Set a static home page that explains what the business offers, its location and how to book, then give the blog its own page and list recent posts on the home page only if they are current.

An old notice at the front door

Someone searches for your business, clicks through, and the first thing on the screen is a post headed "Closed for the holidays", dated December 2012.

Under it is a post about a new client discount that ended long ago. What the business actually does is somewhere in the menu, if the visitor goes looking.

This is one of the most common setups on small business WordPress sites. It is rarely a decision. It is a default nobody changed.

How the home page became the blog

WordPress began as blogging software, and a new installation still shows the latest posts on the home page until someone says otherwise.

The setting lives under Settings, then Reading, as "Front page displays", with two choices: your latest posts, or a static page. Sites set up in a hurry keep the first.

While the blog is busy, nobody notices, because the top post is always recent. The trouble starts when posting stops and the last announcement stays on top for years.

What the first screen should answer

The first is the one a blog post can never do. A post is about one thing on one day, and the home page has to be about the whole business on any day.

Setting a static front page

The change itself takes minutes. Create a page called Home with the content above, and an empty page called Blog or News.

Then, under Settings, Reading, choose "A static page", select Home as the front page and Blog as the posts page. The same choice appears in the Customizer, under Static Front Page.

The posts move to the Blog page in the same order, and each post keeps its own address. Links already shared, and pages already in search results, keep working.

Writing the home page itself

The page is the real work. Plenty of sites switched to a static front page show a welcome paragraph that says nothing: welcome to our website, we are passionate about what we do.

Write it for a stranger who has never heard of you and will decide in a few seconds whether to stay. The service, the place, the next step.

Then the detail underneath: services with a line each, a few photographs of real work, opening hours, and the contact details again at the foot.

A worked example

An electrolysis studio, one electrologist in a treatment room in a medical building, removes unwanted hair permanently, one follicle at a time. Most new clients book a free consultation first.

Her WordPress site was set up over a weekend before the studio opened. She posted for a while: holiday hours, an offer for new clients, a note about later Thursday appointments.

The home page still showed the holiday closure from December 2012, and the consultation booking sat two clicks away under a menu item called Contact.

Her developer built a home page that opens with what electrolysis is, who it suits and how a course of treatment works, followed by the free consultation, the location, parking and the phone number.

The posts moved to a page called Articles, the holiday post was deleted, and the three latest article titles now appear near the bottom of the home page.

Recent posts as a link, not the front door

A blog can still appear on the home page in a supporting role: a short list of the latest titles, a line each, lower down.

Only do that if posting is regular. A list whose newest item is eighteen months old makes the same impression as the old front page, just further down.

If posting is occasional, keep dates off the home page and link the blog from the menu.

A sidebar list of recent posts on every page has the same problem, and the same answer.

Notices belong somewhere else

Holiday hours, closures and short offers were never good blog posts. They matter for a week and then mislead for years.

Put them in a notice bar or the hours box on the home page, and note in the calendar when each comes down. Then they disappear once they stop being true.

A notice bar also shows on every page, so a visitor arriving on a service page from a search sees the closure too, which a post on the home page never managed.

What search results show

Google often builds the description under a home page's listing from text on the page. On a blog-front home page, that can be the opening of the holiday post.

The same happens when someone shares your home page on Facebook. The preview takes a title, a description and an image, and an old post may supply all three.

A static home page, with a page title and description written for it, puts your own summary in both places.

Check the theme agrees

Some themes have their own front page layout that overrides the setting, or a slider of recent posts built into the home page template.

After changing the setting, look at the home page logged out, on a phone and a computer. If posts still appear at the top, the theme options are the next place to look.

The counter-case

For some sites the latest posts are the point. A publication, a daily specials board, or a business whose updates are what visitors come for may reasonably lead with them.

Even then, a line saying what the site is, above the posts, helps the first-time visitor.

For most businesses the blog is a supporting act. Give the home page to the business, and give the blog a page of its own.

This afternoon

  1. Open the home page as a stranger would.
  2. Write a Home page saying what you do.
  3. Create an empty Blog page for the posts.
  4. Choose a static page under Settings, Reading.
  5. Delete or update expired notices.
  6. Add the Blog page to the menu.
  7. List recent titles only if posting is regular.

Step two is the one that matters. The setting takes a minute; a home page that tells a stranger what the business does is the actual fix, and the setting only makes room for it.

An old post at the front door sends the same signal as the accounts in social profiles abandoned since 2012.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my home page show blog posts?

WordPress shows the latest posts on the home page until told otherwise. Under Settings, Reading, the front page can be changed to a static page instead.

Will links to my old posts break?

No. Choosing a posts page moves the list of posts, but each post keeps its own address, so shared links and search results keep working.

What should the home page say first?

What the business does, who it is for, where it is, how to book or ask, and one reason to trust it, all visible without scrolling.

Should recent posts appear on the home page?

Only if posting is regular. A short list of current titles lower down helps; a list whose newest item is old makes the site look abandoned.

Where do holiday hours belong?

In a notice bar or the hours box, with a date in the calendar to remove them, rather than in a blog post that stays on the site for years.

Does this change how Google lists the site?

It can. Google often takes the listing description from text on the page, and a blog-front home page may put an old post there.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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