How to write & publish a blog post

Blog posts are how you share news, tips, and stories on your WordPress site. They are different from pages — posts appear in date order, support categories and tags, and usually show up in your site's blog feed. This guide walks you through writing and publishing one from start to finish.

What you'll need

• An Author, Editor or Administrator role in WordPress. Authors can write and publish their own posts. Contributors can write posts but can't publish them; they send them for review instead. If you can't see the Posts menu, ask your project lead to check your user role.
• Your post content ready to go — a working title, the body text, and optionally a featured image.

Open the Add Post screen

Add a title

Click the Add title area at the top of the screen and type your post title. Make it clear and specific — think about what someone would search for, or what would make them want to click.

Write your content

Click in the content area below the title and start typing. Each paragraph you write becomes its own paragraph block automatically. Press Enter to start a new paragraph.

To add other types of content — headings, images, buttons, or lists — click the + inserter that appears inside the page next to an empty line, use the + button at the top left of the editor, or type / followed by the block name (for example, /heading) and press Enter. Not sure which blocks to use? See working with blocks and the most useful blocks, explained.

A few tips for readable blog posts:

• Use Heading blocks (Heading 2 or Heading 3) to break up long posts into sections.
• Keep paragraphs short — 3 to 4 sentences works well.
• Add an image or two to keep readers engaged. See how to add images to a page or post.

Set the post category

Categories help you organize your blog and make it easier for visitors to find related posts. In the right-hand panel, find the Categories section (you may need to scroll down).

Check the box next to the right category for this post. If you need a new category, click Add Category (Add New Category on WordPress 6.7 and earlier), type the name, and click the Add Category button below it to save it.

Add tags (optional but useful)

Tags are more specific than categories. For example, a post in the "Marketing" category might carry tags like "social media" and "email marketing."

In the right-hand panel, find the Tags section. Type a tag in the Add Tag box and press Enter to add it. You can add more than one. Learn more about organizing content in using categories & tags.

Set a featured image

Your theme decides where the featured image appears; many themes show it at the top of the post and on blog listing pages. (When the post is shared on social media, the preview image usually comes from an SEO plugin. Yoast SEO, for example, uses the featured image unless you choose a separate social image.) It makes a big difference to how professional your post looks.

In the right-hand panel, find Featured image and click Set featured image. You can upload a new image or choose one from your media library. See setting featured images for sizing tips.

Write an excerpt (optional)

An excerpt is a short summary of the post. Some themes display it on the blog listing page instead of the full post. In the right-hand panel, click Add an excerpt… to open the Excerpt box, then type 1–2 sentences that describe the post. See post excerpts explained for more.

Preview before publishing

Open the View menu near the top right (the screen icon) and choose Preview in new tab to see how your post will look to a visitor. Check for typos, broken formatting, and that your featured image looks right.

Publish the post

Not ready yet? Click Save draft to save your work without publishing. You can return to finish it anytime. See drafts, previews, and publishing for more on the draft workflow.

Want to publish at a specific date and time? See how to schedule a post or page.

Common questions

My post published but I can't find it on my site — where is it?

Your post is live, but it may not be in your site's navigation menu. Blog posts usually appear automatically on your blog listing page (often called "Blog" or "News" in your menu). If you don't have a blog page set up yet, ask your project lead. You can always find your posts under Posts → All Posts in the dashboard.

Can I change the publish date of a post?

Yes. In the right-hand panel, find the Publish setting and click the date, or Immediately, to change it. You can backdate a post or set it to publish in the future. See how to schedule a post or page.

What's the difference between a post and a page?

Posts are for time-based content like blog entries — they have dates, categories, and tags. Pages are for evergreen content like About or Contact. See pages vs posts: what's the difference?.

Can I undo changes I've made?

Yes. By default, WordPress saves a revision history for every post. See undo mistakes with revisions to learn how to restore an earlier version.

How do I edit a post I already published?

Go to Posts → All Posts, hover over the post title, and click Edit. Make your changes, then click Save (the Publish button changes to Save after a post is already live; on WordPress 6.5 and earlier it says Update).

Related guides

• Working with blocks
• The most useful blocks, explained
• Adding images to a page or post
• Drafts, previews, and publishing
• How to schedule a post or page
• Using categories & tags
• My changes aren't showing up

Learn more

• Posts screen — official documentation
• Page/Post Settings sidebar — official documentation
• Block editor overview