One of the big online questions when you’re starting your business is Blog vs Website.

You know you want one or the other, but which one will provide the best opportunities for your business? The answer isn’t cut and dried, unfortunately, but blogs and websites have different characteristics that might help you make your choice.

Websites

A website is primarily a static sort of thing. The content in it is intended to be timeless, a reference for whatever topic the site covers. Websites are great for information that doesn’t change often, and isn’t time based.

If you have an existing business, and you want to give that business an online presence, a website is almost always the best option. You can provide information about your business’ products, services, and policies, and be done with it. You never have to update the website again unless the information changes.

Blogs

Blogs are very time sensitive. The information provided on a blog might still be relevant in two years, or it might be hopelessly out of date.

The key element of a blog is that it must be updated regularly. Readers expect blogs to be updated…that’s the purpose of a blog, after all, to be a sort of online diary. By starting a blog, you’re committing yourself to posting on a regular basis in order to attract and keep your readers.

Consider whether you have enough to say to maintain a blog. If you’re just putting a local business online, then a blog probably doesn’t make sense. If all you want to do is post weekly specials, just change the website each week. Blog posts should be unique and individual.

On the other hand, if you’re starting an online business that revolves around creating content (for example, you’re an expert in knitting and plan on creating a website about knitting), you probably do have enough to say about the subject to maintain a blog.

The advantage of a blog is that the amount of up front work you do is limited. You pick a topic and start writing about it. With websites, you need to design the entire site and create content for it all before it’s very usable. With a blog, you write one post and then another, and another, filling it with content over time.

Blog vs Website - The Choice Is Yours

Ultimately you have to decide which is right for you. If you choose blog, I recommend trying to write a few articles each week to see if you can maintain the constant creation of content before you actually start the blog (and have money invested in web hosting).

When you get ready to start your blog or website, take a look at our post on Free Web Hosting versus Paid Web Hosting for help with that decision.

Tags: blog vs website

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