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1. jennikeast
   Member
   Jan 19, 2011, 7:50 AM

   Wow, am I confused. I think the best way to clear up this confusion is to tell you what I'm trying to do. (My WP site right now is a mess as I'm still trying to figure this out...so please bear that in mind!)

   Okay, I'm creating a writer's portfolio (finally taking it off of iWeb and adding new content).

   I need existing and prospective clients to find my posts (writing samples - each post is a sample) easily. I am guessing "categories" will suffice for that purpose, but I also need to avail myself of Pages because on each Page I will write an intro to each category (and in some cases write an intro to sub categories, which will means I will have Sub Pages.). And sometimes I will even post images on a Page.

   For example, under Catalog Copy, I put 5 or 6 published catalog samples - it was easier then creating a post for each one frankly. That way the client can view all catalog samples on one page.

   Okay so, to clarify are Categories more of a navigational thing (no content generated by me), whereas Pages are not navigational but for content purposes...right? Because again, you can't generate any content within a category - it's more of Table of Contents....right?

   Another reason I'm confused is that someone on a WP tutorial said you should never use more than a few Pages on a WP blog...that they were meant to be static. Okay, well for my purposes I NEED a lot of so-called "static" pages because that's the only place I can generate introductory content, etc., about my writing samples. That's not a problem, is it? I'm trying to make WP work for me--for my needs--not the other way around!

   So, my Portfolio Menu might look something like this: (Sample)

   CATEGORY: Travel
   - SUB CATEGORY: Travel Copywriting
   PAGE: Write short intro on Travel Copywriting
   (Blog Posts-samples) (3)
   -SUB CATEGORY: Travel Writing (Editorial)
   PAGE: Write short intro on Travel Writing
   (Blog Posts-samples) 4)
   -SUB CATEGORY: Travel Product Reviews
   PAGE: Insert images of travel product reviews
   (Blog Posts - no samples as they were all placed on Travel Product Reviews Page instead.)

   Does this make sense? Let me know! And thanks in advance for taking the time to read this and help me out. Whew...it really is a very tedious task building this portfolio with the dozens and dozens of samples I will end up having to post!

   The blog I need help with is jennikeast.wordpress.com.

2. jennikeast
   Member
   Jan 21, 2011, 1:48 AM

   Never mind...as usual, I figured out. I'm just having to use WP in a very different way than it was probably intended (example: I don't think designers ever intended Pages to to be used the way I'm using t hem ...and to have so man\!

   But hey, I think it will wok out in the end, which is the important thing

   Thanks anyway (in case anyone was planning on answering what appeared to be a stupid question.

3. raincoaster
   Member
   Jan 21, 2011, 2:23 AM

   I think you could still use some help.

   There are such things as Category pages, which are pages of all your blog posts in a particular category. You can put them in your header tabs if you want by using Custom menus, or just put the Categories widget in your sidebar and that will list all your categories.

   If you use static Pages for this rather than the dynamic, automatically-generated Category Pages, you're totally shooting yourself in the foot. Google will ignore you, as will other search engines. Static pages don't have Googlejuice. As well, static pages don't show up on your RSS feed OR in the email subscriptions.

4. raincoaster
   Member
   Jan 21, 2011, 2:24 AM

   Having re-read the first post, I still think you'd be FAR better off with Posts. You may want an individual, introductory paragraph to each Category page, but is it worth doing without any SEO whatsoever for? I don't think so. After all, "Catalog Copy" is rather self-explanatory, no?

5. jennikeast
   Member
   Jan 26, 2011, 1:46 AM

   Good advice, thanks! I will follow your advice though I'm only going to put maybe 10 more posts up then migrate over to a self-hosted site and use WordPress.org for greater flexibility, creativity and SEO optimization. I'm just learning though and need to have something in the interim so WP.com will do nicely for that! (Give prospective clients something to look at while I'm working on a more sophisticated site.)

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