Dec
Website vs. Blog: The Difference
Yesterday I showed Val from Absolute Bridal & Formal this website, Marketing Helper… which is actually my blog. This was his response:
“Remember DOS?” He asked me. “Imagine that I am DOS and you are Windows… that is how beginner I am on this computer stuff. So forgive me for saying this… but your blog looks just like a website.”
I responded to Val by affirming his correctness. A blog IS a website.
“Well, then… why do I need a website? If I can just have a blog?”
Good question, Val! Very good question.
What is the difference between a website and a blog?
I think it goes back to the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.
The ‘Essential Keystrokes’ blog defined “getting social on the web” as defining the difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0: “In the first generation of the web, it was all about providing information to your readers – the web was a one-way street. Web 2.0 is all about the user and giving the user a voice – thus making it a two-way street.”
While a blog is a “species” of website… hehe… it is still very different.
We can say that websites are online brochures that offer information and make people aware of products and services but also create opportunities for customer convergence (signup for a newsletter, buy something, download something, etc), and SHOULD interact with search engines for new customers to get information. The more intractable a website is, the more it is Web 2.0.
Blogs not only have a very specific trend/style to them, but the key to blogs is that every page allows for comments and interaction. It is a journal – not necessarily a personal journal – but a place for information and interaction.
The ‘Intuitive.com’ blog said it well: “The real value of blogging isn’t the capability of the tool, but the ability for each and every page on the site, each and every article, to invite and display feedback from readers–comments, as they’re called in the blogging world. This is a dramatic difference because it changes a monologue, a “brochure,” into a dialogue with readers or customers.”
So… there you have it.
Thoughts?
I think the distinction is even clearer when you have both a website and a blog and the question is how you integrate the two.
Maybe for most, the underlying question is how do I use the blog to benefit my business.
Maybe the answer lies in the resulting brand personality and the 1:1 relationships built with potential customers.
What’s your thoughts?
What about blogs with comments shut off? Then what’s the difference?
To me, they are the same. A blog is a website. There where interactive web sites before there were blogs and there are non-interactive blogs.
If I REALLY had to find a distinction I’d say a blog is a website with some sort of content/comment management system behind the scenes.
my 2 cents, since you asked.