Creating a New Page

Your website is mostly made up of pages, so you need to know how to create new ones! Visitors rely on your pages to learn more about your organization and all the good you’re doing. In this article, we’ll show you how to create new pages that are well thought out and customized to fit your needs.

If you’d like additional tips on building out great content, head on over to our Essential Web Page Content for Nonprofits guide.

Helpful Terminology

• The featured image is the main photo associated with the post or page. It displays as the header image at the top of a page.
• The sidebar is an area of a page that is for displaying information that is not part of the main content. The sidebar is usually a vertical column on the right side of the page.
• A page template is used to control the layout of the content and functionality on the page. For example, a page template may or may not include a sidebar area.
• A meta description is a brief summary of a webpage’s content which may be displayed in search results so users know what the page is about.

Where Do I Add a New Page?

There are various ways to create a new page for your website, all of which require you to be logged into your site. The following is the easiest way to add a new page once you’ve logged in:

• When you log in, you’ll be looking at your site’s Dashboard. On the left-hand side, hover over the “Pages” item and click “Add New Page”.

Customizing a New Page

Once you’ve created a new page, you’ll want to build it out by adding content and adjusting any page settings as needed.

Adding content

• Make sure your page has a title, which will also be used as its URL.
  • In some cases, you may want to remove words like “a”, “the” or “and” from the URL. To update a page’s URL, find the “Link” field on the right-hand side of the editor in the Page settings.

• Write your page content using the block editor. There are two common options:
  • The Page Writer will automatically appear on new pages you create. Answer a few quick questions and get a first draft of your page generated by AI.
  • Copy and paste content from an external source, such as a Microsoft Word document or Google Doc. To avoid formatting issues, right-click and use the “Paste as Plain Text” or “Paste and Match Style” option, depending on your operating system.

• Consider using block patterns as a starting point for entering and formatting content on a new page, and check out our Formatting Text on a Page or Post article for other helpful tips.

Adjusting page settings 

• Each new page uses the default template for your theme. You can choose between a template where the content spans the full width of the page or one that shows the sidebar navigation and widgets. On the right-hand side of the editor in the Page settings, find the “Template” field and select your preferred layout.

• If you want the page to have a header image, find the “Set featured image” button at the top of the right-hand side of the editor in the Page settings. Click that button to upload an image or select one from your media library.
  • It’s best to crop this image to the correct size before uploading it to your site. The recommended dimensions are noted directly above the “Set featured image” button.

• You’ll probably want to add your new page to your website navigation. To make it a subpage of a published page, find the “Parent” field on the right-hand side of the editor in the Page settings. Select a Parent Page from the drop-down list.

• Finally, add a meta description to summarize the page content. Go to the Yoast SEO section below your content and edit the “Meta Description” field.
  • For more information about meta descriptions and tips on writing them, take a look at our article about meta description best practices.

Publishing a Page

Once you’ve added your content, adjusted your settings, and added a meta description, you can:

• Preview what your page looks like by clicking the laptop icon. We recommend the “Preview in new tab” option to get the most accurate preview of your new page.
• Save the page as a draft if you’re not ready to share it with visitors yet.
• Click the blue “Publish” button to make the page live and publicly accessible.

All of these options are located in the top right-hand corner of the editor.