Websites vs Blogs

A "website" might be better than a blog for a static site or sales page. A blog just makes it so much easier and quicker to add content from anywhere you might happen to be in the world. Hosted Wordpress blogs all the way!

Hello Eunice

I think you answered your own question.

If you don't know what its purpose is, then close it, because it's just diluting your effort.

You can re-open it when you've decided where it fits into your strategy.

Every pixel that you have online should have a known purpose. If it doesn't, then get rid of it or change it to something that does.

Cheers,

Neil

I have a website and I have a blog.
The website took me a long time to set up, but started performing right from the start with no effort.
The blog took less time to set up, but has no produced 1/100th of the income of the website.

I prefer blogs because of their ease of use, rather than concentrating purely on how much money they will make - although that's easy to say because I have a website that IS making money. If I were relying on my blog to pay me, I'd not have enough electricity to have run this PC to write this.

I know what's wrong with the blog. I'm just not focussed enough to do anything about it. *kicks self*

Because they're updated regularly and therefore contain fresh, new content unlike static websites that don't change very often.

Cheers,

Neil

OK, here's my experience so far. I have over 60 static websites. I also have around 20 blogs. The blogs are far superior and for me perform much better. First thing's first. I have a bunch of SEO optimizing plug-ins. I also download tons of free themes to spruce up the look of the site and change things up every so often.

Adding content is also a snap. I just login to the admin interface and add articles in a snap. Takes all of 5 to 10 minutes. Once the post is complete, my blog pings the available blog pinging services and my sitemap is rebuilt and the search engines are notified.

Flipping the blogs is also great as you can emphasize the ease with which the potential buyer can add content.

Having said that, I believe fully that static pages are best for sales/lead capture pages. They load really fast and don't require a database.

I hope this post helps someone who's on the fence. As you can see from my sig., I prefer blogs both for income and flipping.

TomG.

ok - my newbie status is showing again I am sure - but I am still confused how blogs make you money the way a website might. I am missing a concept here. Can someone enlighten me please. Thanks

Also I suggest you do blogs and social websites like twitter, hub pages, etc...

Then you can use your blogs and social websites to point to your website
if your offering a product!

Ebbi

IMO websites are WAAAAY better... I'm working my t*ts off on my blog and it's going nowhere fast, websites with this amount of content I KNOW would have done better.

This love affair with blogs is beyond me. I HATE blogs and I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about.

If the site isn't hurting you, why close it?

There are 2 reasons why I'm considering closing it
1. Money
2. Time

It's not up for renewal until May 2009 so it's not that critical right now. But the time issue is. I do try to update my website at least 3 times a week and that takes away from building my blogs.

Thanks to you all! I have a plan now. Convert the content to my blog and then use the website for sales pages.

Eunice

I actually prefer to make my money with websites for a few reasons:
- I don't need to update them regularly
- I have a few website strategies that practically guarantee I'll make damn good money by implementing them.

However, I recently joined Firepow and am starting to get into the blog scene. With the Andrew's blueprint and all the plug-ins in one place I'm getting some slow, but steady traffic to my first affiliate blog.

I think Both Blogs and Websites have their Purpose.

To everyone who keeps calling a Website "Static"... this is the year 2008! Dynamic "Website" platforms are available like Joomla or Drupal, which allows the same WYSIWIG content addition to a site! So content can be just as fresh.

SEO benefits can definitely be seen with both... just a matter of how you configure them.

The great thing about a blog, are Pings and Trackbacks. This is a major "Web 2.0" feature which definitely helps to get your content shared, quoted, and commented on a lot easier than some websites. For instance, Technorati and other sites almost instantly know when you have added a blog thanks to their pinging service.

I think, like one of the other commenters stated, that you need to really focus on what your strategy is and then apply to your decision of "website" and/or "blogs"

After going through months of trial and error to answer this question, I came to the conclusion that websites are much better than blogs.

It took me quite a while to get results from my Wordpress blogs. On the other hand, with my website, I got sales the same day it was launched.

I think the blog is much better because it is lively and ease of updating.It is very easiest way to make money.Blog can build a good community. In my opinion blog is more interesting.

They are technically the same thing. The content is just arranged and managed differently. Both are easy to update and add content to.

Wordpress blog individual pages seem to capture high rankings for long-tail key words quicker. The structure seems better for SEO.

Static pages are more versatile. You can do more things with them - for example building directory type pages.

They are both clubs in your golf bag. Know how to use them both and use them each when appropriate.

Blogs have the advantage that content is updated regularly and search engines love content.

You can't really compare the two, it really depends on your business model. If you're just talking about having 1 website vs 1 blog. Then yeah blogging will make you more money in my view.

The problem that I have always had with a static website is that in order to update it, I would have to get someone to create a new page for it, and then I would have to physically drag that page into my website folder, and I would have to hope I didn't mess up my website and I had linked to everything properly when I did so.

It's possible to configure a blog so that it looks less like a blog and more like a website. www.thepressreleasesite.com is a Wordpress blog that I had a header designed for, the comments & blogroll taken off, etc.

Actually my friends at TCP Global Solutions TCP Global Solutions Home Page use all wordpress and they make their blogs look completely like websites.

The problem that I have always had with a static website is that in order to update it, I would have to get someone to create a new page for it, and then I would have to physically drag that page into my website folder, and I would have to hope I didn't mess up my website and I had linked to everything properly when I did so.

In other words I'm not particularly web-savvy, so if I depend on static sites it really holds me back in terms of being able to update them. But I can upload a wordpress blog and upload new themes and pay someone to tweak it for me - a one time fee instead of paying every time I need to change something on a site.

It's possible to configure a blog so that it looks less like a blog and more like a website. www.thepressreleasesite.com is a Wordpress blog that I had a header designed for, the comments & blogroll taken off, etc.

Actually my friends at TCP Global Solutions TCP Global Solutions Home Page use mostly wordpress and they make their blogs look completely like websites.

I get a bit confused as to what makes a website versus a blog. I understand the difference b/w old-fashioned html websites and a standard blog (rolling posts, comments) but there is a gray area where I am not sure how to define things.

For instance, I am building a few sites with Wordpress using both posts and pages, but I removed the comments and dates so that even the "posts" look like static pages. So visually I would say my WP sites look like static websites but they are built with a blogging platform. So what are they - websites or blogs?

I figure in many ways I have the best of both worlds but I am curious how my setup could be disadvantageous?

Well, technically a blog is just a different form of website - the reason a lot of them have a bad rap is they're set up like cheesy looking diaries, and are low quality. That doesn't mean they HAVE to be.

What I like about the blog setup is the ability to go in and add content incredibly easily.

With the ease of operation, ability to update/add content and fast listings, WordPress blogs are the way to go.

I have one up now that google listed within 20 mins of a post! The fastest one I've had was 5 mins!

Eric

Another way to look at this is...

1. Static pages
2. Dynamic pages

Wordpress allows you to design using both - the static pages you can make look just like typical web page or website and dynamic pages is tailored to different blog themes, plugins, etc...

The nice part about using Wordpress across the board is that you can use plugins (such as SEO, navigation, pop-ups, etc...) across all pages.

Certainly, your online business will require static pages for things like squeeze and landing pages, sales pages, static article pages, About Us, shopping cart pages, etc...but will also benefit from having dynamic blog pages.

The next decision you want to make is whether to have them on the same domain - there are benefits to both having your blog off of your main domain and to redirecting traffic from your blog to a fixed website.

The short answer is that you should have BOTH static pages and dynamic blog pages working for you in your online business.

Jeff

Thanks for all these great answers although it seems everyone has an opinion and the facts and stats to back it up.

I've been building websites with Site Build It since 2005 and have yet to make a sustainable amount of revenue by following their CTPM mantra (Content PreSell Traffic Monetize). They're opposed to blogs, obviously, because it cuts into their profit margin. I don't want to disparage SBI; it works quite well for a lot of people, but I've yet to make a serious amount of money with them. That's why I'm considering this question of what's better, website or blog.

I've recently purchased the Niche Blogger and like it so far. That's what I'm working on now although I am in the content building stage and not really making any money yet.

I'm wondering how people are actually making money with websites? Is it simply sales pages for affiliate products? A storefront? Or something else? If you can do the same thing with a blog, why not just stick with a blog? I don't know if the average site visitor would even know the difference.

Also, any ebooks you can recommend on this topic?

Thanks for all the helpful posts on this!

Eunice

I also have used the Best of Both Worlds approach. Use a website powered by Joomla and integrate the "look and feel" of Wordpress by blogging. Just add a link and you have the best of both.

Blog about updates you did to what a lot of you are calling "static" websites and then you funnel traffic links into that site.

Very interesting thread.

i prefer blogs over websites any day,simply because search engines give more value to a website than a Blog.
Classic example,try searching for any topic and youl'l never see a Blog in the search results.(99.9%)

i have a static website in a very defined niche that has done very well for me but I feel like I should transform it into a blog using some ecommerce options on WP.