How to Set Up a Static Homepage in WordPress

March 30, 2021 / WordPress

In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to set up a static homepage in WordPress.

What is a static homepage and why do I need one?

As WordPress was originally designed to create blogs, the default homepage is a page that displays the latest blog posts. As you add new blog posts, this page will be updated. This makes it a dynamic page, rather than a static (unchanging) page.

Most websites are not blogs and so need a static homepage that displays the information that owners want their visitors to see.

In this post, we’ll show you the steps needed to change your website homepage to a static page and create a new page to display your posts. To do so, follow the steps given below.

Stage 1: Create a homepage

Before you can display a static homepage, you will first need to create it. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Log into your WordPress admin panel.

2. Scroll to Pages > Add New

3. In the Add New Page screen, type the word Home in the title box.

Add New

4. Click on Save Draft. This saves the page but doesn’t publish it on your website. Before you publish the page, you’ll need to add your homepage content. Once you have done this and are happy with how it looks in the preview, click Publish. 

5. The new page is now live on your website. However, there is one more thing you need to do before you can make it your homepage.

Stage 2: Create a new posts page

As the homepage is where, by default, WordPress displays posts, when you change to a static homepage, you’ll need to create a new page for the posts to be displayed on.

Note: If you do not intend to publish blog posts on your site, you can skip this step.

To create a posts page:

1. Go back to Pages > Add New. This time create a new page called ‘Posts’. Leave the page blank and click Publish.

You do not need to add any content to this page. Once it is designated as the ‘posts page’, WordPress will automatically populate it with your blog posts.  

Stage 3: Set up your new homepage and posts page

To designate your static homepage and new posts page, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Appearance > Themes > Customize > Homepage Settings

2. In the left sidebar, you will see the box below.

Appearance

3. Under ‘Your homepage displays’ click the static page option.

4. In the Homepage dropdown menu, click the arrow and select the page called Home.

5. In the Posts page dropdown menu, click the arrow and select the page called Posts.

Note: If you do not intend to publish blog posts, keep the word Select in the options box and no posts page will be designated.

6. Click the Publish button at the top of the box.

Your new website settings are now in place. From now on, when someone visits your website homepage, the page they will see is the page called ‘Home’.

To read your blog posts, users will now have to find the posts page. This will have an address that ends in /posts, for example. yourwebsite.com/posts. You may need to add this page to the menus or link to it elsewhere for people to find it easily.

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