Blog versus Website: What are the Differences?

Practically, a website and a blog are almost similar. I mean, they are both hosted on the World Wide Web and are also good sources of information. But that is as far as facial value goes.

Technically, websites and blogs have quite recognizable differences and people need to identify and easily distinguish them, especially if they are planning to incorporate the two in their businesses.

For one, websites are not optional when it comes to modern day business development. However, having a blog will depend on the level of “intimacy” you wish to have with your customers –it is irresistible and quite frankly a great source of feedback for your business.

It’s good to understand that you cannot differentiate these two in terms of convenience; as a way of choosing one over the other. The functionalities of both are in such a way that one can’t be overlooked in favor of the other.

The differences are far between and still closely linked in terms of the history and how they present information to the readers or customers.

So what do you need to know about the differences between the blog and website?

 These are the main differences between a website and blog, more specifically, on the presentation of content and the general overview. 

·        A website content is static, but the content on the blog is regularly updated

·        The blog is informal in its content, presentation while the website is entirely formal.

·        The website offers information through one-way communication, meaning that interactivity is not allowed while the blog survives on interactivity.

·        The website is created for transaction activity, but the blog is meant to be educational and informative.

·        A website will be involved in communicating about the products or services being offered by a business, on the other hand the blog handles the customer’s activity and the issues concerning the industry.

·        Even though it can’t be described as a technical difference; most businesses have websites (in fact, it is a requirement for most businesses) but the same cannot be said about blogs and most businesses.

What you need to know about a website

The simplest definition of a website is that it is a virtual store that is involved in selling products and services. As stated earlier, most businesses have websites; it would be suicidal for a business to operate without one.

I would like you to think of it as an extension of the brick and mortar store that you have or it can also be the main store for most online based businesses –and they are many. The paradigm shift isn’t a new concept, but a process that has led to the full adaptation of the working within the online marketplace because of the ease of transactions and the simplicity of doing business online.

In most cases, the websites are involved in buying and selling and promotional activities. Therefore, due to the dependence of the online marketplace by most individuals, it is highly likely that they will go to a search engine to find a website that will either have the products they are looking for or it will lead them to a brick and mortar store with the goods or services they actually need.

The question of having both a physical store and an online one will depend on the business interests and what a business is expected to gain. Some businesses choose to limit their websites for promotional activities only.

 One of the major differences that limit the website functionality is the inability to build relationships due to the fact that its content is static. Once a person buys a product from your website, there is likelihood they will not visit the store once again.

The website lacks interactivity which means there is no building of relationships. Its function is mainly based on ensuring that clients acquire the right information on making purchases including actual transactions.

What do you need to know about blogs?

Obviously, from the above discussions, the blog builds on the essence of interactivity. For one, a blog needs to be regularly updated with informative and interesting blog posts. These blog posts are the basis of the discussion between the business and the customers.

It is this reason that blog posts have a space left for comments at the tail end of the post. In the same case the customers can ask questions, make suggestions and generally interact with the business providing much needed feedback.

The idea in a business, having a blog is to improve its rating among the customer (both existing and potential customers). In fact, with a regular update on the blog posts the business will be regarded highly by the clients in terms of content provision.

With that said, it is good to note that a blog is better at building and strengthening relationship with the customers. However, in the same case, it does not mean that all the people who interact with you on the blog will necessarily become your customers.

They are those individuals who need a trusted source of information on the online marketplace but are not really out to purchase anything from you. But if you look on the bright side, if they come to your blog, that means you are doing a good job. To the existing customers, you tend to build more trust on a personal level since they can interact with you on a certain degree of “intimacy”.

In order for a blog to be effective in its functions the content needs to be updated at least once or twice weekly. In addition the content needs to be fresh, engaging and original. Blogs thrive on content since it is the magnet that attracts readers to your blog.

As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t try to sell anything on a blog; you will fail miserably and you might even lose your readership. That is a function best left for the website.

Can you have it both ways? With a blog and website

The answer is yes. You can be able to have both a website and a blog on the same platform. One of the advantages of having the two on the same platform is the ability to kill two birds with one stone.

In essence, the two are important elements of online exposure and as I stated earlier, one cannot be overlooked in expense of the other. Their functionalities have a broad presence in delivering relevant content to the customers that is beneficial to the business in the long run.

How can you achieve this? The idea is creating a website with wordpress. This software will allow you to have the static web pages and also the blog pages on the same platform.

The advantages of having it both ways

·        When both a website and blog are designed on the same platform they tend to create a homogeneous look that is easily identifiable with the customers.

·        One other important aspect of attracting traffic is through search engine optimization and you can imagine how easy it would be when optimizing both your blog and website at the same time; the work is less and twice as effective.

·        When you have the two in the same place it becomes easier to create a formidable web presence.

·        It also helps to cut down on the amount of work, especially when it comes to the maintenance and management of content since the entire web features are based on the content management systems(CMS).

·        The sharing of add-on plugins is more efficient between the posts and web pages.

Final Conclusion:

In a nutshell, there are significant differences between a website and a blog. The presentation of content on each is different and as such the purposes are also different.

However, both websites and blogs play crucial roles in building and maintaining online presence and exposure. Therefore, they need to be incorporated into the creation of reputable business development, whether for the online based store or brick and mortar store.

Ideally, a business that offers the transaction aspect through the website and interactive opportunities through the blog tend to maintain a long lasting relationship that is built on trust and integrity while delivering efficiency in the long run.

This is very true when it comes to the businesses that are online based. When the two are incorporated in the business they tend to work perfectly together, with loads of benefits that a business actually needs in its day to day operations.

It is also good to note that the search engines tend to love the weblogs, which is a combination of a website and a blog due to the fact that they are being regularly updated and their emphasis on providing relevant content.

But you need to ensure that the blog is consistently updated while at the same time ensuring that it is optimized alongside your website. Furthermore, the blog needs to be properly managed in terms of providing responses to the clients. Finally, we can say,the major difference between the two types, blog and a static website is about the content refreshment. The major content of website remains the same. Though the webmaster could add additional pages to the website to increase the content, but the order by which the information is presented could not be later changed.

Of course, you need to familiarize yourself with the blogging tools that are responsible for the maintenance of the blog posts.