When most beginners start thinking about building their online presence, they don’t necessarily know the difference between a blog and a website.
This may confuse them in the short run, which ends up wasting some precious time. That is why in this post, you are going to discover what a blog is and what a website is, including some examples.
You’ll understand the difference between the two, which can help you decide on which one to go with.
Let’s get started.
What Is A Blog?
A blog is simply a site where you can add posts, and the new posts will appear on top of the older post(s), and so on. The post could contain anything from an image to video or text.
Usually, the post has a headline that shows the people what the post is about, and then they write and use images or videos to discuss the topic.
It is usually educational in nature, and the topics may vary from news to entertainment, etc.
A blog can be used in many ways for many purposes. You can use it to:
- Earn revenue from advertising & affiliate marketing.
- Build a brand, grow an audience, and then selling products.
- Grow your business by using blog posts to increase awareness about your company and showcase how they can benefit from it.
- Share updates about you, your company, or your SaaS program.
- Just for fame or to help others.
- As a journal to log info about your day that can be viewed by other people whom you don’t mind reading your blog
Here are a few examples of blogs:
- Road To Blogging: You are actually on this blog right now. And you are reading this blog post.
- TechCrunch: The popular tech news blog. Every new piece of news is added to a blog post and then published to appear on the site.
- Pinch Of Yum: A popular blog that shares different food recipes.
- We Wore What: A very popular fashion, lifestyle and interior design blog.
What Is A Website?
A website is a general term used to refer to a site with a set of pages under one domain that you can access using the Internet.
Usually, there are a bunch of static pages that are created once and not changed periodically. They can be created by coding using simple HTML and CSS, or you can enhance the page and add JavaScript and jQuery.
It could also be a dynamic site that changes as you use it — something like Facebook.
A website can be used in many ways.
- As an eCommerce website.
- As an online presence of a company.
- As a Search Engine.
- As a Social Networking Site.
- As a video sharing platform and many more.
Here are a few examples of Websites:
- Amazon: The world’s largest eCommerce website.
- Google: The most used search engine which is a website.
- Facebook: The most popular social media website.
- Apple: An website for showcasing Apple products.
The Differences Between Blog & Website
As you may have noticed, a blog could be considered as a website, a dynamic one, since you can add content directly without re-editing the homepage every time. You just write the post, publish it, and you are done.
But the website shouldn’t necessarily be considered a blog. So we can say “All blogs are websites, but not all websites are blogs”.
I am sure you’ve come across a lot of company pages that are static and showing what the company does, and that is it. Or you may have seen websites that are like resumes for their owners.
A website could contain a blog with many static pages. A blog also could contain a bunch of static pages like our about page.
Which One Is Better For You?
Choosing between a blog or a website depends on your needs. If you are a company that just wants to create a website to showcase what you are doing and don’t mind the hassle of creating new pages, content, and so on, then all you need is just a website.
You create it once, update it every now and then, and leave it. This could also be great for people who are using the domain name just to showcase their resumes and don’t want to create new posts.
But if you want to post new content regularly to share new information (for example, updates in the company), then you will need a blog.
If you need to create content to build a brand, answer people’s questions, and have an audience that is waiting for new updates from you, then you obviously need a blog.
Luckily for you, you don’t need to go for one thing and ignore the other. It is not like you can only have a blog or not have it at all.
Platforms like WordPress enable you to create static pages on your site when you need them. You can also create new static pages with a complete redesign and add them to your host. You could also simply host your blog on a subdomain (like blog.website.com) and leave the main domain for all that you need, so you don’t mess things together.
The options are limitless. You just need to decide whether you want to have a blog on your site or not. If you won’t need to update the site with new posts regularly, then simply don’t create a blog. If you will need it for any reason, add it to your website. It is that simple.
Can You Do All This & Start A Blog By Yourself?
I understand it as you read in this post, you begin to think you should be either very technical and have a lot of knowledge about coding, or that you should pay an arm and a leg to get your site up and running. This is far from the truth.
We are in an era where things are getting easier and easier. Blogging has been around for more than 20 years now. Creating a blog is easier than ever. (Read: 10 Reasons Why You Should Start A Blog)
You can easily get started… for free and today. You can have your blog up and running in a few minutes. You can go with a platform like Blogger or WordPress.com and signup now, and within a few minutes, you will have your blog ready. You could actually create your first post then.
It is that simple.
But as we discussed in our previous post about blogging platforms, going with free options isn’t always the best option. if you are just new to this online thing and want to dip your toes to get an understanding of the game, then go with any of the above sites.
But if you are creating a blog for a company or you are serious about blogging and want to build a brand and earn revenue from it, then you really need to have more control over your website — which these platforms don’t offer — so you can design your site with more flexibility.
If you’ve read my story, you may aware that how I got banned from different platforms for TOS issues several times. This is why I always recommend a self-hosted platform.
The best platform that I use and that is used by most of the popular bloggers is WordPress.Org. Don’t mistake it with the free WordPress.com service.
But to install WordPress, you need a host/server to add your site on and then point the domain name to that site. There are many sites to pick from. You can check our post about the best cheap options to help you get started.
I recommend going with BlueHost. It’s officially recommended by WordPress.org and it offers a free domain name.
They automatically install WordPress for you, which basically means that after you sign up, your blog is ready and you can get started in no time.
You can then add posts, choose a new theme, add plugins to help you do stuff without dipping into any line of code, and so on. You could also add pages on the site away from the blog.
The options are limitless, and it is really easy to get started
Conclusion
The difference between a blog and a website should be very clear by now. You should also have a better understanding of how to decide whether you need a blog or not.
After you make the decision, all that is left is to get started. Having a blog is not as hard as it used to be back in the day. You can get started in a matter of a few minutes and have your blog up and running.
So don’t waste time and take action now.
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