When I switched to WordPress, I had a lot of decisions to make about my blog. Switching to WordPress was the perfect time for me to rethink my branding, blogging strategy and little details about my blog design. One thing I thought a lot about was truncating my blog posts. Eventually I decided that I wanted to do it and I am so glad that I made the decision to.
For those of you that already know you want to truncate your posts, I’m showing both Blogger and WordPress users how. For those of you that aren’t sure or aren’t convinced, I’m sharing a few reasons why I think truncating your posts is a great blog design choice and more effective way for your readers to navigate your blog.
Truncating your blog posts simply means not showing the entirety of a post on the main page of your blog. You’ll see the words “Read more…” or other similar language with a link directing you to the full post.
Truncating Blog Posts on WordPress
There are two main ways to do this. One is automatic and one is manually. Personally, I prefer the manual way, because you are able to control exactly where you add a read more button. This does take more work though because you have to add it for each post. Once you’ve been doing it for a little while though you definitely get used to adding the read more in and it doesn’t seem like an added task.
How to add a manual read more button on WordPress:
When you’re in your post editor, you’ll find the read more button within the style editor toolbar.
Adding the read more tag will add a dashed line to your post on the visual side of the editor.
On the text side of your post editor, you can add in?<!–more–> wherever you want the page break added.
This is my preferred way of adding in a read more link because I’m able to add in some consistency within my posts and control exactly what shows on my homepage. I usually do my introductory paragraph(s) and my hero/pinable image on the main page with the rest of the blog post hidden by the read more link.
How to add an automatic read more button on WordPress:
The easiest way to do this is by using a custom excerpt plugin. This will allow you to control how many characters or words you want shown on the homepage per post. This plugin (Advanced Excerpt) hasn’t yet been tested with the most current version of WordPress, however I have been using it on some of my design clients sites (since before the update) and it hasn’t caused any issues!
Here is a settings screenshot from the plugin homepage:
Truncating Blog Posts on Blogger
To manually add in a read more break in your blog post on Blogger, you can find the icon on your post edit toolbar (make sure you’re on the compose side of the editor).
This will add in a page break that is shown on the homepage of your blog.
If you’re interested in learning to automatically set up post truncating on Blogger, you can follow this tutorial.
There are a few reasons you may want to consider truncating your blog posts:
+Decreased bounce rate (read more on that here)
+Easier navigation on home page of blog
+Gives new visitors a chance to easily see multiple days of content (rather than viewing only one post at length)
+Decreases the chance of dead pins
When you show your entire blog post on the homepage, people may pin from your homepage, rather than the blog post itself. This results in broken pins that will decrease the likelihood of readers engaging with older posts
Truncating blog posts is definitely something most people are fairly opinionated about. I personally have grown so accustomed to having truncated blog posts that it bothers me when I try to read a blog that doesn’t have them. But I know some people are the exact opposite!
Sheryl @ How to Make a Life says
I’ve been considering this but haven’t taken the step. Thank you for the information. I will certainly be doing this.
Madison says
I hope you were able to add it in! I really love having the posts shortened on the homepage.
Nina B says
Like we talked about a few months ago (thanks again), as a blogger I know I should but as a reader it is a huge pet peeve.
Madison says
I have gotten so used to it now that it’s annoying to me when a blog doesn’t have it. Especially if I am not wanting to read the latest post and I’m looking for something further back. But to each her own, right? 🙂
Caroline @ In Due Time says
Very interesting!!! I never really liked visiting blogs that truncate because it always drives me crazy to have to hit the button to read more (lazy, I know). You make some good points though!
What is interesting is that I never knew you did this because when I visit it’s through bloglovin and it shows me the full page. I just went to your link directly and can see that they are truncated!
Madison says
I was thinking that actually that a lot of people read blogs through bloglovin so they come directly to the post! Everyone has a different opinion but I’m so used to having the read more that I don’t think I could go back!
Julie Hood says
i like that you explained why to do it–i had thought it was kinda annoying to have to click read more, but especially for the avoidance of dead pins…i might give it a try!
Madison says
That’s one of the most important reasons I’d consider it!
Teresa says
I actually saw you say something about this yesterday on The Peony Project but I had no idea how to do it. Thank you for the tutorial! I’ll be going through some posts later today to do this. Also, pinning!
Madison says
You’re welcome!! And thanks for pinning. 🙂
Daisy @ Simplicity Relished says
I totally think truncating blog posts on the home page is a good idea. That way people can see lots of recent posts and they can decide what they want to read!
Madison says
I totally agree! Especially with a lifestyle blog, not every post will appeal to every reader.
Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says
I started truncating my blog posts over a year ago. My site was being soooooo slow, and I was doing everything to try to speed it up. One of my blogging friends suggested I start truncating my posts instead of having several entire posts trying to load on the main page. It made such a difference! I’m sure it helps with my bounce rate, too. I know some people are super against the “read more” button, but it doesn’t really seem like a big deal to me to have to click on it.
Madison says
It doesn’t seem like a big deal to me either, I think I’ve just gotten used to it! Do you resize your photos? That may help too with speed!
Brita Long says
I come across pins ALL THE TIME that are just to a blog’s home page. It drives me crazy! So yes, that is why I wish all bloggers would truncate their blog posts… And why I wish more people pinned thoughtfully.
Madison says
Pinning thoughtfully is huge! It’s definitely frustrating having a dead link.
Rebecca Lindenbach says
Ooh I love this! I was wondering how to do this, since I really don’t like the way that wordpress automatically shortens them if you choose to only show snippets of posts. Thanks for the post!
Madison says
You’re welcome! Glad it helped:)
Rachel | Choosing Human says
I’m so glad you posted this Madison! I’ve been wanting to do this for awhile and had no idea what it was called. I finally found an html code just a week ago but I think I might just get the plugin. Thank you! =]
Madison says
Plugins make life so easy! Haha.
Gina Alyse says
You convinced me of doing this when we had the blog design workshop! I now love how truncating posts look! Thanks so much for sharing multiple ways to do it! 🙂
Madison says
I’m so glad you were able to switch to shortening your posts! 🙂
Elizabeth Maske says
SO helpful!!! thank you I just did that in all of like 10 seconds!
Madison says
Yay! I’m glad it was easy to follow!!
Birgit Putteman says
love love love your posts! I think I’ve printed half of them already ;). Thank you so much for all the tips! in case you were wondering, I found you through pinterest!
love from Belgium!
xoxo, B
Madison says
Thanks so much Birgit! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the posts:)
Sarah says
Love this post!! I am new to blogging and I did not know you could manually add a “Read More”. I have been turned off by some themes because it shows the entire post on the home page. I HATE that. I hate when I have to scroll through post after post after post trying to find what I want and I don’t want my readers to have to do so. I have a baking blog so some posts can get quite lengthy, as I’m sure you can imagine.
Leah | A Relaxed Gal says
I truncate my posts. The blog theme I use does it automatically. I also prefer truncated posts on the blogs I follow. It makes it easier to find content and it’s less overwhelming.
Madison Wetherill says
I agree! A lot of people find posts from Pinterest or Bloglovin and won’t see a truncated version of that post, but if you’re scrolling through a blog to see content, truncated posts are so much easier to follow along with!
Gina says
Hey Madison! This has been SO weird for me. I want to truncate my posts in Bloglovin’ and I have my blog posts set to “excerpts” AND I insert “read more” lines in my posts directly… then for some reason on my bloglovin’ app, it stills shows the full post.
I’ve been reading all the information on Bloglovin and how it hasn’t been best for traffic and now it just seems confusing. Any tips?
Sarah says
I was thinking about doing this after learning that Bloglovin’ steals traffic from your site. I was on the fence until reading your posts. All of your listed reasons make so much sense. Thanks for explaining the pros of truncating!
Charles Carter says
I have a closed website so I am using my blog to enable webcrawlers to read and index posts that pertain to non-private contents of my website. It looks like, however, they read only the truncated version and not the post itself in its entirety.
First: Is that a correct assumption:
Second: If so, how can I disable the truncate functionality?
Thank you.
Charles