If you’re using WordPress for your business website, you’ve made a good choice. WordPress is a great content management system, and it’s quite easy to use. Once your site is installed and set up, you can easily create new WordPress pages and posts. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can create a new page or post in WordPress!
Creating a New WordPress Page or Post
When you log into your WordPress site, you’ll see a number of items on the sidebar on the left. Below the “Dashboard,” you’ll see sections for both “Posts” and “Pages.”
To create a new page or post, just click either “Posts” or “Pages” and then “Add New” and you’ll get a blank screen like the one below where you can begin writing. Yes, it is that simple! (If you would like to edit an existing page or post, just click “All Posts” or “All Pages” instead and then click on the post or page that you want to edit.)
For the example below, I’ll show you how to create a new blog post but everything will apply to creating a new page as well.
You can enter a title for your blog post and then begin writing. Formatting your text is just like using Microsoft Word: simply use the buttons at the top to add bold text or italics, use a strike-through, create bulleted lists, create numbered lists, or align your text to the left, right or center. The quote button can be used to highlight quotes in your text.
You can also link to other blog posts – either your own or on other sites – by using the link button. Just highlight the words that you want to use as your link (this is known as your “anchor text”), and then the link button will become active. It’s good to link to other blog posts because you can help your readers to find more content on your site, and you can also create more internal links on your site, which is important for search engine optimization.
As you’re writing your post, you’ll be able to save the draft and preview what it will look like by clicking on the appropriate options in the “Publish” box on the sidebar to the right. Don’t forget to optimize your blog posts using the WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast after you’ve finished writing. Once you’ve finished writing and have optimized your post, hit the blue “Publish” button and you’re all set!
The process for creating a new page in WordPress is exactly the same. The only difference is that you’ll also need to add your new page to the menu. To do this, go to the “Appearance” option on the left-hand side (below where you found the “Pages” and “Posts” sections). Select “Menus” and you’ll see a list of your pages like the one below.
Click on the page that you want to add, and then hit “Add to Menu.” Once you do so, it will be added to the Menu to the right. You can then drag it to the position that you want it to be in, and then just hit the blue “Save Menu” button.
Pretty easy, right?
Adding Images
Okay, now that you’ve created new WordPress pages and posts, you’ll want to spice them up with some images. In fact, including images with each new post is important if you want to get the most out of your business blogging!
To add images, first make sure that you already have your own images or that you’ve purchased them from a source like iStockphoto. Then just click on the “Add Media” button that appears above the formatting buttons on your new WordPress page or post. You’ll see a screen like the one below that allows you to either drag the images or browse for them on your computer.
Once you’ve selected your image, just hit the blue “Insert into post” button and you’ll be given a few options.
You’ll want to provide a title for your image. Also, be sure to provide an “alternative text” description. This is important for search engine optimization because the search engines use this text to determine what your image is about. For example, if your image shows a big black dog, the search engines can’t tell by looking at the image that it’s a big black dog. However, if you add “big black dog” as the “alt text,” then the search engines will know what your image is about and they can serve it up in the search results. For this reason, it’s a good practice to include one or two relevant keywords in your alt text. (It’s also good to include keywords in the name of your file before you even upload it!)
Once you’ve added the alt text for your image, choose how you want it to be aligned and if you want the image to link anywhere else (if not, just change it to “none”). You can also choose the size of your image. When you’re done, hit “Insert into post” and you’ll see your image in your post!
This was pretty easy, wasn’t it? If you have any questions about creating new WordPress pages or posts or adding images, please leave them in the comments below.