Make a Great First Impression with a Homepage
From personal bloggers to large organizations, more and more WordPress.com users choose to welcome their visitors with a homepage, a central space from which to discover their site’s content.
Most bloggers display their latest posts first — reverse chronological order is the classic blog format, after all. Many WordPress.com users, however, choose to build a static front page — a homepage — that creates a website feel and brings your long-term content to the front.
A well-designed homepage has always been a staple of major websites, like The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation — a WordPress.com VIP partner. You don’t have to be a large company or non-profit organization to see the advantages of a homepage, though. Artists and other creative professionals enjoy the benefits of portfolio sites and personal pages to showcase their talents. Increasingly, so do personal bloggers across a wide variety of niches. To give you a taste of what a homepage can do for your blog, here are some sites that use this option in a smart, creative way.
Groovy Bow Sequence
Claire, the Seoul-based kindergarten teacher behind Groovy Bow Sequence, put together a sleek-looking homepage for her travel-focused personal blog.
She uses Moka to great effect. The theme offers the option of adding a splashy post slider to the homepage, enticing visitors to click on Claire’s striking landscape images and read her posts, while still maintaining the easy navigation and streamlined look of a fixed front page. While sites with a homepage often still feature a blog section, Claire has opted to forego one altogether, presenting some recent posts on the homepage itself, and letting the rest be easily accessible through the sidebar menu.
Alexandra Corinth
Writer-blogger Alexandra Corinth deploys a homepage — and especially her site’s primary menu — to direct readers to her various writing projects, from her young-adult books, to her multi-genre portfolio, to her personal blog.
She chose the clean, easy-to-navigate Suits, and kept most of the theme’s out-of-the-box look. The focus here is on her content, and her homepage is a distraction-free zone — visitors will only find an author’s portrait, along with a short bio tucked into a Text Widget in the sidebar. They can then quickly decide which section of the site to explore first.
redstuffdan
Dan, the blogger behind redstuffdan, is a retired expat living in the southwest of France. His blog is mostly about his art — a mixture of photography, digital art, and painting — and he’s opted for a homepage to showcase his creations. Right beneath a short introductory text to his site, visitors quickly plunge into a colorful tiled gallery full of Dan’s art. The gallery’s composition can be modified whenever new material is uploaded — just because the page is “static” doesn’t mean it can’t be updated and refreshed.
For the rest of the content on redstuffdan, which was built using Able, the sidebar gives visitors easy access to the site’s top posts and pages, most recent posts, as well as to older content through monthly archives.
Up From The Deep
Up From The Deep is the labor of love of Mark Ellinger, a musician-turned-photographer who chronicles the gentrifying streets of San Francisco’s grittiest neighborhoods. Creating a homepage allowed him to highlight the different types of writing on his site: a blog to which he uploads new photos regularly, as well as long-term project pages, like the ones on the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods.
The homepage layout features a selection of images that whet the visitor’s appetite, and its primary menu leads not only to the site’s main content, but also to an extensive bibliography page and a Prints page, where interested readers can order copies of images from Mark’s website.
Creating a homepage
If you’d like to try out a front page that isn’t populated by your latest posts, setting one up is a breeze. Go to the Settings → Reading tab in your dashboard, and select “a static page.” Then, choose your desired page from the “Front page” drop menu, and you’re set. If you wish to add an optional blog section to your site as well — where your posts will be displayed in reverse chronological order — specify a separate “Posts page” in the second drop menu. Note that you can also set up a homepage from the Customizer, where you’ll need to go to the “Front” panel.
Looking for more ideas for your homepage? Here are a few more examples to inspire you:
- Haley the Wonder Dog, a resource site for owners of dogs diagnosed with cancer.
- The Lovecraft eZine, a popular horror fiction ezine that puts Oxygen‘s Showcase Page template to excellent use.
- H. G. Robert, a minimalist site showcasing the work of a soon-to-be-published author.
- February 12, 2014
- Better Blogging, Customization, HowTo
WordPress.com News 
I recently switched to the Suits theme and I really like it. Maybe I’ll try a static front page again… I used to have one.
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This is good to know to help with my blog. Good tips!
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Wonderful advice, thank you!
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Thanks very much for highlighting my homepage. What a nice surprise!
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This is an interesting concept…
Bobby
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This post came at a perfect time! I’m designing a home page soon and this has given me great ideas. Thank you!
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I am going to ponder this. It will be a while before I could do anything anyhow, but an interesting idea for positive change.
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This is really great, very helpful. Some excellent advice.
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Yes…some very good info here…
I’ll have to keep these tips in mind when it’s time for a re-design.
I think I do have a bit of a Homepage going already…what do you think?
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I needed this. Thanks!
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Thank you! This is very helpful information.
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Wow! Thanks for featuring my blog. So unexpected! : D
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My pleasure! I’m sure many writers will enjoy seeing how you’ve designed your site to promote your work.
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What is the theme used by RedstuffDan?
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He’s using Able — I’ve added that info to the post, too, for future reference.
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I prefer to create a blog with a sticky post, to give the reader the important “static” image at the top of the page, then blog posts below. 🙂
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That’s a good strategy if you want to highlight an older post while still preserving a classic blog format.
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Thanks for the idea! I’ll edit my ‘best posts’ page & make it my main page.
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Yes… it’s a good idea. But I think one needs to set up the blog on their own domain to get the maximum out of this static homepage protocol!
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It’s true that a custom domain can help create the feel of an established website, though (as the examples in this post show) it’s definitely not a requirement.
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I see. Thanks.
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Is the static homepage option available across all themes?
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Yes — you can set your site to have a static homepage regardless of the theme you’re using.
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Got it. Thanks.
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Groovy Bow Sequence was a nice page.
But, the others you chose seem busy, and do not point to anything for the reader to follow. I am not sure I would want to do that to my readers.
Should I?
Wayne
Luvsiesous.com
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Hi Wayne — I think the featured bloggers all do a great job finding smart ways to direct visitors to the content that they want highlighted. Of course, every blog’s design reflects its owner’s tastes and its subject matter, and should keep the specific audience in mind, too. So what works for some blogs might not work for yours — and that’s absolutely fine!
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These are some great examples! Since I’m just starting out, I am constantly looking for good examples on how to make a good impression with my homepage. So far, I think it looks good but I only have one post!
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Bonjour Ben
What a nice surprise – Although I’m always striving to improve the look of redstuff; this current theme let visitors see my pictures in a format that does them proud.
I love discovering the new and trending themes.
Regards
Dan
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Indeed it does — your work looks really good on that page.
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Great piece of advice. Thanks!!!!
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Very helpful especially to newbie such as myself.. Thanks
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Great idea, thanks.
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This was very helpful! Thanks!
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You have motivated me to make a welcome/static front page. I have toyed with the idea for a few months now. Seeing the beautiful blogs that you have showcased here was just the push I needed. I’m excited to dig in and get started. Thank You!
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Thank you for this wonderful advice!
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Can we use different themes for the front page and other pages?
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You can only use one theme per site — however, different themes let you customize the look of pages and/or posts to give each a distinct feel — for example, you can include some widgets on your homepage but not your posts, add different featured images to your pages, etc.
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I’m using the “newsworthy” theme and when I try to activate a static page, the only option from the drop down is “about”. How can I change this to a real static page?
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I suspect the issue is that you first need to create the page in question. Once you add a new page — even if it’s entirely empty for now — it will appear in the drop menu and you’ll be able to set it as the static front page. You can call this page “Home” for ease of use, though any name will do.
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@Ben Huberman Thank you for featuring my blog. What a wonderful surprise!
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My pleasure — I’m glad I discovered it!
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I can’t seem to make it work. 😦 When I create a “Home” page and click on it to be my static page, my blog goes away. How does one direct readers to the blog, after creating the static “Home”page?
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Great question!
To do this, you’ll need to create another page — you can call it “Blog,” “Latest Posts,” or anything else you feel like. Then, from the same panel in the Dashboard where you selected your front page (Settings > Reading), go the “Posts page” drop menu, and select that page you’ve just created — that page will then become your blog.
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Thank you so much! I just started blogging in January and last night I decided to upgrade to make my sight more user friendly.This was very helpful. However, I am still trying to figure out, how do I place my pic to be shown when I comment or reply to a post. 🙂
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Hi Timna,
That picture is called your Gravatar — and you can find all the information on how to create one here.
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Hi Ben, great post and I do want a static homepage but had issues with the mobile site. Once I went to static, it messed up the mobile page using the Graphene theme. Might that issue be specific to the theme or to the WordPress platform?
Thanks in advance,
Ron
trianglenc-restaurants.com
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Hi Ron,
I’m glad you enjoyed the post! The Graphene theme is not currently supported on WordPress.com — you’re using it on your self-hosted site. I encourage you to visit the theme’s support forum, where you’re bound to find people who are well-versed in its various features.
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Thanks for the info. I was also worried much about designing home page. Sometimes thought of sending lot of internal links from home page. Thanks for nice examples
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I got sub page for blog post and have been using static front page about my self .
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I never thought much about what the static page can do. I figured latest posts only made sense. I’m still new so posts like these have been really helpful. This is great, thanks! Definitely going to mess around with it. 🙂
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To make homepages, it will be great if we have the ability to put some widgets in a page.
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You definitely can — in fact, if you look at the visibility settings of each individual widget, you can tweak which widgets appear (or are hidden) on which page.
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Thanks, Ben. I´ve forgot this.
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Your examples are really helpful – thank you!
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Thanks, Ben – lots of good tips there!
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This is an interesting thing to think about. I spend all my blogging time writing and little time thinking about design and layout, partly because I’m not sure what to do with that side of things.
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I took your advice and updated my “Home” page. Much, much better. Thanks!
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Fantastic, I’m on it.
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Thanks for the ideas and examples, very helpful. I think a static page could also be used to present a brand image for people using the blog to support their business.
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Any specific tips about Booklite, which I am currently using. If I went to a static front page would it keep the same image, which I actually like. Booklite seems not to have a lot of customization options. Could I create a kind of ‘ table of contents’ in keeping with the Booklite look? And I would probably want to include at least an excerpt of the most recent post. Thanks.
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Book Lite is very much a text-focused theme, though the large header gives it a nice touch of color. Your site will show the same header on all posts and pages, unless you choose to upload several images, which you can then set the theme to display randomly, for variety.
As for a “table of contents” type of page, you can create something similar in all themes — you could add category pages, create a page and populate it manually with links to posts you want featured, or use the Display Posts shortcode.
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Great idea, thank you!
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Thank You for sharing Your knowledge! Thanks to Your article, the support pages of WordPress and the great thema Twenty Fourteen I finally succeeded in making a website with which I am satisfied (although it is not yet ready): http://www.empathieworkshops.nl
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Hi Ben, Thanks for answering my question, but I’m still having some issues. I created the “blog” page as per your instructions. That works great. I’d like to create a Static Front page that says “Home”, but there seems to be a page already there, which I cannot remove or edit. How do I remove the “Home” page that seems to be some sort of default page, that I did not create? If you click on the “Home” tab, and the “Blog” tab, they are the same. I am using the Yoko theme. You can view it here: http://paintingforjoy.wordpress.com/
Thanks for your help,
Rhonda
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Hi Rhonda, I just took a look at your site and the blog page (which I accessed from the main menu on your homepage) seems to be working great, while the Home tab takes you back to the homepage — I hope this means everything worked out after all!
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Thank you for the advice it is really helping me figure out what to do with my blog exactly
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I have always wondered how to do this. Now I am excited to give it a try on my blog soon. Thanks for helping me make my blog a little more sophisticated.
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Very useful tip!!
Got some ideas for the front page
Thanks 🙂
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Good advice 🙂
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Just what I needed to read!
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Very helpful tips and impressed me very much. Thanks a lot!! MicroDreamIT
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Ben, you told another commenter above:
“To do this, you’ll need to create another page — you can call it “Blog,” “Latest Posts,” or anything else you feel like. Then, from the same panel in the Dashboard where you selected your front page (Settings > Reading), go the “Posts page” drop menu, and select that page you’ve just created — that page will then become your blog.”
I did all this. However, I do not see a link to the “blog page” on the home page. What am I doing wrong?
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Hi Mike, I just visited your blog and saw a link to your blog in the homepage’s main menu — I hope this means solved this issue successfully! It seems to be working fine.
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Cool concept idea for my blog.
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Useful, I wanted a fixed page as an introduction, and you tell me I can. Thank you.
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Good idea. thanks!
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Really helpful! Thanks! Ill work on mine right away
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Thanks for the ideas! I need to revamp! 🙂
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I am in awe of all these creative people. I’ve just started my site and managing to do posts once I remember how to access the driving thingy. The langauge is all new to me so I’m learning as I go along but I haven’t quite sorted out my widgets from my blog yet. I am sure your excellent advice will come in useful if ever I work out what you are talking about so many thanks. 🙂
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Excellent blog and wonderful advice for all of us. Merci beaucoup for sharing your experience and insights, oui?!
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If I make multiple Blogs would I be able to list them on a static page?
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You could definitely link to multiple blog posts — or multiple sites, as the case may be. Inserting links into pages works exactly the same as it does to posts.
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