WordPress, originally conceptualized as a blogging platform, has matured into the name in website content management due to its customizability, scalability, and most importantly its intuitive user interface. In fact, as of November 2015, 25 percent of all sites across the web were powered by WordPress.

WordPress is a true Content Management System (or CMS), meaning clients can easily create and manage much of their own digital content without having to come back to the developer for help (or learn how to write code) once the site is live. There are numerous options available when it comes to content management, but very few can rival the ease of access that WordPress offers when it comes to modifying site content.

Updating a page on your site is just about as easy as changing a Word document. Even so, we’d like to make the learning curve even easier. Some of the most common questions we get from Byers Creative clients with WordPress sites are:

1. How do I add a new blog post?
2. How do I add a link within a post?
3. How do I link to a video?
4. How do I add a new page to the site?

Here are some basic steps and tips for doing these four things in WordPress.

1. How to add a new post to your blog

After logging in, choose “Posts” from the menu on the left-hand side of the Dashboard page.

Once on the Posts page, click the “Add New” button (you can also select “Add New” from the left-hand side menu that appears once you’ve clicked on Posts):

From here, you can enter your article title and then either begin typing into the box below or cut and paste text from another program, like Word.

Finally, before publishing your post, you can preview how it will look by clicking the Preview button on the upper right. You can also save a draft here and finish it later or have others review it before it goes live.

When ready, go ahead and publish your post by clicking the blue Publish button:

Note: Before you publish a new blog post, it’s a good idea to add tags to help people find it. Tags are terms people might search for and should be relevant to the content. They can be added on the right-hand side here, below the publishing box:

2. How to add a link

If you’re adding a link within the text of a post, you have a couple of options. You can either put the URL for the link directly into the text and highlight it like this with your cursor:

Or you can create a link from any text you write and then highlight it:

Either way, once you highlight the text, you’ll choose the link symbol in the icons above your text and click on it:

A box will pop up that allows you to type in or paste the URL. You can also “apply” the link or select the gear symbol for more options:

Once you select more options, you can choose to link to an outside site or to a page within your own site. You can use the Search box to find a page within your site, if needed. When finished, click on the blue “Add Link” button at the bottom:

3) How to link to a video or other media

You use the same process as above in order to link to a video on YouTube or another site. However, if you want to embed a video (or a photo or audio file) on a page itself, first click the “Add Media” box here:

This brings up an area where you can choose from existing files or upload a new file. However, keep in mind that there is a file size limit here, so for video, you’re usually better off linking to a file that’s housed elsewhere.

4) How to add a new page to your site

Adding a new page is very similar to adding a new post. First, click on Pages on the left-hand side of the screen from the Dashboard, and then click on Add New from the drop-down options or when you reach the Pages page:

From here, you can add a title, type in text, cut and paste text or add images, etc., just as you would for a post. You also have the option on the right-hand side of using a basic template (under Page Attributes) for the layout so that it matches the look of other pages on the site; it’s a good idea to start with “Default” and then preview the page before publishing unless you want to create a photo gallery or another specific layout.

Also, if you want to include the page in the main site navigation, you can choose where to “nest” it in the menu tabs by choosing a “Parent” and then choosing what order the page should go in (first, second, etc.).

The Preview, Save Draft and Publish options are just the same for new pages as for blog posts.

Need more help editing your WordPress site – or building one in the first place? Contact us today.