Well with WordPress for a blog platform it is kind of a given because it is designed that way, but I mean in building your own websites.  Includes files are simply a way to create one piece of content and use it on many pages.  For instance a header, a footer or a navigation menu.  The beauty of them is when you need to make changes on your site you can just change the includes file and that will make the change on every page that uses it.

From a site management and scalability stand point you just can’t afford to not use them.  Here is a great video on how to use includes files and why you would want to use them.  This is a big issue for new web marketers because the time to start using include files is when your site is brand new or very small.  If you wait until you have search engine positioning, 500 pages, etc you will have a huge mess on your hands.

So my advice is build all your sites with includes files from day one, years from now you will be very glad you did.

~ TechFan

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