Blogging | Forum « Web Page Vs. Blogging?

Web Page Vs. Blogging? (14 posts)

Kevin Haszard said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I cant seem to decide… My site would only function as a about page for my business. Blogging has so any benefits for networking. What do you think?
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Glen Gorham said
1 year, 3 months ago:
What is it you are trying to figure out? I am a bit confused by your statement about your site only functioning as an about page. Websites are many-fold in ability and purpose. Let us know what your question really is.
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Jillian Stone said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Absolutely you need a blog. It helps draw traffic to your website and establishes you as a thought leader in your industry. Do you enjoy writing? If not you might want to outsource it.
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Kevin Haszard said
1 year, 3 months ago:
I do, and it seems that is all I do. From all the blog sites I see it IS a website but so much more. My current clientel consists of mostly auto dealships that need 3rd party promo apps. I don’t sell anything other then my services. What better way then to blog? Most of my clients come through my daily posts they see via FB. I just purchased a domain with Godaddy and Wordpress. What now? Its getting late but I cant stop!
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Glen Gorham said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Ok so Godaddy can setup the wp for you just fine. Think about the kinds of things you need to be able to do off your website. Find the right plugins and maybe find the right help. It sounds like your specialty are the connections to people, you’re a people guy a salesman. Are you also the techie? Here is an SME article that covers some of the essentials plugin wise:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/11-essential-wordpress-plugins-to-get-your-blog-in-motion/
Your big challenge @kevinhaszard is to decide what you are going to post. You need to post consistently. Post about what makes sense for your market. You don’t necessarily want to make it sales pitch after sales pitch. Talk about the industry, where it came from where it is going *and incidentally how you are getting there*
If you need help on the technical side there are consultants out there that will help you with setting everything up.
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Kristi Hines said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@kevinhaszard You can always start with a static web page on WordPress, then add a blog later. Have you looked at your competitors and what they do? Also, if your clients come from daily posts on Facebook, that shows your clients are on social media and likely are interested in blogs too!
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Bob Farnham said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Blogging wins – hands down.
Here’s an interesting blog post by Mitch Joel that I think you might benefit from reading, Kevin. http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/blogging-is-dead-here-we-go-again/
Also, read “Inbound Marketing” by Brian Halligan and Darmesh Shah. If they don’t convince you of the value of blogging, no one can! Another great book would be “Content Rules” by Ann Handley and CC Chapman. I have an affiliate link in my bookstore on my website but buy tehm where ever you want.
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Paul Wylie said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@kevinhaszard @kristi-hines Good advice from Kristi Kevin!
It takes a considerable amount of well thought-out content to kick start a blog.
Before you start the writing process you need to first determine:
What your going to write about?Who your going to write to?How your going to attraction attention?Where are you distributing your content?
I suggest to start with what you have and make a static presence get that indexed in the meantime start planning your website strategies and what tactics you would use to be successful.
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E N Brown said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Some good advice here but one thing seems to be missing. Serious business needs both a flagship website and a blog for fresh content that points to the flagship website. If your website is comprehensive enough in what you do and offer, the blog can enhance and help update your clientele or potential clients.
The website should be worked to have great SEO benefit so people can find you with search.
The blog should be timely and address concerns or show off your expertise as trending topics can help update and show you are “in the know.”
There is no choice, you need both. How you decide to proceed should be based on what you KNOW, not what you think you know.
.02
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Judith Gotwald said
1 year, 3 months ago:
As E N Brown says both can be a good idea. But if you are just starting, start with the blog. It can be up and running quickly while you fret over a web design. You may be able to meet your needs with a blog with a few static pages serving as your web site. I think this is a good solution for small companies with limited time and resources. Both may be ideal . . . but you gotta start somewhere.
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Judith Gotwald said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@bob farnhamCouldn’t get that TwistedImage link to work.
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Heather Wright-Porto said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@kevinhaszardHi Kevin!Basically you can use your blog as a “website”. With WordPress and TypePad, they have a feature to set your “front page”. So you could have a blog setup and also the ability to create static (traditional website pages) like About Me, Contact Us, Services Offereed, Home, and set the Home page to the front page (which would act like a traditional website home page).
Then you continue blogging “posts”. Visitors can access these posts by clicking Categories or Archives in your sidebar. If you don’t have a sidebar you can create a link in the Nav Bar/Menu area to link to your blog posts.
So basically, you can have both in a blog (a blog for posting and pages to act like traditional “website” pages). WordPress is the preferred platform
Hope this helps!If ya need more info let us know Heather
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Erik Deckers said
1 year, 3 months ago:
@kevinhaszard The great thing about WordPress is that you can make it your website. Once you have it set up, you can specify which page is your front page. You’ll either make a home page or the blog your front page.
But the really cool thing about WordPress is that you can create a multitude of pages, which makes creating a website a breeze. Click a button, type in your body copy, and the theme you picked is used on that other page. If you go to my site, ProBlogService.com, you can see what I’m talking about. That’s a WordPress website with a blog. We just installed it on our server, uploaded the theme we want (a lot of tweaking), and then just added and removed pages as we needed to.
Then, if you want to start blogging, you can start. You can do it yourself, or outsource it, but you don’t have to screw around with adding a blog to the site — it already has it.
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E N Brown said
1 year, 3 months ago:
Hiya Folks and @kevinhaszard
I manage several Wordpress blogs for clients and it is a great platform. I enjoy using it and recommend it for some clients as well, depending on the situation.
Wordpress has limitations which, at some point you’ll find you cannot work around. Work arounds are OK, when you know Wordpress in and out. Most folks don’t know it “in and out” though. So, when that point comes to a head, you’d be outsourcing anyhowsen to get what you need out of Wordpress.
If one location online suites your business needs and you know enough about SEO that you feel you can make it go, go with Wordpress. It is the strongest blogging platform out there with pretty good support too.
See, each business and business owner is unique. So the need changes with each client (or business owner) as to: #1 – how to project yourself and your business professionally.#2 – how to bring the public to your services online.#3 – how to socialize online as a means of business projection.
There are more factors, but one main one you’ll find also is that Wordpress is looked at (from the outside) as blogging software whereas a website is your great big ol’ business card (and extended AD, if you will). It should remain somewhat separate.
Some people are successful in getting their Wordpress blog into directories and have it viewed as a website entity but most are not successful with that, at all. Most people who want to use a Wordpress blog as their flagship website wind up outsourcing to get the results they want.
At this point, you could flip a coin and get what you want. But, if you think it through, depending on the amount of business you want to bring in, you’ll figure it out without all this noise.
Start out with Wordpress, if that will suite you and your business needs. Only YOU know that, Kevin.
Up to .04 now, heh.
;D
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