I’ve had quite a few conversations this week with business owners confused about whether they need a blogsite, a website or a blog – or a combination of the two! And it can get pretty confusing – everyone you speak to has a different opinion, and here are my views.
By blogsite I mean a mixture of a website and blog. Sometimes that means a “stream of consciousness” mingle of web pages and posts; other times it might simply be a website with a blog integrated onto one page. The author will have one login and one “backend” to the system which makes it easier to manage, and of course, cheaper to create as you’re only designing and hosting one site rather than two. I have to say, I think that blogsites are rarely as effective as a seperate blog/ website combo.
I find them confusing and hard to navigate round at worst, challenging to engage with at best. Posts mingle with sales copy, and with just one link in the menu bar (usually entitled “blog” or “news”) it’s difficult (although not impossible) to dig back into the archives and really engage with the author.
By far and away the most sensible option is the website and separate blog combination. I really believe that websites should be neat, easy to navigate and focused on selling (not in an all out shouty way, but you’ve got to attract attention, create desire and ask for the order). Blogs on the other hand are all about positioning you as an expert, sharing knowledge and building relationships. Go too salesy on a blog and you’ll turn your reader off, fail to be salesy enough on your website and you’ll miss opportunities.
So the only sensible combination I can see is a website that sells and a blog that builds relationships. It’s rare that you can find a blogsite that mixes the two successfully.
Of course a blog and a website will cost you more (assuming you have them both professionally designed) than just a blogsite. After all, there are two sites to host, manage, design and construct. But they absolutely won’t take any more of your time to manage – why would they? You’ll have the same number of pages after all!
I have a website and a blog. And the two are so seamlessly linked (simply through a link in the navigation bar) that many clients thought that I had an integrated blogsite. But the clue is in the menu bar (as well as the completely different but complementary designs): click on the nav bar in my blog and you’ll be able to pull up all the posts on, say, branding. This makes my blog much easier to interact and engage with than a one page wonder within your website.
My vote will always be for the seperate (but linked via the navigation bar) website and blog. How about yours? What do you think?
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