Wordpress question about pages and posts

[oregongal]

Do you think it is a good idea or a bad idea to use pages in wordpress instead of posts? I was thinking of using pages as a way to organize content in different groups. Like if my website was about dogs, I'd have pages like: dog breeds, dog training, grooming, diet, etc. My theme lists pages as tabs across the top of the site, which I like.

If I just use posts, I'm not sure how I could organize it in an easy to access way. Then if I use pages, should there be links on the home page to the other pages on it, or is that a bad idea?

I'm looking for opinions or ideas of how best to organize my site.

[yesacpow]

I am no pro at wordpress but I think you can still use post and then organize your content in categories.

So each category will still have their own topics.

Also is I am not mistaken, I don't think your pages will have rss feeds while the posts will.

Again I am no pro so I hope someone else can clarify this info.

[Dmg2242]

I understand what you're wanting to do and I've thought of organizing my blogs that way, too. It's true, though, that pages don't show up in posts--I'm 98% sure of it. At least, the few pages on my blogs don't show up in my feeds.

If you're concerned about using feeds, posts organized under categories is the way to go, IMO. I think it's better from an SEO perspective, too.

I agree, it doesn't look quite as organized as I'd like sometimes, but the SEO perks and speed of indexing makes it worth the semi-disorganized "look" of it, to me.

[oregongal]

That's a good point - about the RSS feeds. I'm not sure I knew that since I'm pretty new to Wordpress.

[ktpasco]

I'd do posts if I were you and organize them into categories. They can be accessible from the sidebar and they don't crowd up the main menu bar.

[LIndaB]

Actually, there is a nice plugin called "rss includes pages" that will include your pages in the feed. I use it on a couple of my sites that utilize a lot of content pages (i.e., not just the usual About Me, Privacy Policy, etc.). I really like using pages on some sites simply because they stand out more on a blog, as oregongal mentioned. (I'm also an Oregon gal, by the way. ) If you'd like to download the plugin, you can get it at the Wordpress plugin site here:

WordPress › RSS Includes Pages WordPress Plugins

It's very easy to use. Just upload it to your plugin directory, then go into your admin panel and activate it.

[Dmg2242]

That sounds like a great plug-in--thanks for mentioning it.

I'm a plug-in fanatic. They just make WP soooo flexible and user friendly.

[rtrotter]

There are themes that will place categories as tabs across the top of the site. I use a revolutions theme that does that. I think many of their theme are designed that way. Their new site is StudioPress Themes Premium WordPress Themes

Doing it with a theme like that will allow you to use post and solve the RSS problem also.

Rodney

[LIndaB]

Yes, I agree that if you simply want to organize your blog better, categories make more sense than pages. A page would only have one article on it about that subject. But having a category means that you will have a category page that has links to every post you make on that subject. So anyone who comes to your blog and is most interested in "dog grooming," for instance, can click on the link to that category and will see all the posts on your blog about dog grooming.

I use pages instead of posts when I want an article to stand out. Such as when those articles are about the keywords I especially want the blog to rank for. Or a review of the affiliate product I want to sell. Using pages, then adding a sidebar widget that lists the pages, means every page on my site will link to those articles. If I use posts, they eventually won't have a link on every page, even if I use a "last 10 posts" sidebar widget. So I would consider carefully what you are trying to accomplish with pages before using them.

[MrLewisSmile]

Posts and pages are essentially the same thing.

Which you choose to use mostly would depend on the theme you use more than anything else - especially now that Linda has highlighted the 'RSS Includes Pages' plugin.


Lewis

[Abledragon]

I would definitely suggest you use posts and categories.

You can edit your categories widget to give it a heading that's more user friendly. For example, my categories widget has the title 'See Articles On:' and below that comes the list of categories.

Also, think carefully about the names you give to your categories.

I actually give quite a bit of thought during each post I write as to which category I'll give it and what tags it will have.

Both categories and tags are very useful SEO tools and I completely mis-used them for a long time!

But having learnt from my errors and started using them more carefully my blog is definitely easier to navigate and my search results have improved.

Plus, as rtrotter has mentioned above, you can include some of your categories in your menu bar if you want to.

Cheers,

Martin.

[The Expert]

I setup niche ebay & amazon affiliate sites with Wordpress. I use Pages for all of my product "categories".

I have a plugin that creates a new page or post every time someone runs a search so I have it create posts in those instances. I have it plug them all in a "Popular Searches" category and then have the Category Posts widget display them in the sidebar as "Recent Searches" links.

I also have Autoblogged setup to pull in tweets with my keyword and transform them into posts. I have them assigned to a "What People are Saying" category and then have Category Posts display them in the sidebar under "Keyword Buzz".

Dunno if this helps but it's and easy way for me to keep track of things. If I want to edit my main stuff I jump to the Pages admin area. If it's something else I jump to the posts.

[Matt Gannon]

You can do both, categorize all your posts into categories, then also make pages so you have them at the top, in those pages make a link to each category.

[oregongal]

Wow! Thanks for all the advice guys! I now have quite a bit to think about - and I'll definitely look into that plug in.