Static Homepage in WordPress

Published on July 29, 2010 by Tom

When you first install WordPress, you're homepage is automatically set to be your blog. In some cases, this is fine - but in my experience, most freelancers want their homepage to display static content, detailing what they do, etc.. Here's a quick post on how to set your homepage as a page instead of your blog, and how to add your homepage menu item using the new WordPress 3.0 menu feature.

First, we need a page for the homepage, and a page for the blog.

Add a new page for your homepage. You can leave it blank for now, or just add some dummy text.

If you're still going to want the blog feature, add a new page named 'Blog' - leave the content area blank.

Then we need to tell WordPress what page is the homepage, and which page is the blog.

Navigate to: Settings > Reading

The first couple of options are what we're looking for.

Check 'A static page' - and then select the page you added for your homepage as the 'Front page'.

If you want a blog, select the page you added for the blog next to 'Posts page'.

Now we just need to add your homepage, and blog if you specified one, to our navigation.

These instructions are mainly for users using Freelancer Theme, but you should be able to figure it out no matter what theme you're using.

Navigate to: Appearance > Menus

Make sure you have a Primary Menu selected at the top left of the page. For those of you using Freelancer Theme, it should say, 'Top'. If it doesn't, please select 'Top' from the dropdown and click Save.

Now that that's done, scroll down to where it lists all of your pages - and put a check next to your homepage and blog. Then click 'Add To Menu'. Once they're in the menu spot, you can label them as you please, and drag them around to change their order. Once your done labeling and ordering, click 'Save Menu'.

Now take a look at your site! A static homepage, and a blog ready to go.