If you’re hitting the webosphere for the first time, you may wonder what’s more important -- a website or a blog? Good question.
First off, a blog is a type of website. Blog is short for “weblog”. The difference between a standard website and a blog is the way content is managed. A standard website is (generally speaking) managed through page updates via FTP, whereas a blog is updated by logging into the web browser, making updates and pushing SAVE. There are other differences between a website and a blog, but content management is the main.
A blog is much easier, you say, why shouldn’t I just start there. Well just hold your horses for a minute and I’ll tell you. There are several questions to think about before diving headfirst into the blogosphere, namely...Who are you?, What do you have to say? and Do you have time to say it?
Who are you
Blogging has been held up as the best thing since sliced bread by any number of business and marketing experts. After all, it’s inexpensive, it’s fast and it’s easy. While I agree with all of those attributes, I also believe that blogging requires planning so you don't sound like less than you are. In other words you need to know who you are before you stand on the street corner and begin to shout willy nilly. Knowing who you are is the first step in building a valuable blog. Knowing who you are is the first step to connecting with your target audience. And knowing who are are leads to your authentic voice which is one of the biggest attractions of blogging. People want to do business with people they know, and blogging allows you to be known by your true voice.
What do you have to say?
Secondly, you need to have something to say. Some people blog about their personal lives. Some blog about the ecosphere and global warming. Some blog about marketing principles and best practices. My point is, your blog should tie in to an element of your business and it should elevate you as an expert in your chosen field.
While I’m not advocating a complete pigeonhole (you can create categories), you should have a general sense of what main topic you are going to address. This helps you list your blog and develop keywords as well as attract readers.
Do you have time to say it?
Finally, you may have something to say, but do you have time to say it? A December 2005 blog entry by Anthony Lawrence http://aplawrence.com/foo-web/blogosphere.html says, “At Sifry's Alerts, http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000343.html David Sifry reports that Technorati now tracks almost 20 million blogs, and that there are approximately 70,000 added every day. He doesn't mention how many disappear. David does say that 55% of blogs are still posting three months later, which means 45% are not, which is a pretty high attrition rate.”
I agree. Blogging takes time. I’m not saying this to discourage you from jumping on the blogwagaon, however, in order to gain any benefit from blogging you need to post relevant and compelling content on a regular basis so that you can attract an audience of readers.
These are just some basic thoughts about blogging vs. websites. Next up will be basics of websites for independent professionals.
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