Blog-based Sites vs. Traditional Sites
Blogs For KidsFlush out the writer in children. Blogging could draw out a young writer ..... Blog-based Sites vs. Traditional Sites
So you want a website for your business. Why should you use a blogging tool rather than a page-based content management tool'
Blog-based sites have a number of advantages over a traditional static site or a site driven by page-based content management systems.
Blog-based Sites:
Build Credibility:
Research shows that business build credibility on the web by showing that there is a real company and real people behind the website.
Blogs make it easier to be more personable. No, there's no "be personable" button or checkbox in a blogging interface that would force you to abandon third-person corporate speak, come out from behind the curtain, and be personable on your web site. Many businesses are simply using blogging tools to power their press or news room area on a traditional website, taking advantage of blogs low costs, highly usable interface, RSS feeds, built-in archiving, etc.
But blogging does encourage a first-person, more "business-casual" style than a traditional website, mostly due to bloggings roots as a personal online journal. The Cluetrain Manifesto's main point was that with the advent of the Internet, markets are now conversations. Blogs are perfect tools for allowing and encouraging businesses to be part of that conversation.
Businesses that use blogs to reveal themselves as real people with names, faces, opinions, interests -- and yes, some flaws -- will ultimately be more successful online that those who choose to remain faceless, nameless, and third-person.
Are Able to Handle Smaller Chunks of Content:
This is a tough one to get your head around. Typically we think of websites as a collection of "pages", linked together by a navigation bar. Many CMS systems support this paradigm - you log in, find your "page" and edit the content that exists on that page. Pages become the "unit of measure" for a site - if someone asked you how big your site is, you'd answer with the number of pages it contains.
The unit of measure for blog content is a "post". Each new entry is a post, and usually contains (at the minimum) a title and a body. Sometimes there is also an "extended entry", which is used when you see a "Read More" link.
Typically the home page for a blog is a collection of the most recent posts. Each post might also have it's own unique page - otherwise known as a permalink. Posts often get assigned to a category, and a category might have it's own "page" that contains links to all the posts in that category.
7 Habits Of Highly Effective BloggersCopyright 2005 BizSuccessOnline Blogging is IN! And it's here to stay! Blogs are easy to set up and use. And you can create a good blog by writing ..... But a post might also be a product in an online catalog, a single link in a list of favorite sites, one event in a historical timeline, or contain an image that gets randomized in the site header. A single web "page" may contain posts or lists of posts from one or multiple weblogs. Sidebar content chunks may come from a seperate weblog than the main site content. One post might contain your site copyright date that gets used on every page in the site.
By breaking the traditional "page model" of websites, blogging tools offer the capability of serving up a variety of content types, entered and maintained through a single interface. Adding a product to the online catalog can use the same interface and process as a new image header or a new chunk of content.
Smaller chunks of content are also more resuable. A single product might get pulled from a product catalog and featured in the sidebar of another page. One event of a corporate timeline might get randomized into a "related information" section on a products or services page.
Are More Likely To Be Updated:
Well, maybe. ;) With a blog-based site there is really no excuse for not having up to date content - all you need to do is put a title and some body text into some fields, and click "Update". The site will handle all the navigation changes, page additions, archiving, categorizing, etc. Posts can be smaller than typical web pages, so it doesn't ......
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