Now that Zip has deleted the default “Hello World” post and written his first post, he can do the same for pages. This post will go over some of the essential pages he should have on his website and, then, we’ll go over them one by one later as he does more customization on them. For now, he’s just going to create them and add some necessary (but basic) details.
Fortunately, you edit a page just the same as a post in WordPress. As we went over in this post, pages are for more static content and are missing things like categories. But if you know how to write a page in WordPress, you can write a post.
Adding a Page in WordPress and WordPress Default Pages
You’ll find the page editor in your admin area under Pages, and you can either choose to see all pages or add a new page. When your WordPress website is brand new, you’ll find that you have two default pages: a privacy policy page and a page called Sample Page. Keep the privacy page and edit it (unless you want to start over for some reason), and either delete Sample Page or turn it into something else.
Pages Every Website Needs
Zip can and will create additional pages as he blogs away on Slothverse.com. And, for now, he’s only going to create basic versions of these pages until he changes his theme and does more design work. Then, he’ll come back and “tweak” them.
However, a website should have a few basic pages. These are:
Your Homepage
Unless you’re going to use the post list as your homepage, you’ll want to create a static page to serve as the front page for your website and then denote that it’s your homepage in Reading Settings.
An About Page
Tell the world all about yourself and your website.
Contact Me/Us
While you could have this on your about page, visitors will be able to find out how to contact you easier if your contact information has its own page.
Privacy Policy
Does Zip need a privacy page? Yes. He’s already gone and stuck an affiliate link on his website. He needs to disclose it in his privacy policy.
I’ve met some website owners who didn’t think they needed a privacy policy as they had taken all analytics off of their website. But even WordPress sets some cookies. If you don’t have much to disclose, though, your privacy policy can be pretty simple.
WordPress gives you a starter template and Zip will be able to add to it as he adds more services that add cookies or analytics.
But this template isn’t meant to replace legal advice. If you’re a large business and have privacy concerns, you can always get legal help.
A Posts Page
Sometimes, I don’t create a posts page at all and, instead, make an alternate page to display all the posts — or just use my homepage as such. However, in Reading Settings, WordPress asks you for a page to display posts. Zip’s just going to create a blank page called “Blog” and add it there, and then it will display a list of all of his posts.
After Zip has published all of these pages, you’ll notice that they were automatically added to the top menu on the website:
Zip doesn’t really like them in this order. He’ll come back and change them later when we get to Menus. He can also make it so his menu does not automatically add top-level pages like these to the menu.
Some Other Pages You Might Want
For now, Zip’s going to go with just the basic pages listed above. But, eventually, he might add:
A Work With Me Page
If you’re hoping to draw advertisers, publish sponsored posts, etc. you’ll want to create a Work With Me page with information about what you offer and maybe even add a media kit. Zip’s not there yet.
Mini “Homepages” for Different Categories
You can list categories themselves in your menu, but in some cases, I’ve liked to create individual pages for top-level categories I wanted to emphasize.
Landing Pages for Products or Services
These are unique pages meant explicitly for particular potential customers or clients to “land” on that emphasize what you offer and usually contain contact forms to collect leads. Right now, Zip’s just creating a blog about sloths and has no services to offer except for being a cute imaginary sloth.
However, if he ever decides to open up a small shop on his website and wants to promote the handmade sloth journal books he created (or, instead, forced me to create), he could make a page specifically for these. Or he could make a landing page for a giveaway to encourage people to follow his social media accounts.
Like posts, you can make pages for whatever you want. But, remember, they won’t show up in your chronological lists of posts on your website.
For now, Zip has those pages created and he’s just working on the structure of his new website. As I said, we’ll come back and do more editing when we get to design.
