Question: How is a blog different from a website?

Answer:

A blog is a website but a website isn’t necessarily a blog.

Blogs originated as personal timelines with bloggers telling the world what they got up to on a day by day basis. Blog is actually derived from the term “web log”.  So we were treated to insights such as how Johnny’s latest science experiment on his guinea pig had gone and why Samantha was feeling a little bit low that morning because, well, just because she was. Timeless classics.

Thankfully for small businesses, things have stepped up a pace and small business blogging is now a serious marketing tool and here to stay.

So what’s the difference between a website and a blog?

-  Blogs are structured as a series of posts and pages. Posts are typically bite size articles relating to the blog’s main theme and often relate to current events. They are normally time/ date stamped and are shown in reverse order, ie most current first. Pages tend to be more static in nature and provide information of a more timeless nature.

For example, on smallbusinessvoodoo.com I wrote a piece a few days ago called “New EIB Loans Available For Small Businesses – Well….Probably ” relating to a small business funding announcement by our dear Chancellor Alistair Darling a few days earlier. Conversely I have a series of Pages under the banner “Ten Pillars Of Small Business Planning” which provides a planning process for small businesses which is relevant now and into the future.

- If you use any of the common blogging platforms to build your blog (ie Wordpress.com, Wordpress.org, Blogger.com etc) you will tend to see a much quicker response from the search engines. They are always hunting fresh content and, by their nature, that’s what blogs are all about. It’s a very happy marriage.

- Blogs allow feedback from their readers which are published below the original article. This is one of the most powerful features of a blog – instant feedback. Take a look at “What Has Creating Blogs Got to Do With My Business?” to help understand how powerful this can be.

In actual fact, it’s often the comments that make for interesting reading, not the original article. (Try not to take this personally though…) The debate that’s stimulated is great for your site popularity and brings more of that lovely fresh content which the search engines adore, without you lifting a finger.

- If you ask six people “how is a blog different from a website” and in particular what is the most important difference, you will get six different answers. In my view, the biggest difference between blog and website is not the physical make up but in the mindset. Websites are static and impersonal, blogs are dynamic and personal. This is why small business blogging is taking off. If you want to sum it up in one line….

Organisations have websites, people have blogs.

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