WordPress BootCamp: Setting a Static Front Page
This is the first post of Mitch Canter’s “WordPress BootCamp” series… it showcases the ins and outs of WordPress to new users, and highlights some of the more popular (and some overlooked) features that make WordPress fantastic.
If you’re new to WordPress, you may be wondering how in the world WordPress could be anything more than a simple blog. Don’t get me wrong, WordPress does blogging well, but it’s so much more than that. The problem is most people don’t know how to take the bare WordPress install and make it shine – not as a blog, but as a real website.
There’s one simple trick you can use: set up a static page as the front page of your site.
Step 1: Create Your Pages
You’ll want to create two pages here: Home (or Front, or whatever you want to call it) and Blog (news, articles, etc – pick your pleasure). As you create your Home page, you can add in whatever content you want. Don’t add anything to the blog page – it’s going to just be used as a placeholder. Remember what you’ve called them – you’ll need them in the next section.
Step 2: Set Up The Options
Once that’s done, go to your Appearance > Reading tab in the backend. Look for the radio buttons next to “Front Page Displays” – that’s where you’ll choose “A static page” and then select them below.
And that’s it – it’s pretty simple, but it allows you to take one more step to turning a simple WordPress blog into a full blown content managed site.