Blogs or Websites or Both - Oh MY!

Blog or website -- what do YOU need? Good question, and one that I hear more and more often. The simple answer is: it depends. Before you scream, I promise -- I'll explain.

First, of all, a blog is actually a website -- it's a dynamic website. Dynamic because it's meant to be constantly changing. The word blog is a shortened version of "web log." Blogs consist of "journal entries" that show your most recent entry at the top of the list. And until recently, the difference in appearance between regular websites and blogs was that the front page on a website was primarily content, visuals, and links, while the front page of a blog was at least one "journal entry" with links to earlier entries.

So, a few years ago, the choice was easy: do you want an online journal or do you want a content-rich, well designed website? NOW, however...the distinction is no longer so black and white.

Newer blog designs include so many options that it's possible to create a blog that is indistinguishable from many websites. You no longer have to post the entries on the front page, for one thing. You can use the same type of graphics and colors that you might want on a website (and you can add a blog to your website with almost no way to tell between the two - I'll talk about that below). What's even better about blogs: you can add audio, video, and written text quite easily, without needing expensive or hard-to-learn website design software!

Another big blog plus is their built-in SEO features. That's Search Engine Optimization, for the record - and it's all about showing up when someone is searching for you online. We'll save further  details for another entry, but it's an important consideration unless you just want your online presence to act like a brochure that people see only when you send them there. Blogs are very good at being discovered by the search engines, and that's a very good thing indeed.

So, knowing all this, why would you ever want to have a website? Websites still have more available features, but blogs are quickly catching up. I suspect that at some point, we'll end up with the best of both worlds.

As I promised earlier, what about websites PLUS blogs? One successful artist client of mine has a website that serves as her art showcase and her online store.  There's absolutely no sense in replacing her website investment with a blog. So she has created a blog that links to her website and her website links to her blog. Her blog is a well-thought-out part of her website plan. She updates it with new entries, because she already has her static content on her existing website. And she benefits by the search engine optimization included in the blog.

Here's my overall take on it for now:  If you have an existing website, and especially if you have special features such as an online store, keep your website. But if you are starting over or starting from scratch, consider a blog. As of this writing, online selling is becoming more common on blogs, and even some of the website tools have become available. One of my favorites features for new entrepreneurs is Constant Contact (the email management and newsletter system), and even though you might need some help adding their contact form to your blog, it can be done! There are so many new "widgets" (blog features) being created every day that they may even outdistance websites soon.

So, maybe you could use a blog. But remember, it depends. Each situation is just a bit different, so if there's any doubt, ask an expert. 

A Postscript: There has been recent talk about blogs becoming obsolete for the under-thirty demographic, but most online businesses can't replace their entire Internet presence with twitter and FaceBook. My best guess is that blogs will be even more popular as they continue to evolve as lower cost, easy-to-update, dynamic...well, websites.