I started my plans for building a website empire with the idea that I would build static websites. I have a fondness for them, probably stemming from my controlling nature, but regardless, my thought was to build each site using NoteTab Pro (cool little text editing software I’ve used for years). Since I’m able to add little snippets of code and html with a single click, I’ve gotten quite adept at building sites quickly.
However, I had a change of heart for one reason or another and decided to go with WordPress after all. In the end, it really did boil down to me wanting to put a blog on nearly all my websites because I enjoy blogging as long as I don’t feel compelled to do it. Since I wanted to build sites that emulated static websites with a blog, the blog doesn’t become the centerpiece of the website, so there you go… no compelling reason to blog when I don’t want to.
Setting WordPress up to make it appear you have a static website with a blog is simple. Having a good theme helps, because it keeps your site from looking like a regular ol’ blog.
How to set up WordPress as a static site (even though technically it’s still a dynamic site :-)
First, create a few new PAGES for your site using the Admin Panel or something like Windows Live Writer (which I happen to think is fabulous).
- Home – put content on this one because it will be your homepage
- Blog – this one should be a blank page
- About – this will already be there, so just edit it
- Contact – fill out with some contact information or use a plugin to generate a contact form for it
- Any other pages you might want on your “static” site
Then, in the WordPress Admin Panel, go to SETTINGS: READING and choose “Front page displays – A static page. From the dropdown, you should select Home for Front page and Blog for posts page. Save changes.
Now, when you visit your site, you’ll have a static homepage and a separate blog, where you can “post” to. Any pages on your site should be built as WordPress PAGES and blog entries should be done as POSTS.
There you go, an ultra-simple way to create your own static site with a blog using WordPress.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Creating a static site with Wordpress is a good idea since Wordpress is loved by search engines.
I do this really just to be able to use Windows Live Writer to create my content quickly. Although I enjoy some coding, I don’t like designing, and I much prefer to spend my time writing!