Website or blog?

Artist: Dave Walker

You asked and your web guru is here to provide the answer!

Question: I need an online presence for my business, but I’m not sure if I should do a website or a blog. What do you recommend?

This is one of the most common questions business owners ask when they are thinking about putting their business online.

First, let’s establish the difference between a website and a blog.

Blog:

• The term ‘blog’ is an abridgement of the term ‘weblog’
• A blog is a website where entries are displayed in reverse chronological order
• Common functions include: Provide news or commentary on a particular subject
• Can act as an online journal or diary
• Blogs typically combine text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic
• Readers leave comments and feedback
  

Notable blogs:
Entrepreneur Goddess
Huffington Post
Perez Hilton
Mogulette
John Chow

Note that there are over 112 million blogs in the world!

Website:

• A website generally includes a collection of images, videos, text, or other digital assets on the web
• Unlike a blog, the information on a website, generally speaking, is not constantly changing
  

Notable websites:
Target
General Electric
Writer’s Digest
NOW

Nobody is in charge of the world wide web, which makes determining the actual number even more difficult.

These days, businesses who already have websites are blogging and those with blogs are creating websites. I recently spoke with someone at a law firm who confirmed that lawyers are beginning to blog where she works. It is in their marketing plan to integrate these blogs into the company website.

These types of combined websites and blogs are becoming increasingly common among large corporations, shops, individuals, and small businesses. Combined “blogsites” offer customers, visitors, and readers the best of both worlds. It’s a great way to emotionally appeal, show your clients you really are an expert in your field, or simply relate to the general public.

Notable blogsites:
Erin Pavlina
New York Times (some writers have blogs)
Entrepreneur Magazine
CNet
Oprah
General Motors
Trump
Blog Maverick

While nearly every business should have a website, not everybody is made to blog. If clients are considering a blog or a blogsite, I ask a very simple question: Will you write and publish at least one article per week? If they say yes- it’s a go. But if they say no- I encourage them to stick with a website and add another page to post their articles.