Static pages are a useful way of offering your readers information about your blog. Unlike WordPress, Blogger does not feature the ability to create pages. This presents a problem for those using Blogger to publish their blogs as “about”, “contact” and even “archive” pages have become the norm among blogs and are often sought after by blog readers.However, there is a way to work around this problem: by using a post as the basis for a page, you can create the sense of static pages in Blogger and link to these in the navigation section of your template. In this post, I’ll explain the method many Blogger bloggers use to successfully create “static” pages in their blogs, along with a few ideas for pages you may like to create.
Creating your “Static” Pages in Blogger
The blog pages we can create in Blogger are not truly pages; instead we can use a blog post as a “page” and backdate the timestamp so that the page does not show up in recent feed entries.To create your Blogger page, simply fire up your post editor, write your title and any content you would like to appear in the page. You can make your post appear more “page like” by using headings where appropriate and inline CSS to add some style.
Altering the post options
While you may like an “about” page to appear as a recent post entry, the illusion of a “static page” in Blogger is best created by backdating the post. This ensures that your post will not appear as a recent entry in your archives or blog feed.
To backdate your post, look for the “Post Options” link beneath your post editor. The section which appears will allow you to backdate your post to whatever date you prefer. I tend to backdate pages to a date before the first post written on my blog. Then if a reader does go back through your entire archives, these post pages will seem to appear in the right place!
The post options section will also allow you to prevent comments being posted on this particular page, and also to hide any backlinks. Most WordPress powered blogs do not allow such features on the static pages, so changing the settings for these features on your “static pages” may be an option for you to consider.
Linking to your Static Pages in Blogger
Once you have created “static” pages for your Blogger blog, the next step is to provide links to these pages in an easily accessible place in your template. You will probably have noticed that WordPress powered blogs may feature a navigation bar above or beneath the main header section, which is often the first place a reader will look to find links to your blog’s important pages. This can easily be duplicated in Blogger templates too.There are many different ways of adding a navigation section in Blogger. In this post I will explain the easiest (and most functional) method which takes only three simple steps to complete.
Adding a Simple Navigation Section in your Blogger template
- Go to Layout>Edit HTML in your Blogger dashboard and locate the following section of code:
<b:section class=’header’ id=’header’ maxwidgets=’1′ showaddelement=’no’>
Change the line in red to this instead:
<b:widget id=’Header1′ locked=’true’ title=’Testing Time of Day Background Script (Header)’ type=’Header’/>
</b:section>
<b:section class=’header’ id=’header’ maxwidgets=’2′ showaddelement=’yes’>
- Next add this section of code just before the closing
</b:skin>tag in your template:
#header ul li {
Then save your template.
display: inline;
padding: 0 5px;
} - Finally, go to Layout>Page Elements in your Blogger dashboard. You will see that you can add a new page element above your header. In this section, add a new “Link List” widget, and add the links to your “static pages”, using the site name as the text you would like to appear for your link (eg: About, Contact, Archives).
Pages you may like to add to your Blogger blog
Here are a few ideas of the types of pages which may be beneficial to include in your blog:An About Page
It’s almost scripture that a blog should feature an “About” page, so this will probably be the first static page you would like to add to your Blogger blog.Here you could include general information about your blog’s format, subject matter and any other relevant information which your blog readers will find useful and enlightening to know.
A contact Page
If you would like to provide an accessible method for your readers to contact you, then a “contact page” is a must!I use Kontactr to generate a Javascript contact form in my Blogger blogs so readers can email me directly from the page. This is a free service which seems to have no limitations on the amount of forms you can create, or the number of emails you can receive.
WebFormDesigner is an alternative solution with much more options for configuration. Again, this is a free service, though I have to say this is not as reliable as Kontactr!
An “About the Author(s)” Page
This would be similar to an “About” page, but with more focus on the blog author (or authors), including any information which adds credibility to your blog.An Archives Page
This is a little trickier to implement in Blogger as there is no template we can use to add links to previous posts. However, an archives page can prove very useful for your readers in who may wish to read through previous posts or locate an article of interest.Perhaps the best method you could use to add an archives page in your Blogger blog is to add an archives widget to your sidebar, then copy the links to your archive pages manually into your post page.
I used this method recently to add an archives page for Blogger Buster which also includes links and descriptions of my main categories. If you’re interested to read more about the process I used, take a look at this explanatory article.
A Subscription Page
Having a dedicated subscription page in your blog si a very effective method of converting readers to subscribers.Here you can add links to your blogs feeds and email subscription page, even including images to add style to the post. Explain to your readers the benefits of subscribing, and highlight the ease of unsubscribing too. For readers who may be unfamiliar with RSS and feed subscriptions, explain what blog feeds are and how they may be of benefit to them.
Tim Ferris presents a great example of a dedicated subscription page by detailing seven reasons for readers to subscribe.
A Popular Posts Page
Highlighting your most popular posts in a page is a useful method of providing value for newer readers, which in turn may offer an incentive to subscribe (or at least stay on your blog for a longer period of time!).Similarly, a table of contents/important posts could be used as an aid for discovering useful posts which may not otherwise be linked from your home page.
Final thoughts
Once you understand how to create seemingly “static” pages for your Blogger blog, you could indeed choose to link to any important page you like. Such pages are useful to ensure your blog template feels more “polished” and professional, and also helps ensure readers are better able to navigate to important sections of your content.Have you created “static” post pages in your Blogger blog? If so, what methods have you used to link to these pages? I’m sure other readers of this post may like to see other examples of how this may be achieved, so please feel free to leave your comments below.