Do I need a blog if I have a whole site with frequently updated content?

[TheAngelGuy]

Hi, there,

I am getting ready to put my first site online. (I have a background in HTML so it wasn't that difficult for me.)

I know that a lot of IM'ers have blogs, others have complete sites, while still others have both. (I would guess that the blog-people don't have comfortable website design and programming skills.)

My question is, besides the ability for people to post comments, do I really need a blog if my content is the same as I'd put as an article on my site. (Think authority site for my own subject matter.)

I can't really see what I'd get out of doing a blog, too.

Can any of you please comment on whether or not an additional blog would be helpful or not really that much help at all, considering that the main site is the one with all of the main, frequently-updated content?

Thanks a lot, and have a good day, everyone,

- Paul

[Keith Kogane]

A blog based site does a lot more (specifically WordPress based sites) than just being regularly updated.

It will also auto-ping when you update. It also has a built-in RSS feed. Using a variety of plugins you can have integrated and automated on-page SEO.

Using those built-in feeds and an intelligent tagging strategy you can get a robost syndication/backlink/traffic strategy going that I think would be much harder to do on a static site.

Even if I'm building a non-date centric non-blog site, I'll still use a dateless theme and build it on WordPress. It's just so easy and has so many benefits. I haven't fired up dreamweaver in YEARS now.

I guess for your set up, you wouldn't need a blog ALSO. But if your site is a content-based site, I'd recommend switiching it over to a blog platform like wordpress. You could probably port it over easily, and it's just built from the ground up to SPECIFICALLY make posting and promoting content easy. I say let it do its thing.

[JustaWizard]

Here's a trick I use my blog for: I post a new page on my HTML site, then I post the page description and title as my blog posting (I host it separately, NOT as /blog on my site) and just duplicate the title verbiage as anchor text in the blog post to point at my new page on my HTML site.

Why? It gets my new HTML pages indexed right away! Ha! And since the HTML page already has my title and description, I just add a sentence or 3 to my blog post and voila! unique content and without any real time expended.

I use both a blogger blog and a wordpress blog standing alone and do this on both, just for fun. I copy and paste from my free Blogger blog to my free Wordpress blog which only takes like a minute.

Hope that helps!

Best,
David

[TheAngelGuy]

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Here's a trick I use my blog for: I post a new page on my HTML site, then I post the page description and title as my blog posting (I host it separately, NOT as /blog on my site) and just duplicate the title verbiage as anchor text in the blog post to point at my new page on my HTML site.

Why? It gets my new HTML pages indexed right away! Ha! And since the HTML page already has my title and description, I just add a sentence or 3 to my blog post and voila! unique content and without any real time expended.

I use both a blogger blog and a wordpress blog standing alone and do this on both, just for fun. I copy and paste from my free Blogger blog to my free Wordpress blog which only takes like a minute.

Hope that helps!

Best,
David

David,

In doing this, are you intending for blog readership when you do this, or just the indexing?

The reason I'm wondering is because there seems to be more work needed if you're interested in the blog views, but if you're not, just posting, and not really caring about blog theme and all that other stuff isn't too relevant.

Thanks in advance,

- Paul

[Keith Kogane]

Originally Posted by JustaWizard

Here's a trick I use my blog for: I post a new page on my HTML site, then I post the page description and title as my blog posting (I host it separately, NOT as /blog on my site) and just duplicate the title verbiage as anchor text in the blog post to point at my new page on my HTML site.

Why? It gets my new HTML pages indexed right away! Ha! And since the HTML page already has my title and description, I just add a sentence or 3 to my blog post and voila! unique content and without any real time expended.

I use both a blogger blog and a wordpress blog standing alone and do this on both, just for fun. I copy and paste from my free Blogger blog to my free Wordpress blog which only takes like a minute.

Hope that helps!

Best,
David

It's cool you posted this, because it makes my point. Bear with me.

If your main HTML site was a WordPress-based site, using a variety of plugins, whenever you made your main content page, the software could AUTOMATICALLY take an excerpt of your post, add a randomly generated piece of content with keyword targetted backlinks, automatically publish it to both a free blogger blog and wordpress.com blog (and even make each of those unique if you wanted to).

If you wanted to go nuts, it could also post updates for all of those onto the same or separate facebook, myspace, twitter accounts. And even bookmark them to a bunch of sites too.

And if you took the RSS feeds for all those blogs and submitted them to aggregators, you'd get even more automated backlink goodness besides just those 2 you're using now.

[TheAngelGuy]

Thanks, Keith,

I'll check that out, too.

- Paul

[JustaWizard]

@ Keith Kogane

That IS slick indeed!

I personally have switched over to WP sites (there's a separate thread I posted which has gotten good coverage here on "why I shelved DreamWeaver" that can be seen by looking at my profile, I guess...)

Anyway, I did go ahead and give him the answer to his question based on only what he asked, but the reality is that I agree with you - Wordpress is the way to go, I do all my new sites in Wordpress.

NOW - if you would, kindly tell me which/what plugins will allow me to do the magic you mentioned, please! - How can I have excerpts go off to my blogs from my Wordpress site!

THANKS!
David
PS: any other magic you'd care to share I'm sure would be cool too!

[JustaWizard]

Originally Posted by TheAngelGuy

David,

In doing this, are you intending for blog readership when you do this, or just the indexing?

- Paul

I do want blog readership, but I also want my pages indexed and right away! Sometimes I also then post a completely separate blog post that has nothing to do with a page I've uploaded to my HTML site too, so my blogs serve both purposes.

Keith Kogane makes some VERY good points in his replies too. I replied to only the parameters you mentioned: I have a very high ranking site I created in (ugh!) Dreamweaver by hand - Now I do all my sites in (yay!) Wordpress.

If you decide to stay with HTML site, I *think* my strategy is still legit! I can say it works for me!

David

[Sally B]

I use standard HTML sites for a number of reasons; the most important being absolute control. I don't use blogs but I regularly add articles to the website. I also use a comments page adapted from a guestbook application. Most importantly, I have an RSS feed on the index page. Every time I update the site, I ping it. I use pingler.com because it pings the most sites (91). Because of the feed, I have gotten a new site indexed in as little as a few hours, though it can take as long a few days.

You can use something like freetrafficsystem.com to get backlinks to your articles as well as the usual manual methods. That's all I do and have no need for marketing blogs thank heaven.

BTW - you can download a free desktop RSS generator here:
softwaregarden.com/products/listgarden/index.html

It beats the heck out of hand coding and updating an xml file. It also generates an rss.html file which I upload to my site along with the xml file. It might not do any good, but it certainly can't hurt.

[Keith Kogane]

Originally Posted by Sally B

I use standard HTML sites for a number of reasons; the most important being absolute control. I don't use blogs but I regularly add articles to the website. I also use a comments page adapted from a guestbook application. Most importantly, I have an RSS feed on the index page. Every time I update the site, I ping it. I use pingler.com because it pings the most sites (91). Because of the feed, I have gotten a new site indexed in as little as a few hours, though it can take as long a few days.

You can use something like freetrafficsystem.com to get backlinks to your articles as well as the usual manual methods. That's all I do and have no need for marketing blogs thank heaven.

BTW - you can download a free desktop RSS generator here:
softwaregarden.com/products/listgarden/index.html

It beats the heck out of hand coding and updating an xml file. It also generates an rss.html file which I upload to my site along with the xml file. It might not do any good, but it certainly can't hurt.

Autre jours, autre mours. But it seems like you have to have a lot of stuff added on to do what something like WordPress can do easily and automatically right out of the box (Adding more content, Collecting comments, RSS Feeds, Pinging).

And since WordPress lives on your own server, you have just as much control over it as you do with making a page by hand. For the folks talking about the "total control" that you get from hand coding HTML, in what way is it that you feel you're not in control with a blog?

The theme files that control the design of the site are HTML and CSS (albeit in pieces) and if you start with a naked theme like Sandbox you can style it however you like from the ground up.

As a guy who used to code with HomeSite BEFORE Macromedia bought them out and fused it with Dreamweaver (which is before Adobe bought them) I am just completely spoiled by the speed, flexibility, and automation built into WordPress, and I don't feel like there's anything about it that's beyond my control.

Different strokes I guess.

[Geopentagon]

Dear Paul.
If you have no blogs then no need to worry.Your site is upadate regularly then no need to make a blog.But i suggest you to transfer your site in PHP OR ASP because search engine give priority those sites which site are made in PHP OR ASP rather then HTML.

[Michael Tracey]

Originally Posted by Geopentagon

Dear Paul.
search engine give priority those sites which site are made in PHP OR ASP rather then HTML.

Now where on earth did you hear that?

Michael

[Sapphire69]

Personally my site now IS my Blog for my new 2009 promotions.

If you are regularly updating, what better way than a blog or even a blog style site? Good for new people, good for regulars and affiliates.

I remember back in 2005 they were all calling it "The Year Of The Blog". At that time the blog was "the thing of the future". Now it is the thing of the day. Until something better and newer comes along (which it no doubt will), blogging is second to none.


Sophia