How To Use The Read More Tag in WordPress

Jul

How To Use The Read More Tag in WordPress

Tips on using the “More” Tag – often referred to as the “Read More” tag – in your blog posts.

The More Tag is a great way to keep your blog looking fresh and crisp.

It’s important that your blog be as reader-friendly as possible. You want people to find the information they are looking for quickly. That means not overwhelming the reader by forcing them to scroll forever just to get to your next post. The purpose of the non-single-post pages (such as the main blog page, categories page, etc.) is to give the reader a quick overview of the posts so they can select which one(s) they want to read in full.

It usually looks something like this, though you will see it customized any number of different ways.

(Note, this is a graphic of what it looks like, not an actual link to read more.)

The More tag is used to provide an intro to your blog post on your primary blog page or archive pages. It’s a great tool because it allows you to display multiple posts on your blog page without forcing the reader into “scroll” mode.

You’ll find the icon/command for the More Tag on your editor.

(My editor window may look different than yours due to the WP Super Edit plug-in I use.)

To insert the More Tag, simply write your post, then place your cursor where you want the “excerpt” to end so people can click to read more, then click the icon pointed out above.

Keep in mind, you want the opening section of your blog post to be as exciting and enticing as possible so that people will, in fact, be motivated to read the rest of the post. In other words, write your post to lead into the More Tag.

If the phrase “Read More” just isn’t exciting enough, or you want to have a different word or phrase in a particular post, editing the More Tag is quite simple.

First, insert the More Tag following the instructions above.
Then, switch from “Visual” view to “HTML” view in your edit. (You’ll find these tabs at the top right of your editor area.)

Look for the code that looks like this:

Then change it using your custom text so it looks like this (inserting your own custom text where it says “Your custom text”):

This is the easiest way to change the More Tag on a per-post basis.

If you want to use a specific phrase on ALL your posts – meaning it will be a site-wide change – you can change the settings of the More Tag in your theme files.

You can also add images to the More Tag, or simply use an image for the whole thing.

Word of caution, though: Changing the More Tag on a site-wide basis can be a bit tricky because you may have to replace it in several places, and every theme is different. You may also be able to add a hook to your function.php file.

If you aren’t familiar with editing your theme files, your best bet is to have someone do this for you.

If you want to try it out yourself, contact the support forum for the theme you are using to learn exactly where you need to change it. You may also want to view the information in the WordPress Codex on the More Tag.

And, as always, make sure you make a copy of any and all theme files before you start modifying. Otherwise it can turn into quite the nasty mess. Crying