Blogs vs Websites

Researching online, I discovered that blogs are websites and both offer anyone, who's old enough to read and write, the ability to obtain an online presence; albeit, blogs and websites are unique in their own way.

Websites are sites consisting of static pages (content usually remains unchanged), where as blogs are  sites consisting of dynamic pages (content changes on a regular basis).  With that being said, how else do they vary and should you use one over the other?

Listed below are several ways in which blogs and websites differ.  Deciding on which one best suits your needs is a personal preference; however, in my opinion you can't go wrong creating a blog first, then, if necessary, build your website and here's why:

Depending on the type of business you have, creating a website from scratch can be costly and time consuming. Business websites need  to have a professional look and feel in order to attract customers, which is why most companies are willing to spend top dollar to secure an experienced web designer. If you're considering a low-key website, using free applications through sites like Microsoft Office Live or Google, can produce quality-looking websites.

Blogs are usually free and you can get them through your web host or directly from the Internet. Site building applications include WordPress, Blogger, and Weebly.  Some are easier to use than others; however, they all offer help links, directing you to their FAQs or help forums.

In both scenarios, free site applications have limitations in features, tools, and functionality; however, they offer the opportunity to upgrade, for a minimal fee, enabling you to unlock advanced options, which allows you to be more creative in your site's overall look. 

If you choose to use a free site application, for your website or blog, you should purchase a personal domain and have your free site redirected so that your personal domain's URL appears in the address bar and not the URL from the free site.

Websites can take months to create; however, with a blog, you can have it up and running in less than a day.

Since websites are static, search engines are less likely to index them as often, making it difficult to drive traffic to your site.

Search engines LOVE blogs because they're dynamic. Your site has a better opportunity to be indexed every time you publish a new post. Because of this, your site will show up in search results more frequently, which in turn brings more traffic to your blog, potentially improving your rank.

Websites can take weeks for search engines to find them, whereas posts through your blog can be found within days, if not hours.

Tagging a static website is limited because technically you're only supposed to use keywords that pertain to the content on a particular page. 

With a blog you're not only able to tag each page, but also each post. For every post, you'll have different keywords pertaining to the content on that post, allowing them to be indexed by search engines, resulting in increased online exposure.

Static pages are more difficult to monetize by means of adding links through affiliate programs. Because of a website's low visibility and lack of new content, you wouldn't generate enough traffic to your site to benefit from your affiliates.

Blogs have more visibility on the Internet and offer better opportunities in creating multiple income streams through affiliated programs and advertisements, such as Google AdSense.

Websites are based on the author or company's point of view.

Blogs provide a means to communicate, build relationships, and allows visitor feedback. Visitors can also share one or more posts from your blog with others using special social media applications like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and are offered through most, if not all site builders.

There are benefits to having a website AND a blog; however, if you're getting ready to make an online presence, I would suggest going with a blog first, then create your website.  Offering useful and accurate content on your blog at least 4-5 times a week will improve your site traffic and readership loyalty.

For those who are having difficulties with some of the free blog applications available, and having tried WordPress, Blogger, and Weebly myself, I would definitely suggest giving Weebly a try. It has to be the easiest drag and drop site builder I've used so far. It may not include all the "perks" from let's say WordPress, such as  setting time intervals to automatically publish drafted posts; however, Weebly is relatively new and are continuously improving their features. The reason I mention this is because for some individuals the lingo used (i.e. gadgets, widgets, CSS, tag, etc) may be foreign to them. You don't have those complexities using Weebly. You're still able to upload videos, music, documents, and images; however, some of these features are in the pro version, which is a mere $48 a year. For me, the ease in setting up a website/blog was well worth it. Over time, I've learned CSS code and have modified several of their free templates to fit my personal needs.

My site consists of a blog and several static pages. With Weebly, I can also add as many blog pages to my site as I choose; however, for my blog's purpose, only one is necessary. Feel free to check it out.