Is a Blog a website, a friend of mine asked me, as he is what I call “Tech-Challenged” and had heard this term often on the news… So I tried to explain to him- they are similar things that are found online in the Internet, but like Fruit- an apple is different then an orange but are both classified as “Fruit”…
Basic history of the Word “Blog” started with Jorn Barger in 1997 as “Weblog”, then the short form “Blog” started gaining Popularity by Peter Merholz through his joking about how they keep a “Blog” in the sidebar of Peterme.com in 1999… Then “To Blog”, meaning, “edit one’s Weblog” or “Post to one’s Weblog” I really started out as an online diary or journal… It is not a “website, it started out as part of a website…
I have been noticing allot of people advertising that they will create a website for your business, when they really are designing a “Blog” in Blogger or WordPress… But for a business, unless you’re a writer, will probably not work well, unless you really spend allot of time promoting it… First, your Blog isn’t found in normal Google searches in a local search for your service or product… But in a Google Blog search, it will come up with all the others in your “Interest” field, but more so in topic form and latest blog entry… So if you’re a gardener say in Ithaca NY, and you blog about growing Veggies and selling them, someone looking in Google search for a local Veggie grower might not find your blog…
It’s all a part of advertising and marketing online. Get a website and spend some time on it, try to answer any possible question about your business or service with photos and good design. Then add a blog and write about your service/s or product/s, then add the use of Social networking engage and inform your clients and possible clients of what you offer…
Blogs are really an online Journal, a Diary or “Content Manager” that can have text, info and photos in it, but it’s Not a Website… It can be considered a webpage, but that is like saying anything online can be considered a “WebPage, including chat, video and such as examples… Think of a Blog as a way to “Self Publish” your text articles, like newspapers of e-zine’s liken to a magazine of your interests, thought, services or product information… They offer a way to communicate to and from the business and viewer. One can highlight your work in another article, or link to a website, (Free advertising- liken to “Word of Mouth” advertising)… But a BLOG IS NOT A “WEBSITE”… The word “Website” is more like saying Fruit- but apples and oranges are very different, and where does Banana, Kiwi fall or a Tomato?
Picture a Racecar, the engine and body of it offers speed and power to go fast, but without tires, it’s not going to go anywhere… Social Media, Web 2.0 and Blogs are your tires, and the website is your engine and body. It is how you truly steer it and maintain it that makes it go fast…
For Business, I recommend thinking of your Website as a race car, it can give information about your services, but USE Blogs to engage and Inform your clients and those interested in your subject or service, and Social Networking for making the web more social and informative to your possible client. But when you add all of them together, it falls truly under “Advertising”… And the Web offers a very cost effective way to make advertising for your possible clients now, adding Bogs, newsletter, e-mail and mobile communications…
And like a garden, it is the way you take care of it, that produces beautiful flowers and veggies, or otherwise it turns to weeds without work…
Filed under: Web Design, Business & Advertising | Tagged: Advertising, Blog, small business, website |
Charles Taggart's Blog 
I’m Tech-Challenged as well. Your explanation makes things clearer but I still don’t grasp how sites like dlisted.com function. It has the look of a blog but seems to function like a website. Are there services selling domains and then using a blog on top of the website somehow?
I was referring to some people in Twitter advertising “Creating a website” when they really are just making a WordPress or Blogger page for the client that they will be able to upload content to easily without use of a web designer- which create automatic “Template pages”, often for just $20+, and using clip art to stylize it…
The site your pointing out dlisted.com , is a “Blog” hosted in choopa.com but was done using drupal.org- an open source program, which is basically Blogging software. Often Blogging software uses PHP and needs a domain host that allows the use of PHP on their servers to use PHP programs… Normal websites often don’t need PHP, as they use the standard HTML or others types of web script to create the site…
He uses advertising through Blog advertising sites, and even though you could find his name through a Google search, using “Michael K” for the search, you would be hard pressed to find it through a subject search, or local search, since he doesn’t have a true “Opening Page” describing the content or subject matter of the site… Basically this is a Blog site…
What I was trying to describe in my Blog is probably something I will be writing more about soon, SEO or Search engine optimization. A website using an opening page that includes a 25 word description for the content of the site is what Search Engines truly look for their listings. You can read more about the SEO description @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
A Blog often has just the latest article at the top of the page for search engine crawlers to read… These are best used for the article search content, which is why Google created its Google Blog Search BETA. To get the most of pointing viewers to your site, one should have as many ways for people to “Find your site”. Using Web 2.0 services allow for more links going to your Website, through say a Blog, YouTube, Flicker and so forth… These social sites often have viewers who just look through the latest photos or images posted, or content searches within the site. Adding your main site link to these services will also help to bring more people to your Main site… Using Social Networking, such as FaceBook or Twitter can give a “personable” connection for followers to go to your site or Blog…
Allot really depends on what you truly want your site to do. If selling T-shirts and brand name memorabilia is your goal, creating a Website Index page that gives a description of the site’s content, and links to your images or services would be better then just having a Blog to do all of this… Will be giving allot of examples of this in a future Blog entry I have been working on…
Sounds good – I’ll stay tuned
Thank you for this entry. I am glad I found the blog. I will sure visit more often. What spam protection do you use? I get tons of spam in my blog which sucks.
THank you Elenore, glad to hear you enjoyed the this blog, will be putting up some other “Web subjects soon”, after I get up a few that help support some more on job creation through my cafe idea…
As for Spam, for now, I am using the spam protection within WordPress, it seems to do a good job…
Hi Charles! Thanks for this once again. I am going to put it on my Facebook page too. I have my reasons! (GRIN)
Debbie
ok, sounds good to me… let me know if you want any of the other Blogs or help…