Creating a blog or a website: differences
Without being computer experts or experienced web users, we hear these words very often. If you are already following people on websites to read topics that you enjoy, or if you have already consulted one to find a service provider or to shop online, you have inevitably already gone on a blog or a website.
Often the difference between the blog and the website is not very clear. In fact, what really differentiates a blog from a website?
The blog
A blog is a “personal website maintained by one or more bloggers who express themselves freely and in a certain periodicity in the form of posts or articles, informative or intimate, dated, like a logbook, signed and sorted in reverse chronological order. It is sometimes enriched with hyperlinks, images or sound, and can be the subject of comments left by readers,” Quebec Office of the French language – 2013 (translated from French).
Regular publications
The specificity of a blog is about creating articles on a regular basis, which are most often open to readers’ comments (some blogs do not accept comments). It is a tool of exchange to establish a relationship with readers and, why not, a certain authority in a specific field.
For most of us, a blog has long been synonymous with a kind of virtual diary. But blogs have evolved significantly in recent years; there are now on the Internet, blogs with all sorts of topics: satirical pages, travel diary, recipes, politics, crafts, collections, technology, media, fashion, etc. Some blogs have become key references. For example, a blog has become a reference in case of an air incident as described in this article from the French newspaper Le Parisien.
Anyone can create a blog, it’s simple and easy, open to all and some websites offer pre-designed templates that you can customize (Blogger, WordPress…).
For Professionals
For businesses, a blog, thanks to its dynamic content and regular updates, is an ideal communication tool to animate a community and develop its reputation. Compared to a website, the tone and shape are more personal there, it is often interactive (comments from readers) and can be connected to social media for wider dissemination.
Google loves blogs as articles become new content, and interactions from users update them frequently. If your content is relevant and of high-quality, your blog will go up in the top search results of Google, giving you more visibility, and to a company more potential customers, not to mention the reputation that you could gain from it. However, certain rules apply to seduce Google (respect of SEO standards).
Some tips on SEO content and also on SEO strategy.
Advantages and disadvantages
As we have seen, the benefits of a blog are its simplicity, its interactions with the public and a boost to your SEO drawbacks lie in the difficulty of always staying relevant and original to retain readers, produce quality content, to ensure the regularity of publications and to be vigilant about the content of your blog because you are responsible of it (article content and reader comments). Besides, for the latter, the establishment of a moderation system is highly recommended.
Website
This is a classic and commercial solution for the promotion of products or services with a more formal tone and shape. There is little interactivity and updates are infrequent (except to add new items in online shopping sites) .The websites are recommended for the sale and promotion of goods and services, but also for the distribution of certain creations (artistic, architects, illustrators …).
Advantages and disadvantages
The main advantage of a website is the fact that it is a time saver. Once your website is created, the update will take you less time, even if it is recommended to make regular updates in order to keep a good ranking on Google.
The main disadvantages are the complexity of the creative process and the fact that your website has to be updated frequently for your SEO.
New trend: website and blog. The optimal solution?
With the different CMS (WordPress …) it is now possible to have a website and a blog on the same medium, thereby facilitating their management. You can now integrate your blog to your website for maximum visibility.
In other words, the difference between a blog and a website is that your website is your “window” because it contains the information about the goods or services you offer, and your blog allows you to broadcast information about your industry, or related, and thus attract the attention of readers on your website.
You still have questions? We will be happy to answer them! Do not hesitate to contact us by filling out a form or call us at 514 572 7758 and ask Maxence who can guide you in your choices.