Which to Choose: A Website, a Blog, or a Website With a Blog?

Thanks to user-friendly platforms such as WordPress, it’s never been easier to establish an online presence. However, this often leads to an entirely new dilemma: should you create a website, a blog, or a website with a blog?

Fortunately, you don’t have to make this decision blindly. In this complete guide, we’ll explore the sometimes-subtle differences between these approaches. That way, you’ll be better prepared to make the right decision for your project.?

In this post, we’ll explain the benefits and drawbacks to each option. We’ll then share an easy way to create a blog or a website. To wrap things up, we’ll even show you how to add a blog to an existing website. Let’s get started!?

The Difference Between Blogs and Websites

A blog is a type of website. However, unlike traditional sites, blogs typically present their content in reverse chronological order. This means that the newest content appears first:

In contrast, the typical website uses pages to organize and present information. Some common examples are the home page and the Contact Us page. Much of this content is static, and isn’t updated frequently.?

Typically, blogs are run by individuals or small teams who communicate information in a conversational and informal style. This is in stark contrast to websites, which are often run by a larger team of people. There are also plenty of sites that represent an entire business, charity, or organization.

Blogs tend to have a comments section where readers can interact with the author and their peers. Websites don’t usually have a comments section. Instead, they often collect visitor feedback via forms or a dedicated page:

When it comes to choosing between a blog or a website, it is possible to have the best of both worlds. Many websites also operate a blog:

Businesses use these blogs as part of their content marketing strategies. That’s because an engaging and regularly-updated blog can help drive traffic to your website. It can also boost your credibility by presenting you as a thought leader within your industry.

There are separate platforms and builders dedicated to helping you create either a blog or a website. However, WordPress is a flexible option that has everything you need – whether you opt for a site, a blog, or even a website with an accompanying blog.?

How to Decide Between a Blog and a Website

At this point, you may be wondering what approach is best suited to your needs. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The option that’s right for you will depend on your goals, so let’s look at a few key considerations.

1. A Website?

If you’re a business, entrepreneur, or organization, a website can be a quick and easy way to establish an online presence. A website with a blog may also help boost your position in search engine results and drive traffic to your site. However, keeping a blog up-to-date is an ongoing commitment.

When a potential customer visits your blog and sees that it hasn’t been updated recently, they may question whether your business is still active. For this reason, a blog that hasn’t been updated in months, or even years, is often worse than no blog at all.?

Therefore, if you’re a smaller organization or a startup with limited time, it may make sense to opt for a website only. This leaves you free to focus on more pressing areas of your business, since a static site requires less upkeep over time.?

If you do choose a website-only approach, it’s vital that the site presents your organization in the best possible light. This may mean displaying positive customer reviews, beautiful product images, and glowing testimonials:

Your site should also give potential customers all the information they need to decide whether your business is right for them. For example, if you run a restaurant, you’ll want to display your full menu, complete with prices and allergy information.?

Visitors should also be able to contact you directly if they have any questions. You can easily add a contact form to your site using WordPress.com’s built-in contact form block.

Even if you don’t run a blog, there are still ways to make your site feel fresh. If you have social media accounts, adding these feeds to your website can make it appear more active and engaging. You can embed content from your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube feeds using the WordPress.com Embed blocks.

2. A Blog?

If you run a business or organization, you’ll typically benefit from creating some basic pages. For example, you’ll probably need an About page where you can introduce prospective customers to your organization.?

You might even create an online portfolio where you can showcase your work. This means that a website or a website with a blog are almost always the best choices for businesses, charities, and other organizations.??

However, there are some scenarios when it makes sense to create a standalone blog. In this case, your blog is likely your entire product. For example, you might be planning to monetize your content by including relevant affiliate links:

Alternatively, you might display advertisements alongside your blog posts. Some people create a blog to promote an event, or simply write for the fun of it. For example, you might start a travel or food blog. In these scenarios, you may not need a traditional website at all.

If you do create a standalone blog, it’s important to regularly publish new content. Assuming that you have a busy publishing schedule, the search engine bots should regularly crawl your blog and index your content. This is great for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

By publishing lots of new content, you’ll also have a steady stream of material to post on social media. This is in stark contrast to a static site, which typically consists of pillar pages that rarely change. While you could create microsites or landing pages for different campaigns, this is far more time-consuming when compared to writing a new blog post.

The major downside is that you’ll need to produce all of this new content. Your blog will only be as interesting and engaging as its most recent posts, so keeping it up-to-date is essential. As such, before choosing a standalone blog, you’ll want to carefully consider whether you have the time for it.

3. A Website With a Blog

Many people run a blog alongside their website, due to the content marketing benefits. Regularly posting informative articles is one of the best ways to improve your rankings for relevant keywords.?

You may even catch the attention of reputable third-party websites, which will then link to your content. Other people may share your posts on social media, in turn connecting you with an entirely new audience. A blog can benefit even the smallest of sites:

That’s because all of this means more traffic to your content. Once these people arrive at your blog, they may decide to explore more of your website. This includes any products or services you offer. You can even encourage this behavior by including lots of internal links in your posts.?

Most importantly, by regularly posting informative content, you can give visitors a reason to keep coming back. This means more opportunities to turn these people into paying customers or collaborators.

You can even use your blog in your email marketing strategy. This may involve creating a mailing list to notify your audience every time you post new content. In this way, you can capture leads and send these people additional messaging.?

Whether you’re a business, a charitable organization, a freelancer, or anything in between, a blog can take your website to the next level. However, producing five-star content takes time. For this reason, a blog with a website may not be the best choice for smaller teams, entrepreneurs, startups, or anyone else who already has a mile long To Do list and limited time.

How to Get Started With WordPress

When it comes to deciding between a website or blog, there’s some clear overlap. Therefore, you won’t want to rush this decision. You would be wise to take a broader view of your needs.

You should also consider that your requirements may change over time. For example, a website might represent the best option for your startup now. However, as your business grows, you may hire more staff and gain the capacity to maintain a blog as well.

This is where a flexible, versatile platform can be a life-saver. The WordPress Content Management System (CMS) has everything you need to launch a blog or a website. You can even add a blog to an established WordPress website.?

To get started with WordPress, head over to the WordPress.com home page. Then, give the Start your website button a click:

You can now enter your email address and create a password. If you prefer, you can sign up using your existing Apple or Google credentials.

After creating your account, you’ll need to choose a domain name. This is an important decision, as it immediately tells visitors what your site is all about.

To find your perfect domain, enter some related keywords or the name you want to use for your website. We’ll then suggest some options:?

After making your decision, you can choose a plan. Your domain is free for the first year with any WordPress.com plan. Or, you can opt to create a free website and domain.?

After making your decision, you’ll be taken to a screen containing two options: Write or Build. The next steps will vary depending on whether you’re creating a blog or a website.?

Option 1: Create a Website

If you want to create a website, click on Start Building. This launches a screen where you can choose a theme for your new site. This will determine its look and feel.

After making your selection, WordPress will prompt you to add content to your website. The options may vary depending on your theme, but you’ll generally start by adding a site title. This introduces visitors to your content, and lets them know what to expect from your brand.

You can also add additional content by clicking on any section, and then choosing a block from the popup that appears. For example, you might add some eye-catching graphics or text providing more information about your business.?

Simply rinse and repeat, until you’re happy with the initial design. When you’re ready to go live, click on Publish.

Most websites consist of multiple pages. To add more pages to your site, click on the W icon in the upper-left corner. Then, select Dashboard. This takes you to the WordPress dashboard. Here, you can add more pages to your website by clicking on Pages > Add New:

You can now give the page a title and start adding content. Simply keep repeating this process to populate your site.?

Option 2: Create a Blog

If you want to create a standalone blog, give the Start Writing button a click. You can then give your blog a name and enter a tagline.

A descriptive, relevant title instantly helps visitors understand what your blog is all about. Meanwhile, the tagline is a short statement that appears directly beneath your title. You can think of the tagline as a slogan or subtitle, which provides some extra information about your WordPress blog.

When you’re ready, click on Continue. If you’re feeling inspired, you can jump right in and Start Writing.

This will launch the WordPress post editor, where you can start creating your first post. When you want to make it live, simply click on Publish. That’s it!

Keep in mind that you can always add on to your blog later. If you decide you’d like to add static pages to make it a full-blown website, that’s not a problem. You can easily do so by adding pages in your WordPress dashboard (via Pages > Add New).

How to Add a Blog to an Existing WordPress Website

Just because you don’t have the time or inclination to start a blog now doesn’t mean your website won’t benefit from one in the future. As your site starts to attract more traffic, you may feel like a blog could help support your growing business. The good news is that WordPress makes it easy to add a blog to an existing website.

If you already have a website complete with pages, you’ll need to create a new page to house your blog. To do this, navigate to Pages > Add New.?

You can name this page anything you want, but you may want to use an easily-identifiable title, such as Blog. You can then click on Publish to make this page live. (Hint: You shouldn’t add any content to this page before publishing. Publishing this blank page and then following the next step is all you need to do create this special, dynamic archive of future blog posts).?

To transform this regular WordPress page into a blog, navigate to Settings > Reading. Then, select A static page:

You can now open the Homepage drop-down menu, and specify the page that you want to use as your site’s regular home page. Next, open the Posts page drop-down menu, and select the blog page that you just created:?

You can now configure how WordPress will display your blog. This includes specifying how many posts will be featured on a single page. For each post you publish, you can also choose whether to display the full text or an excerpt only. When you’ve completed your selections, click on Save Changes.

Conclusion?

Choosing whether to create a blog or a website can feel like a daunting prospect. Fortunately, with the right Content Management System (CMS), you don’t necessarily have to stick with your initial decision.

By opting for WordPress, you can adjust your approach to match your project’s evolving needs. Thanks to our flexible system of pages and posts, it’s easy to change your mind and add a blog to an existing website. You can even add static website pages to a blog.