DIY: Posts and Pages in Wordpress

Wordpress content structure is based mainly on two aspects, posts and pages. Understanding how to use posts and pages is important to structuring your blog/website in a way that is user and SEO friendly.

Wordpress Posts and Pages

Posts versus Pages

Posts are the dynamic pieces of content added to the “blog” portion of Wordpress.

Pages are static pieces of content that are created outside of the “blogging” function in Wordpress.

Posts are typically not included in the Wordpress navigation.

Pages tend to be automatically added to the navigation of the site. The caveat here is that posts and pages can be manually added to the navigation.

Posts are published as part of your RSS feed automatically, and thus as part of your sites syndication (publishing across the Internet).

Pages are not automatically syndicated, although they can be with the right plugin installed.

Pages are Magic

Pages in Wordpress provide unlimited flexibility as far as design, structure, and content management. Pages can be used to create custom landing pages, sales pages, and more. Pages can be a great foundation when building memberships sites, with tools like WP Wishlist. Pages also allow the blogger to include many aspects of websites into their blog, creating a hybrid blog-site.

Helpful Plugins for Managing Your Posts and Pages

The real beauty in Wordpress is the availability of plugins that allow you to alter how Wordpress functions.

Here’s our pick of plugins that will help you manage your content within posts and pages, some helping you manage the SEO implications of how your content is structured:

Exclude Pages from Navigation This plugin will allow you to customize what pages show up, by default, in your main Wordpress navigation.
Page Tagger This plugin will allow you to tag your pages, just like you do your blog posts, to include important static content within your tag structure.
Robots Meta This plugin will help you set important Robots Meta information for individual posts, pages, categories, and archives on your blog.
Simply Exclude This plugin will allow you to exclude from ALL Wordpress navigation and archive pages, any individual post, page, category, tag category, and beyond.
Smart Ping Update Use this plugin to ensure that your blog only Pings and syndicates new content, rather than doing so every time you edit, possibly having your blog marked as spam.

The value of these plugins, is in helping you structure your content in a way that benefits your SEO efforts and allows you to use Wordpress as a total content management system, not simply as a blogging tool.

Important Considerations When Creating Posts and Pages

The true power of Wordpress, in SEO and usability, is only found when you master certain aspects of how you create your content. Purposeful action, on a consistent basis can help you gain momentum in your blog/site marketing — starting with how you create your posts and pages.

Here’s a short checklist to consider when creating new content in Wordpress:

Do your keyword research. While much of the content you publish will relate to trends and “right-now” information, you should always make a consistent effort to do your keyword research whenever you look at creating content for your audience. This will help you consistently leverage the power of SEO and search engine traffic. A great “starter” tool to use in your keyword research is the Free Keyword Tracker Tool, to help you gain a better understanding of what your audience is actually searching for when they are looking for you
Include keywords consistently when posting. This includes your post title, categories, tags, and meta data. Titles should be short, punchy, and keyword rich. Keywords should be included throughout your blog post, including the first and last sections (you’ll learn to do this naturally as you blog more). Your tags should ultimately be your major set of keywords that tells your readers and the search engines what your blog is all about, like topics. You also want to make sure your keywords are included in any excerpt that you create for every post.
Use at least one image per post or page. Not only does this contribute to the visual aspects of your blog, but can also help your SEO as well. Let me explain. Search has gone universal, meaning it’s no longer just about text. Images, videos, audios, pdfs, and most other content formats are now indexed and found by your audience. When you include a picture in every post, optimizing its alt and title tags, those images will be found in image searches and across the new social web where multimedia content is king.
Limit your use of tags and categories. Each post and/or page should be included in one category. Posting content in multiple categories will likely create duplicate content, as each category has its own archive page listing posts that are included. (I won’t discuss the argument of whether a duplicate content penalty exists, I opt for safety, rather than challenging it.) Posting in single categories does tighten your site structure as well as making it easier for your users to find content, because you’ve been forced to focus. This also applies to tags. While you can use multiple tags, you must consider them to be keyword topics, like file folders to categorize your content. (There’s nothing worse than going to a blog, where each post has 20+ tags associated with it, including the name of each person mentioned in the post).
Create awesome meta data. While many SEO experts argue that meta data doesn’t matter much in SEO, it does matter to whether your high rankings will actually be clicked through by those finding you. A good title and description will get you click-throughs and turn those SEO results into real traffic for your blog/site. Good copywriting skills will definitely pay off in the title and description of your meta data.
Use formatting for SEO and user friendly content. Wordpress and most design templates include pre-formatted options that are simple to add and beneficial. Use heading tags (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) to create sub-headings that make your content easier to scan and read (bonus points for those of you who use keywords in your sub-headings for SEO value). Use bolding and italics wisely to include emphasis, readability, and SEO value throughout your content. Use numbered and bullet lists to break up content. Formatting your posts/pages is very important if you plan on building loyal readership. Good content must also read and look good.

Wordpress Posts & Pages DIY Video(s)

Now we’re going to take a walk-through of posts versus pages, plugins that can help you manage your posts/pages, and how to create posts/pages that leverage SEO and build valuable content for your audience.

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Video 1: Posts and Pages Explained

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Video 2: Helpful Plugins for Posts and Pages

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Video 3: Editing Posts and Pages

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Video 4: Creating Pages and Posts

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Video 5: Creating Pages and Posts

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About the Author...

Maria Reyes-McDavis is a colossal geek brainiac, certified genius IQ with university degrees in Finance, Economics, Business Management and an MBA. Maria has served over 300 pro-level, digital marketing clients as founder of online marketing firm Digital Peas & Carrots. Maria is Founder and Editor of Hyphenated Americans, a conservative politics blog and Proverbs 31 Project an online women's ministry. Most importantly, Maria is a wife to her king, mother of 3, lover of basketball (Go Lakers & Clippers!), classic cars and is currently training for professional women's roller derby!