The two most common types of content that are managed on a WordPress powered website are Posts and Pages.
The publishing process is identical, and the same content could be published as either type, so choosing between them can be difficult. What does differ between Posts and Pages is how WordPress handles them.
Consider your website a place to store information, not unlike a library or bookstore. In a library, at the broadest level, information is organized into books and periodicals.
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Timely Posts
photo credit: micora
Posts are like periodicals, newspapers or magazines that are timely today, but may be unimportant in a year.
Because they are time sensitive, posts are organized chronologically, with the newest posts on top.
As more posts are published, older posts are pushed down below these new posts. Eventually posts are pushed off of the main index into the archive where they can be found via search, in the monthly archives, or within a certain category or tag.
Posts can be very versatile; being used to publish breaking news, press releases, events, essays, or simply quick tips.
Timeless Pages
photo credit: MrB-MMX
Pages more closely resemble books. Though a library may contain fiction, non-fiction, and reference materials; none of these books change very often in comparison to a daily newspaper.
Essentially, the content of pages is static and changes very little. Pages are also organized differently, not by time, but alphabetically or arbitrarily. Typically the location of a page is also static. A certain page can always be found in the same spot.
A page could contain just about any kind of content; contact information, a photo gallery, or a catalog of products or services.
A Successful Blend of Content
A blog or news website’s content might all be in the form of posts, and a site for a small business could be comprised of only pages. But the majority of websites blend both types of content to produce a site that has the depth and diversity to capture and then hold their audience’s attention.
Does your website have an atlas misplaced on the magazine rack, or a newspaper tucked into the reference section?
Josh, I love this post. It comes at a great time to share with a client as we discuss changes to her blog/website. We are looking for logical changes to where to place content so people can easily find it and/or pass things along to others. Thanks!