Set page to ABOUT or to BLOG?

  • Unknown's avatar

    When someone logs on the first time, should they see my latest blog post or the ABOUT page on my website? I cannot decide which to set as my default page. I waffle on this each time I make some changes.

    When someone signs up to see the blog, I know they are sent directly to the blog post site, then they can choose menu items if they want. But when they first come to the site, what should they see?

    Thanks for any advice.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar

    I’m a very experienced and very opinionated blogger. I believe static front pages are traffic killers.

    You have two choices on any blog
    (1) All posts on the front page.
    (2) A static front page and posts on a different page.

    By default the front page of your blog displays all published posts (not pages) in reverse chronological order, with the most recently published post on top. That is for the convenience of your returning visitors who will not be happy to have to click through an About page every time they visit your blog as they come to read your most recently published content. Creating that situation can make some visitors annoyed – so annoyed that they stop following your blog.

    However, if you do not want all the posts to show on the front page, then you can create a static front page called for example “Welcome” for your site and a “Blog” page for all published posts (not pages) to display on in reverse chronological order, with the most recently published post on top.

    To do that create two pages first http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/

    After you do that you go to > Settings > Reading and make the designation change for each of the two page and click “save changes”.
    A static page (select below)
    Front page:
    Posts page:

    The guide is here http://en.support.wordpress.com/pages/front-page/

  • Unknown's avatar

    Please read the stats support doc https://en.support.wordpress.com/stats/#views-and-visitors

    Additional information
    Our stats are not real time stats and take time to update. There are frequent fluctuations that most do not notice because we aren’t watching the process. For details see here http://en.support.wordpress.com/stats/ and here https://en.support.wordpress.com/stats/#views-and-visitors and note the views and viewers take hours to update.

    Our stats are page view stats. But please do not assume that everyone who clicks a follow, like, share, reblog or comment link actually reads the post on your blog because odds are they may not.

    Follow, like, share, reblog or comment clicks are not page views. In fact, follows, likes, shares, comments and reblogs are completely misleading when you are talking about page view stats.

    Your followers and anyone with a WordPress.com/Gravatar account who is logged into WordPress.com can “follow” your blog, “like”, “share” and “reblog” your posts and “comment” in several locations such as the Reader, without ever clicking into your blog and creating a single page view stat. Subscribers control how frequently they receive your posts (instantly, daily, weekly) and can comment without clicking into the blog.

    Logged in visitors using a mobile can read the full post without creating a page view stat. https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/wordpresscom-reader-show-full-text?replies=31#post-1373606

    You can control the length of the entry sent out on your RSS feed here Dashboard > Settings > Reading. Choose the “summary” setting for your RSS feed rather than to “full text”. That will compel followers who are not using mobiles to click into the blog to read the full post which will create a page view stat.

  • Unknown's avatar

    Wow, thanks for your indepth reply. I like and appreciate opinionated, experienced advice. I’ll make the change, when I update my blog soon.

  • Unknown's avatar

    You’re welcome. Best wishes for successful blogging.

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