You might have heard the words websites and blogs, ever wondered what is the difference between blog and website? Sometimes two different words have identical meanings, while other times, they don’t. This can be true with blogs and websites because both can be different, even though they are often built with the same software such as Wix or WordPress.
People tend to see both the terms interchangeably, but a blog and a website have a different concept, and to create a successful blog or a website, one needs to be clear about what each entails.
Many people query around the difference between blog and website, while a few cannot contrast between the two. Both are similar from the technical perspective when it comes to website speed optimization, but the content of a blog is dynamic, changing frequently, and written for engagement. On the other hand, the goal of a website is commercial, and its content is static, written professionally, and for a business or a commercial purpose.
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What is a blog?
A blog can be defined as a web page with information or a site that is published on the web. It consists of informative and unique textual content on any subject. The information that gets published on a blog happens to get displayed in reverse chronological order having an idea to post the new posts being displayed first.
A blog is also a platform where different views are shared among people, and they can have a discussion on a particular subject. There are numerous blogging platforms that turn out to be online publishing tools and are best for the writers to publish any opinions, articles, and product reviews. Another way of sharing a blog post is the use of stand-alone websites, social networks, and social network feed systems.
What is a website?
When we look at the difference between website and blog, a website is known to be a collection of pages and multimedia content available in a single domain on the web. Most of the time, the web hosting services host the websites allowing the content of a website and the web pages to be accessed over the web. It is an internal site that one can access with the help of a local area network.
There are many purposes for the use of a website, including a personal blog, business, and numerous information purposes. However, it deserves a conclusion that there is a wide spectrum of applications within a website. One of the major goals of created a website is to offer information to visitors regarding an organization or a company.
A brief history of blogs
The evolution of blogs from online journals and diaries goes back to the 90s. That was a time when web pages were used by internet users in publishing updates regarding their thoughts, personal lives, and social commentaries. In the late 90s, the term web blog was first used and was also known as ‘weblog,’ which is only known as a blog nowadays.
With the passage of time, the number of web pages increased, and numerous tools happened to appear, making it quite easy for the users to build any online articles, blogs, or journals. With the help of these tools, easy blogging was possible, and because of this, technology started to become accessible even for non-technical users.
The first blogging platform, known as blogger.com, was launched in 1999, and it is known to be the first separate blogging platform. Later in February 2003, this particular platform was obtained by Google, whereas in the same year, the first version of WordPress was also released as a blogging platform.
What is the difference between blog and website?
A major difference between a blog and a website is that a blog remains active, as it is changing dynamically because new content is being published, whereas a website stays static without offering any updates. It is worth noting that by definition, all blogs are websites, but not all websites can be blogs.
Primarily a website comprises a number of pages that include a home page, a service page, and a contact page, which is a major difference between website and blog. Other than that, a website can be of only a single page, whereas a blog has both the pages as well as posts out which the posts are normally more than the pages.
There is a separate article in each of the posts, and the majority of the time, it is hosted on the greater website’s blog page. A blog is designed simply around the principle of releasing new content, whereas the focus is reflected by the layouts of the blog. Websites normally don’t change with that regularity and are therefore much more static.
Unless there are any business needs for updates or the addition of new services and change of address, a website is built, published, and sits there. The idea of a static website is never centered on driving a great amount of business, and it can remain the same for much longer periods of time.
Blogs require fluid web properties, and therefore, one needs to choose the best hosting plans in order to get it online. With the help of new and relevant content, the blogger keeps updating and changing it on a regular basis. The most recent article of a blog gets shown up whenever it is published on a new blog post. This way, the readers are able to access the most recent of the contents.
A blog or a website, what would people fancy?
When it is about blogging, people tend to get a little biased because they consider blogging to be much better than a static website in the majority of situations. As compared to the website, when we think about the cost of a blog, both have exactly the same price.
Considering the difference between a website and a blog, it may come down to your business goals and your priorities regarding the digital property. In order to decide between a blog or a website for business purposes, one needs to take a few considerations into account though both can have subdomains.
A website with only the pages is normally the one that conveys a piece of specific information, and this may include address, menu, and business hours. Other than that, it also consists of a portfolio of work, physical products for sale, or any provided service offerings.
One-page websites are more focused on marketing because a single page has only a specific intention. These are normally known as the squeeze pages that offer a free download in exchange for a visitor’s email address and then market a product or service to them at later times.
What are the business goals?
The difference between a website and a blog depends on which is better for you. The most important thing is to determine your business goals, i.e., whether you are targeting email addresses to build an online community or creating a website with a blog to have a powerful combination. Even a small restaurant can have a goal of letting the customers know their menu and hours, and for this purpose, a few web pages can be enough.
If there is plenty of knowledge to interact with, then a blog can be the absolute alternative. Blogging can be among the best approaches to interact with the existing customers and attract new people to the website and the physical location, creating a major difference between blog and website.
Why do people start a blog?
- SEO
SEO can be very helpful to rank the blogs, and ultimately the website also gets ranked. The blogs tend to get updated on a frequent basis, have internal and external links, and are keyword-oriented. All of this has its own importance for SEO. The external or outbound links are able to further help in bringing the backlinks towards the website. Both website and blog can access the available free SEO tools.
- Business
In order to get the additional details regarding the products and services like the comparison posts and tutorials, blogs can be very useful. This way, you are able to easily understand what is the difference between a blog and a website, as it can sometimes be impropriating to display these on any website page, including the home pages. With the help of blogs, details regarding sales and discounts can also be well-elaborated on a website.
- Entertainment
Entertainment has provided growing uses of the internet, and therefore, it is also the same with blogs. It can either be about movies, celebrities, music, art, games and can be used in an efficient manner. Entertainment can really be a very good start for a blog because it is human nature that people get attracted to it.
- Connect with people
A blog allows you to connect with a great portion of the people who visit it. Once the blog is read by the people, then it gets shared on social media if it has something good to offer. In the same way, if people like to learn more, they can even ask the bloggers about their blog posts by commenting or contacting them through different channels.
- Information and news
Nowadays, news and valuable information are being provided by a number of blogs. When news is added to a blog, it helps the website to get updated on a frequent basis. This way, the audience can grow, and therefore, more people start to get engaged with the blog when it reaches the public.
- A hobby
Some people use blogs as a hobby or only for their personal use. A number of people who are interested in writing something start a blog, and in it, they write about their personal thoughts regarding any subject or in general. Hobby or private use are among the major reasons why blogs used to get popular in the early days.
Differences between posts and pages
Posts were basically for the blog entries when WordPress was first started. But nowadays, one can also use posts for many types of content. One can share business news, publish articles or tease the followers by showing them the product updates. Generally, the posts are used for any content that can be shared with the audience on a regular basis.
When compared to the posts, pages must have key information that is not changed regularly. The About us or the Contact Pages remain in the main navigation menu, where these can easily be found by the visitors. With WordPress, you hold the edge of generating multiple posts and pages according to your desire. However, it is worth noting that you are not obliged to use the posts when you are not interested.
When you use WordPress as a blogging platform, it is quite unlikely that you will be using the pages. However, it is always better to add at least one or two pages to let your readers know about you and for the contact pages. Distinctive sorts of content are also pointed to, like the post types in WordPress. Seldom it can undoubtedly be slightly complicated to grasp what is the difference between a website and a blog.
Differences between pages and posts
- Ownership
Usually, there are categories, tags, and the author displayed in each post apart from the date. Normally, such a piece of information gets displayed on the top or the bottom of the posts, as it depends on the theme you choose. Posts also include different details like name and gravatar by default.
The pages, on the other hand, are extensive, and the name of the writer is not incorporated in them. Normally the pages tend to reflect the business or the website as an entity rather than being owned by a single person.
- Social engagement
Posts can be the best of the platforms when it is about interacting with the public. There is a comments section in the posts by default, although one can disable it according to the needs. Other than that, there are a number of themes that feature the social media buttons in order to make it easy for visitors to share the content with their networks.
Comments are normally not included in the pages, although this function can be enabled according to the requirements. However, different sections like the About page are not known to be the best for any social interaction. Instead, discussion can be encouraged under the posts by leaving a call to action at the end of each of the articles.
Bottom Line
Nowadays, one may not find much of a difference between blog and website because the majority of blogging and website content management systems allow the users to create static pages and blog posts that can get listed in reverse chronological order. More static pages like a home page, about page, sales-related pages, and contact page are created by the majority of people, and they update their site on a regular basis with new content through a blog.
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