Blog Posts on Home Page?

[impaul99]

Is it better to have your blog posts show up on the home page of your blog (as in Problogger.net or JohnChow.com) or to have a home page explaining what your site is about and then people click on "Blog" in the menu to see your blog posts like Steve has?

I'm wondering if I should put my blog on my home page.

[1000feet]

There's simply no answer to this. As a web development freelancer I sometimes work with people who aren't sure what to put on their pages; the advice that seems to work best is to really think about your visitors. Who are they, what do they want to find, how did they get to your site, how much time do they have to find what they want? If you can put yourself in the place of someone coming to your site for a reason or while looking for something else, and connect that to what you want the site to do, it should be easy to decide.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by impaul99

Is it better to have your blog posts show up on the home page of your blog (as in Problogger.net or JohnChow.com) or to have a home page explaining what your site is about and then people click on "Blog" in the menu to see your blog posts like Steve has?

I'm wondering if I should put my blog on my home page.

I think it depends on the site. I have a low volume business site which has a static front page and navigation to take users to the blog and others where the blog is the front page.

[Adrian]

While I agree with 1000feet that you should think of it through your visitor's eyes, I also think it's largely just personal preference. If your blog is easy to navigate and the concept of your blog is very out in the open, I don't think it matters much.

[Paul Mernon]

I agree with Adrian that having easy and intuitive navigation is more important, because because many visitors won't enter your site through the home page. A lot of hits from search engines and links will go directly to post pages, bypassing the home page.

However, when a site has one page (or more) which summarizes and categorizes the best articles and resources, I, as a reader, find it very helpful. It doesn't have to be a home page; it should be easy to find. This is especially true for the mature and content-rich blogs, where you can be easily lost without guidance.

[ken nubo]

It depends. If you're blog is in a niche market, you can have a static home page with your best articles on the front page. But it's best to do split test and tracking to see the best reader's retention rate.