Should I Use A Blog Instead of a Website?

I had an interesting question come up the other day from a client who noticed a lot of folks have been using blogs instead of full-blown websites. Is this a good idea? Well, I would say that a blog would work for those with a very strict budget and who already have an audience. However, for people who really want to brand themselves and get their sites found in the search engines, I would say its not a good idea. Here's why:

1. You're very limited as far as design with a blog. You get a title on top and a few columns to work with. Each entry looks like a diary or journal post. I think a lot of people are pretty savvy know what blogs are and can differentiate when they see a blog versus a website because of this layout restriction. If they are looking at your blog and see you don't have an actual site listed, they might think you're not spending enough your marketing and you run your business a little too frugally. Not a good message to send out. Blogs and websites work together to support one another. I would say your site is the mainland and your blog is an island unto itself with a more personal message.


2. You can't control optimization in the search engines as well as you can with a website. You can't really build meta tags that work to get you to the top of the engines. Also, there is a lot of garbage content the spiders can pick up if you don't know what you're doing with SEO. Spiders are becoming much more savvy in who they list and can tell if you have a blog or a site. I don't see too many blogs in the top 10 on those engines these days. I doubt that will change.


3. The public expects to see a web site for your company and will get the wrong impression about your company if they see a blog instead of an actual site. See point 1.

The bottom line is that blogs can serve a purpose to help you brand your company and support your message. If you already have an audience who knows your company, that can be a very inexpensive way to market your site. However, if you're trying to grow your audience and build your company's exposure, a blog isn't going to be the place to do it. I do encourage all of you who have sites to start a blog to support your site and message this year in 2007. Its a different way to send your message out there and your posts can get picked up in the search engines and bring traffic. But I guarantee anyone who comes to your blog will immediately look for a web site link on the home page. If they don't see one, your message might not hold as much weight.