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Web site versus blog - a point/counterpoint
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Blogs are so user-friendly, inexpensive and instant-gratification-filled that it’s no wonder they’re so prominent. All these factors and more contribute to some companies giving their blogs significant attention - even at the expense of their web sites.
In fact, my colleague Scott R. Gingold, the Business News Examiner, believes the blog trumps the Web site.
I have a different take. Foregoing a web site in favor of a blog may make sense if your business is very small and what you have to offer the world is fresh content in short snippets. However, if you want to position your company on the short list of players in your industry, recognize the value of promoting your business, and have the resources to make periodic updates, there is no substitute for the web. So my argument - web trumps blog. Here's why:
Content is king on the Web. The companies we work with understand the value of providing their prospects with valuable content that will help them do their jobs more effectively. Some of this content can and should be on your blog. But there is no substitute for an online web repository for your white papers, news articles and other examples of thought leadership. Having these items on your site—and requiring brief contact information for them to be downloaded—is a great feature of a web site. It both establishes and reinforces your credibility. And it serves as a source of lead generation.
Not everything is blog-worthy. The downfall of the corporate blog is the inclusion of “news” only of interest to people in the company. And even that may be a stretch. Even if your blog(s) are more oriented to news and trends that matter to people outside your hallowed halls, the blog is no place for shameless self promotion. At least not if you want repeat visitors.
Press releases, industry awards, news articles, bylined articles, speaking opportunities and other important events and happenings are necessary to have on your web site. But they don’t belong on the blog. If creating a powerful differentiator is important in your industry and your business, then these credibility assets need to appear prominently on your site. The newsroom is one the top most visited pages on our web site. It matters to our visitors and we work hard to shape the impression it gives.
Keeping it current not a hurdle. If you don’t have an html person on board, or you need to keep your html people billable, outsource your web updates. It is easy to fall into the trap of having updates backlogged. Look outside yourself. Cost-effective solutions can be attained on a monthly basis or even by the hour. You can pick the solution that’s right for you.
SEO for the Web. Of course your blog can impact search engine optimization based on the relevance of your topics and the keywords your audience is using to find you. But so too can your web site. The ongoing challenge for web sites is to keep the content fresh and the keywords optimized. This means you will have to revisit the relevance of your keywords on a regular basis of every few months to quarter, depending on your industry. This doesn’t mean a full scale copy re-write by any means. But it will need to be a concerted effort. It is well worth the investment in time and energy.
In many cases, blogs can and should be an important part of your web site. But the blog is just one of many tools you can leverage creatively on your site. For more tech marketing insight, visit www.q2marketing.com.
