Working at Home on the Internet

The Best of Both Worlds: Blog AND Website

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 Although this little series started as a two parter, Blog versus Website, things have changed a bit since the original posts were published.

There is a Third alternative now (well, it’s been around for a little while) and that is a Combination of Both using a single CMS (Content Management System).

WordPress has an option for using either a Static “Home Page” as you would expect from a normal static Website or having your Most Recent Post as your landing page. Either option is chosen with a single click and remains dynamic with frequent updates to the Blog portion of the site.

In my opinion, this is the best of both worlds for either a Business Site or a personal Blog.

Advantages:

~~ Static Landing Page for a Business to utilize as a main launch in any direction for various products and services you offer.

~~ No limit to pages you can use for showing off your wares, including using pictures, captions and new fangled things like video/pod casts to enhance your presentation.

~~ Using various Tags and Categories to enhance SEO for search engines, as well as frequently updated content that SE’s thrive on.

~~ You can allow feedback through comments to get immediate thoughts from your (potential) customers to see if something is working or if you need to make some changes before you invest too deeply in the product.

~~ You have a Blog. A way to talk about what is going on in the company, test the waters for something you are thinking about doing in the business, Communicate with your customers.

Disadvantages:

~~ None. As far as I can tell this is, as I mentioned earlier, the best of both worlds. You can change directions almost seamlessly if you so desire.

~~ Don’t make the same mistake I did and Start a Blog separately from the main Website. Once that is done, it is extremely difficult to merge them into one site.

When a client asks me whether they should start a Website or a Blog, I suggest they start Both at the same time, test the waters and see what works best for them and the vision they have for their business. I point them in the direction of an adaptable CMS like WordPress where the options are only limited by their imagination and they make the final decision on what best serves them.

Do you have any other suggestions for a good CMS? Other Advantages/Disadvantages you can think of? Please share.

May 20th, 2008 at 05:42pm | Posted by Joe | Blogging, Websites, WordPress | 2 reader remarks | Print This Post