8 Types of Pages Every WordPress Blog Should Have

Whether you’re just starting your blogging career or are looking to get some traction for your established blog, there are some things you must have. A solid hosting account that can handle traffic, an attractive niche to blog about, and a WordPress site where you will share your content. But aside from your blog posts, your content should also include a couple of additional pages.

A big part of what draws people in and makes them follow a blog or writer is a sense of connection or closeness. And that is something you foster by sharing information about yourself. The best way to do that is via pages. Pages, unlike posts, are static and won’t be buried under any new posts. So you can sort your information into pages and keep it apart from the content you publish regularly for the blog.

Now let’s take a look at what pages your WordPress blog should have.

About Me/Us

This is your introductory page. You may think it is a cliché but, in reality, it is a must-have. Taking the time to tell readers about yourself and your interests can help you create a bond with them. The specific information you put here can vary depending on what kind of relationship and brand you’re trying to build. But anything from random facts about you to behind-the-scenes pictures can be a plus.

Moreover, a carefully designed and engaging About page serves your SEO efforts, too. Sprinkle your keywords throughout, and let the crawlers put you on the map.

Contact Page

Another oldie but goodie. Including a Contact page on your WordPress blog will let fans reach out to you, colleagues give you feedback, and interested parties offer collaboration. The content you produce might make people want to work with you, ask for interviews, or pay you for producing a sponsored post. So giving them a way to reach you is essential.

You can also use the space on this page to show what kind of contact you’re open to. Let your visitors know how to send suggestions or requests, give them a form for advertising inquiries, and provide information about guest posting.

Also, displaying links to your social media profiles is extremely beneficial. Make sure to use a blog theme with social sharing functionality so visitors can easily share and promote your content.

Getting Started Page

If your blog has a lot of articles, then you’ll want to add a page to organize them and to let readers know where to start. This will make your blog easier to navigate and ensure visitors won’t get lost in medias res.

A Getting Started page can help you show the chronology and development of your blog. It can also provide a space where you can group series of posts and share key information. Readers will thank you for the organization since it will be easier to follow your posts and get around your blog in the right order.

Disclaimer Page

Being honest and transparent about what you get out of your blog can foster trust in your readers. So, if you make any money off your blog, then this is the place to let them know that. Or if you cover research topics and are a member of a prominent institution, you might want to let your readers know how that reflects on them. Or, perhaps, you have a Ko-fi account or a GoFundMe and want to invite readers to support you by presenting the costs of running a blog to them. Whatever your circumstances may be, a disclaimer page can help you communicate them clearly so visitors know what they’re getting into.

Sitemap Page

To be honest, turning your XML sitemap into a page will benefit crawlers more than visitors. However, we cannot overstate the value of being liked by search engines, so adding this page is extremely helpful in the long term.

The sitemap has links to all your site’s posts and pages. Thanks to your sitemap, web crawlers find it easier to index and rank your latest articles and content. And, you needn’t worry about looks; there are plugins to help you generate and publish your sitemap page in a user-friendly way that will make it easy to navigate for people as well as crawlers.

404 Page

Missing pages and broken links are the last things any blog needs. They can put off first-time visitors and annoy veteran users. While it’s impossible to prevent every WordPress and server error out there, you can mitigate its effects. That’s what a well-designed 404 page can help you with. Compose yours so it reassures visitors that they’ve run into a temporary hiccup and directs them to one of your other pages. If done right, a 404 page can show off your creativity while reducing your bounce rate.

Archive Page

The place where all your old posts go to die or the library where curious readers come to browse? The Archive page will keep your posts for posterity while serving as a catalog of your works.

Moreover, if you have a good grasp of how the WordPress template hierarchy works and know a bit of code, you can customize this page to give it a personal touch. There’s no reason why an Archive page should be boring.

Policies Page

We’re using an umbrella term here, but a policies page would be the place to let visitors know about your privacy policy, your comments policy, your advertising policy, and whatever else you need to divulge. Put down all your legal and operational information and rules. The internet is a wonderful place, but things can sometimes get strange, so covering your legal bases can save you a lot of future headaches.

Honorary mentions

Finally, there are a few pages that didn’t make the list but would be useful to include, depending on your blog topic and design.

For example, a Portfolio/Works page. If you’ve written prolifically before, or if you are a published author outside the blogosphere, then this page is a neat way of sharing that information. And doing so might net you more readers and commissions.

Unless you’re blogging just for the fun of it, you’re going to need followers. Most blogs opt for using subscription forms or pop-ups, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you want more space to pitch your blog, a Subscribe or Squeeze page can help boost your follower numbers. An added benefit of having a separate page for subscriptions is being able to link to it and share that link across platforms.

Another useful addition would be a Shop page, especially if you have your own merchandise. And even if you work as an affiliate, your shop can display all affiliate products mentioned in your blog posts.

Do you work in multiple mediums? If so, a Podcast page could be just the thing for you. Starting a podcast with WordPress is a fun, engaging way to connect with people and podcasting has never been more popular.

If you want to provide your readers with additional value, you can create a Resources page. This can be your place for sharing recommended reading, useful courses, other blogs and sites, helpful software, and more.

For bloggers who have a lively community around their blog, an FAQ page is a great way to cut down the workload. Instead of answering individual questions and comments that center on the same topics, put together a page with your replies to save yourself some time.

Similarly, if you are working on a special project, an Event-specific or Coming Soon page can serve to inform visitors without taking attention away from your blog. Also, a static page won’t get lost in the posts feed and you can easily update it with any new events or products.

Final Thoughts

Success for any business can mean the ability to connect to their customers, buyers, or clients. Blogging is no different. Generally, to make a good blog, you need to be creative, so it helps if you have all the best tools for writing great blog posts.

But, being able to attract readers is only the first step. Offering visitors an easy and pleasant browsing experience will keep them coming. By including a few static WordPress blog pages, you can share information about yourself and communicate with visitors while simultaneously helping crawlers and search engines get to know you better. So make it a win-win by adding these key pages to your blog.