When you first install WordPress, you’ll notice a default theme is already installed.
The twenty eleven default theme for WordPress displays posts on your home page.
If you want to use a static page on your home page, you’ll need to create another page for your posts.
This is what’s called a blog or posts page.
Blog Page Template
To create a blog page, simply create a new page and select the blog template from the Page Attributes module in the Edit Page screen.
The name of this template may be called something different depending on the theme you are using. The blog template shown in the image above, is available in many premium themes.
Earlier i mentioned the default theme as Twenty Eleven. The latest default theme which has recently been released is named Twenty Twelve.
Twenty Twelve Default Page Template
If you’re using the twenty twelve default theme included in a new installation of WordPress, select the Default Template as your blog page.
Next step is to publish this new page which will display your recent posts and any new posts you publish will be displayed at the beginning of this page.
If you’re wanting to use a static page as your homepage, you’ll need to configure the reading settings. Otherwise, you can simply create a custom menu link and add your new blog page link to your navigation menu.
Reading Settings
Next step is to navigate to Settings > Reading and select the new page you have created to be displayed as your Posts page.
From the Reading Settings page, you can also choose how many posts to be displayed on your new blog page.
You can also create a page for your homepage and select it from your reading settings as well.
Displaying Posts On Homepage & Blog Page
Some sites display a list post excerpts on the homepage as well as on a separate blog page.
This means they have 2 post pages.
If you do this, be sure to ‘no follow’ and ‘no index’ one of them so you don’t suffer from duplicate content issues.
Conclusion
Don’t forget that different themes offer different page templates.
The default page template included in premium themes isn’t the same as the default page template included in many free themes.
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