Most people who get stuck on their first WordPress post are not confused about what to write — they’re confused about the editor itself. Where does the content go? What do all the settings in the right sidebar actually do? And what needs to be done before clicking Publish?
The block editor is straightforward once you understand how it’s organised, but it’s not entirely obvious on first open. There’s a canvas in the middle, a sidebar on the right, and a toolbar at the top — and until you know what each part handles, setting up a post properly feels like guesswork.
This guide covers the full process from creating a new post to clicking Publish, in the order things should actually happen. No SEO theory — just the practical steps for getting a post live and set up correctly.
Quick Answer
Go to Posts → Add New, write your content using blocks, structure it with headings, add images, set a category, add a featured image, check the permalink, preview on mobile, then click Publish. Each of these steps has settings worth knowing — the guide below covers them in order.
Why Getting This Right Matters
A post that’s just content pasted into the editor and published will technically go live, but it’ll likely have problems: no featured image (so it looks blank in blog listings), the wrong category (or none at all), a messy permalink, and content that hasn’t been checked on mobile. These aren’t cosmetic issues — they affect how readers find and experience the post.
In most WordPress sites I work on, the difference between posts that perform well and those that don’t often comes down to how consistently the setup checklist is followed. This guide makes that checklist concrete.
How to Create and Publish a WordPress Blog Post
Step 1 — Open the post editor
From the WordPress dashboard, go to Posts → Add New Post. This opens the block editor. If you’ve started a draft previously, go to Posts → All Posts and click Edit next to the draft.
The editor opens in fullscreen mode by default. The canvas in the centre is where you write. The sidebar on the right shows post settings (categories, featured image, permalink) when no block is selected, and block settings when a block is active.
Step 2 — Add your title
Click Add title at the top of the canvas and type your post title. WordPress uses this as the H1 heading on the post page and generates the permalink from it automatically. Keep the title clear and descriptive — you’ll refine the permalink in a later step if needed.
Step 3 — Write your content using blocks
Click below the title to start writing. Each paragraph, heading, image, and list is a separate block. Press Enter to create a new paragraph block, or click the + icon to insert a different block type.
The most common blocks for a standard post are Paragraph, Heading, Image, and List. If you want a thorough walkthrough of how the editor works, the WordPress block editor guide covers the workspace, block types, and toolbar options in detail. The official WordPress block editor documentation is also a reliable reference.
Step 4 — Structure the post with headings
Use H2 headings for your main sections and H3 for sub-sections within them. Don’t go deeper than H3 in a standard post. Good heading structure makes the post easier to scan and helps search engines understand the content hierarchy.
Short paragraphs work better on screen than long blocks of text. Aim for three to five sentences per paragraph, and break up longer sections with headings and lists.
Step 5 — Add images
Click the + icon and select Image to insert an image block. Upload a new file or choose from the media library. After inserting, fill in the Alt text field in the right sidebar — this is important for accessibility and helps search engines understand what the image shows.
At least one image near the top of the post gives readers a visual anchor and makes the post look complete in blog listings. Larger images should be compressed and converted to WebP before uploading to keep load times reasonable.
Step 6 — Set the category
In the right sidebar under Post settings, find the Categories section and select the most relevant category. Every post needs a category — posts without one default to Uncategorised, which weakens site structure.
If you’re building out your taxonomy, organising WordPress categories and tags for SEO covers how to structure them in a way that helps both users and search engines.
Step 7 — Add a featured image
Still in the right sidebar, open the Featured image panel and click Set featured image. Upload or select an image. The featured image appears in blog listings, on social sharing previews, and at the top of many themes.
A consistent style across featured images makes the site look professionally maintained. For guidance on sizing and format, adding featured images in WordPress covers the practical setup in full.
Step 8 — Check the permalink and excerpt
In the Post settings panel at the top of the sidebar, click Permalink. Verify the URL slug is clean and readable. WordPress generates it from the title, but it sometimes includes stop words you’ll want to remove. Keep slugs short and keyword-focused.
Below that, check the Excerpt field and add a short summary if your theme uses it. The excerpt appears in archive pages and some social previews — write it as a one or two sentence description of what the post covers.
Step 9 — Preview on mobile
Before publishing, click Preview → Preview in new tab. Switch to the mobile view using your browser’s dev tools (or use the mobile preview option in the editor toolbar). Check that the layout holds, images scale correctly, and text is readable at small sizes. This is where most formatting problems are caught.
Step 10 — Publish
Click Publish in the top right corner, then confirm by clicking Publish again in the panel that appears. The post is now live. WordPress will show a link to view the published post — open it to do a final check in the browser.
Practical Tips
- Keep the sidebar visible. Many beginners close it early and miss the category and featured image fields entirely. Use the settings icon in the top toolbar to reopen it if it disappears.
- Save as draft frequently. WordPress auto-saves, but manually saving a draft before a major edit is a good habit. Use Save draft in the top toolbar.
- Build a consistent post template. Once you’ve set up your first post properly, the structure becomes repeatable. The heading hierarchy, image placement, and sidebar settings should be consistent across the site.
- Add internal links as you write. Linking to related posts while the content is fresh in your head is easier than going back later to add them. Two or three relevant links per post is a practical target.
Common Mistakes
- Publishing without a featured image. This leaves the post looking incomplete in blog listings and social shares. Always set one before clicking Publish.
- Leaving the category as Uncategorised. Every post should have a deliberate category. Uncategorised posts make site structure harder to manage as the content library grows.
- Writing content as one long block. The block editor is designed for structured content. Using headings, lists, and separate paragraph blocks makes the post easier to read and edit.
- Not previewing the mobile layout. Desktop view in the editor doesn’t always reflect how the post looks on a phone. Always check mobile before publishing.
- Ignoring the permalink. A slug like
/2026/04/27/how-to-do-the-thing-i-just-wrote-about/is a missed opportunity. Keep slugs short and descriptive.
When Posts vs Pages
This workflow is for standard blog posts — content that’s date-stamped, categorised, and included in your RSS feed. Use the same process for informational articles, how-to guides, and SEO content.
For landing pages, sales pages, or standalone content that isn’t part of the blog, use Pages instead. Pages aren’t categorised or date-ordered, and they sit outside the post feed — which makes them better suited to content with a permanent, navigational role on the site.
Conclusion
Publishing a WordPress post properly takes a few more steps than just writing content and clicking Publish — but once the process is routine, it takes only a few minutes. Set the category, add a featured image, check the permalink, preview on mobile, then go live. The step-by-step guides to building and running a WordPress website cover what comes next once publishing is part of your regular workflow.
Etienne Basson works with website systems, SEO-driven site architecture, and technical implementation. He writes practical guides on building, structuring, and optimizing websites for long-term growth.