I asked a question on Twitter this morning: On your homepage, do you have the latest posts come up or do you have a static front page (sometimes called a landing page)? I got a great response from @BoschNick. He said,
I lean toward latest posts, depends if you want them to take an action when they get to your home or just read.
What a great point. When readers show up at your blog, do you want them to act in some way? For example, you may want them to:
1. Sign up for a newsletter
2. Buy an ebook
3. Hire your services
Or, do you want them to simply read and share your material? Depending on your blog’s theme, content, and purpose, you may answer both. My personal is a lifestyle blog. I earn money when people read and share. Therefore, when someone goes to my home web address (http://julie.fabulousblogging.com), my latest post comes up.
But if you want action more than reading then change the format to a static landing page.
So what works best for you? Most blog themes by default show your latest posts, but if you want a landing page, here’s how you do it (for WordPress).
1. Go to pages.
2. Create a page called Home and hit publish (you can fill it in with content later).
3. Create a page called Blog and hit publish (don’t put any content in it).
4. Go to Settings, and click on Reading. At the top it should say, Front page displays- and you have two options.
5. Click on Static Front page.
6. In the dropdown menu, choose HOME as your front page.
7. In the dropdown menu next to posts, choose BLOG as your posts page.
Now you have to create your menu bar so it displays properly. I have an article on menu bars that you should read. You want your Blog page to be on the menu bar so people can click on it to visit your blog posts. You’ll notice that all your posts appear on that page!
Landing Pages should have short bullet points of information plus engaging images. Keep it as simple as possible so people can find exactly what they are looking for.
