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Reader Question: How Is a Blog Different From a Web Page?
By Michele Martin | November 12, 2007
In the first of our several part series responding to Reader Questions on blogging, I’m going to address a really basic, but really important question:
How is a blog different from a regular web page?
Before we do that, let’s start with how a blog is the SAME as a regular web page:
- You access both through a URL or “domain name,” such as www.blogging4community.com
- Both use hyperlinks to help you move within the site as well as to other locations on the Internet.
- You can include text, photos, audio and video on both kinds of sites.
So a blog is really a type of website that has special characteristics that make it different from a regular web page. I’ve discussed some of these characteristics in a previous post on Why Blogs Matter, but let’s review a couple of key points:
- Blogs consist of individual posts or articles, usually arranged in reverse chronological order with the most recent post at the top. Although you may also be able to access articles in other ways (such as by category), the main organizing principle for a blog is the calendar approach.
- Blogs are easier to create and maintain than a website. If you can write and send an email, you probably have the technical skills to use blogging software to create a blog. Websites, on the other hand, usually require the skills of a webmaster.
- A blog encourages two-way communication between the author and readers. Blogs are set up to allow for commenting so that as visitors read information on your site, they can click on a link to easily comment on individual articles. This is different from a regular website, which often doesn’t allow for any kind of feedback or if it does, the feedback is more general, such as through a “reader feedback form.” Blogs are designed to encourage discussion. Web sites are designed to share information.
- Blogs use a more informal, “personal” voice than websites. Because blogs were created to encourage conversations, you generally use a more informal tone in your blog posts than you would on a website. This informal approach allows you to develop a greater sense of community and connection with customers and others for whom you may be writing your blog.
- Blogs make you more “findable” on the web. When you blog, you will generally be linking to other blogs who will, in turn, link to you. This increases your online exposure–more ways for people to get to you. In addition, you will be publishing more frequently on a blog than you do on a website, which means more mentions of you online. Both of these result in higher search engine rankings.
- People can subscribe to a blog. Readers of your blog can use RSS to “subscribe” to be notified when you publish new articles. This makes it more likely that they will read your content because the information will come to them. They won’t have to remember to visit your site to get updated stories.
So that’s my long list of differences. But I think that Darren Rowse probably said it the best:
“A company has a website. That website talks to customers.
A person has a blog. That blog talks to people.”
And one more thing, in case you’re thinking that a company doesn’t need a blog–People buy from and are connected to people, not companies. So if you want to create connections to people, then you want to blog.
Topics: Reader Questions |