Want to showcase your latest blog posts with a clean grid layout — without paying for Elementor Pro?
In this post, I share how I added a blog post grid to my homepage using Elementor Free and the The Posts Grid plugin. A simple, free WordPress solution that took minutes to implement and makes my content much more discoverable.
Watch the full walkthrough below, then read on for the deeper details, lessons learned, and my complete roadmap for future site improvements that didn’t fit in the YouTube description!
📅 Date Written: 2026‑02‑19
Greetings, friends!
Yesterday I decided to update my personal website — EricHepperle.com — which runs on Elementor Free. One thing I’ve noticed: my blog posts weren’t very visible on the homepage. You could reach them through direct links, but casual visitors had no quick way to explore my content.
So, I set out to fix that by adding a blog post grid — a section that displays a set of posts in a grid layout. After a bit of research, I found that the The Posts Grid plugin offered exactly what I needed: a free, simple, and fast solution.
Elementor Pro includes this feature natively, and there are also third‑party Elementor add‑on packs that do the same. Back when I was the sole designer/developer (a.k.a. the “one‑person web department”) at ElijahStreams.com, I worked with a number of them — building custom SASS, PHP functions, and ACF‑based layouts. Over time I learned where Elementor shines and where it starts to show its limits.
In short, Elementor is fantastic for quick page edits and layout building. Its limitations surface only when you push it toward more complex, query‑driven functionality — the kind of stuff you’d expect in a full‑scale web application or directory site.
Anyway, back to the test — The Posts Grid worked exactly as promised:
- 100% free (no key or signup)
- Activated instantly
- Rendered my posts in a 4×2 grid right at the top of my homepage
- Even included numeric pagination by default
🔮 Planned Future Updates:
- Fix the broken Instagram feed at the bottom
- Add a larger post grid to the blog page (12–16 posts with pagination)
- Disable pagination on the homepage grid and add a “View All Posts” button
- Improve readability between categories and tags
- Simplify categories (targeting 12 max)
- Add new taxonomies for better filtering
- Add category filters to the blog page
- Fix color contrast issues in the portfolio for accessibility
- Make portfolio items filterable
- Add a homepage CTA for Portfolio and Subscribe links
#progressNotPerfection #ProgressOverPerfection