Copyright 2011 Theresa Harvard Johnson
For definitions sake (and my observations over the years), we can look at websites and blogs from this very “simple” perspective:
A Blog is an online journal that, in its infancy, served as a “diary or journal” to voice one’s opinion, ideas, feelings, perspectives, advice, services, etc. on any subject you could imagine while providing an outlet for immediate, constant and active interaction with people in the growing world of Internet socialization. Best of all, these blogs could be syndicated or delivered by varying streams and varying formats across the web with increasing “social” technology like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
In truth, the primary focus of a blog is to INTERACT or to actively engage people. This means that the content must be constantly updated, and relationship building and blogging success depends greatly on a writers “connection” to those people interested in the subject matter they discuss.
A website is more like an online business card, a portofolio of services, a catalog, an electronic press kit, etc. The idea here is not necessarily to TALK TO THE PEOPLE, but to have the people LOCATE INFO ABOUT YOU and learn more about you, your services or products. While the content on a traditional website does change as often as the content on a blog, it does need to be updated.
The divide TODAY, however, between websites and blogs is closing. We are getting to a point where there is VERY LITTLE DIFFERENCE between the two. By this, I simply mean that a blog can now do EVERYTHING a website can do (for less money) and then keep the functionality of the blog. A website can now have the addition of all the blog features added to it!
The bottom line is this: “What is it that YOU need?”
Blogs are free for the most part, but there are some advanced customization and services that you can get with them that cost. You can also have your own “specific” domain name associated with your blog as well. Another thing about blogs, however, is that your content is generally organized by “entry” or “date.” So to be relevant, you will need to regularly enter journal entries.
Websites are clearly more complicated. While there are free services, a good website will probably be one that needs to be designed professionally to meet your needs. This includes consulting with someone to see what it is that you really need. It is EASY to be ripped off and taken advantage of in this area, so I strongly encourage you to do your homework. Choosing a website is like buying a house! No joke!
You need an honest agent! The right financing options! And a commitment to make a long term investment in keeping your information maintained. In addition, traditional coding like HTML is really a thing of the past. This requires more advanced web-writing capabilities and will cost you for that designers skills and talents.
Trends show that many authors and writers are opting for blogs. Why? They can do everything a website can do, PLUS you can have an online store, get immediate customer feedback, syndicate your content and more!
Trends show that more and more ORGANIZATIONS AND BUSINESSES – especially maturing ones — are opting for websites because they do not have the time or resources for day to day blogging or the type of interaction required to maintain a healthy blog site.{jcomments on}
