WordPress Pages or WordPress Posts. Which One Do You Choose?
When creating a WordPress website there are two key components to remember when it comes to creating CONTENT for your chosen target audience PAGES and POSTS.
With these tools, you can create content that will draw visitors and build your brand's online presence. While pages and posts are created in similar ways, they both serve very diverse purposes. As a result, knowing how to use apply these building blocks in an appropriate manner is the key to developing a successful WordPress site that will reflect your vision and meet your goals for your company.
Delivering Content with Pages and Posts
WordPress has undergone many changes since its original inception as blogging software. These new additions have served to allow the world's number one content management system to morph into an all-inclusive site builder, thanks to an impressive array of tools which allow users to add content of all types into any WordPress site.
Since WordPress was originally designed to make online publishing available to everyone it is both intuitive, and easy to use. It can be a simple WYSIWYG Visual editor, for people with zero web development experience, or it can be an HTML-only version for those long-time developers who are comfortable working with its free and open source code. In either mode, there are options for working with links, short codes and plenty of other development features.Creating and editing pages and posts is quite simple and can be done from the WordPress site's Admin dashboard simply by selecting either Page or Post and clicking the Add New link.
This will open a content editor that is elegant in its simplicity. New text can be typed, or simply pasted in from another document. Media such as images, videos and links can all be inserted straight into the content editor and when it has all been added and edited, clicking Publish will make the piece live on the site.
Once live, Pages and Posts can be edited, or removed from the website. There is no limit to the number of Pages or Posts you can have on your site.While the general content creation and editing tools provided with any WordPress site are able to generate Pages and Posts, there are another set of options for creating content within each of those settings that is exclusive to each.
For example, most themes contain different formatting options for the layout of the Blog page itself, however each individual post or article comes with another range of options to allow creation of featured images and unique visuals, all by using the settings and other custom admin editing tools.
Pages: Timeless, Essential Information
Pages are separate from posts in both their function and their form. Most website pages, while they can be updated as required, provide a static framework that allows visitors to navigate through the site and to access information about the site at any given time.
Most websites will include a basic array of pages such as Home, About and Privacy Policies, as well as general site information and options to contact the site owner. WordPress also allows you to create specific pages that tailor to your own requirements, such as landing pages for making online sales, or gallery pages that allow you to showcase a portfolio of art or other creative work.Pages are designed to follow a branching hierarchical structure that allows a main, or Parent, page to have a number of subpages stemming from it. One example of this, is a business who may have a main page that introduces their employees, and then those employees may have their own individual pages that contain information about them.
Similarly, the company's About page may include subpages that contain further information like the company's history, its founders and their mission statement.Pages are the basis of a site's content and, as such, need to be consistent in their appearance, style and the way they operate.
To make this a simple process for its users, WordPress includes a number of themes - both free and for sale - that make creating a continual experience for site visitors a breeze. The Page Template feature in the Pages content editor allows site Admins to create templates for sets of pages and apply them as required each time they create a new page. Templates are automatically saved as part of the theme and Admins can easily select them from the Page Template drop-down menu.
Posts: Short, Timely Content
WordPress posts are designed for blogging and posting other appropriate content, such as announcing events, sales or breaking news that is relevant to the company and its industry.The Post option is aimed at allowing users to insert regular, frequently updated content, as well as allowing for ease of sharing.
Posts, unlike Pages, are designed to be shared easily across social networks, allowing for commenting and Search Engine Optimization. This design also allows for the content to be syndicated through an RSS feed, notifying readers of any new updates to the content.Posts are shown in reverse chronological order, meaning that the newest content will always be shown first. Any past posts are also archived, meaning that visitors can always access them, and they can gain additional readers at any given time.
Posts can also be tagged, and are grouped according to category, date and tags to allow readers to identify specific topics. There is no limit o the number of articles or posts a WordPress site can contain.Creating a post is as simple as selecting Post from the WordPress Admin dashboard and clicking the Add New link. Again, typing or pasting text into the content window is followed by styling it in the desired manner and all of the options are available on a simple to use toolbar. Images and video can be added into the post, as well as links, and all that is required to make it live and accessible from anywhere in the world is to click Publish.
To help readers share readily and easily, users can install a WordPress plugin to allow share buttons for more than 20 social media sites on any given post. There are also plugins available to allow for keyword optimization in posts, and the ability to cross-post the content to other sites.
Choosing Pages or Posts
Since Pages and Posts are responsible for performing different tasks on your site, it is important that you choose the appropriate option for the job you want done.
Creating a page that will allow visitors to readily access continually updated information, or one that will add specific functionality such as a landing page, is the key to success in this case.
Use Page Templates - if your theme will allow it - in order to standardize the look and style of your pages, so that visitors can navigate through the core content of your site with ease and consistency.If your site is not strictly a blog, you may not need to use posts, although you may still require them occasionally to alert your site visitors to something that's new, or important for them to know. By choosing a Post, you can provide a stream of fresh, quick-read content that can educate and inform your visitors about new information, current events and hot trends that apply to your industry. Allow your posts to be shared widely by using the many WordPress plugins for cross-posting and social sharing and remember to categorize and tag your posts for easy searching.
While Posts are not quite as enduring as Pages, they can still be reached through the site's archive at any time and will always remain visible in searches, meaning that the posts will still find new readers as time goes on.WordPress was initially created as a content management system and the key components of Pages and Posts are an integral part of that system. Altogether, this system and the tools it provides are a great way to keep your site visitors engaged and informed when they visit your WordPress business or personal site.