Forum Moderators: open
Out of the following two examples, which one would you chose for a "hobby" site that reviews widgets and gives advice on how to build your own widgets etc.
The site will be updated 1x per week with a new widget-related article:
1. Write 2 posts and keep them static on the front page. First (top) post deals with the main theme of the site. Second post gives a short writeup, then links to all articles written. Everytime a new article is written it will not appear on the front page and will have to be manually added (linked to) by the second post.
This keeps the main theme of the site in full frontal view for everyone who visits. Easy navigation IMO.
or
2. Keep navigation (that was in 2nd post in 1st example) relegated to the sidebar and then just update the site willy-nilly with a new post every month, and on the front page show the last 5 posts (visible).
Does it really matter with regards to keyword rankings and SEO which of the two above formats you use?
I don't think I'd do either of these. I would create a custom front page or at least a sticky post at the top of the front page, and then put in a recent posts sidebar block on the front page.
My opinion, for whatever it's worth, is that unless people in that domain really like to keep up on the latest widgets, the vast majority of people will arrive at the site via search and will have little interest in his front page or his RSS feed.
Example: I'm interested in digital photography, but I have zero interest in subscribing to the RSS feed of a site that reviews cameras, lenses and gadgets. Unless I'm currently in the market, why would I? And if I am in the market for a new gadget, I'll be searching on specific models and arrive at interior pages that way.
So that means that what really counts is
1. Getting people from the landing page to the other content they might want (or the merchant site if that's applicable). So that means a "related posts" plugin.
2. As a fallback, if they like the site but don't find what they want and then navigate to the front page, give them anything *except* a front page organized in reverse chronological order x 2 (your option #2). So that means a "featured posts" box.
Ideally, he should work on a couple of killer pillar articles (i.e. a buyer's guide or a technology overview or whatever) and feature the "best of" in a prominent box on the front page.
I always think that in most cases the "most recent" post box on the front page is primarily for making sure that every page has a link on the front page long enough for the SEs to crawl that page. It's rarely very useful for visitors unless the site truly is a blog that people want to follow and they don't know what RSS is (which is still most people, sadly).
That said, it is the easiest way to run WP since it's pretty much the default.
BTW, you might look for a WP sitemap plugin. At least that way the navigation would be arranged by category, which would make it more useful to visitors.
