compliment a business, your target audience will likely be the same as your consumer base; you’re then writing for the same people that buy your product. You’ll want to allow any marketing material you’ve used inform the style and tone of your writing. Think of your blog as an extension of your company’s brand.

If, on the other hand, your business is completely new or you don’t happen to be selling anything in particular, this is the time to start thinking about your brand …