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Updated almost 15 years ago, 02/01/2010
Can a blog be a substitute for a company web site?
What do you think about?
It depends what kind of blog theme, in my opinion.
There are tons of great looking blogs that don't even look like blogs, and much more like a company site would "normally" look...
And then there are also blogs that look like blogs with great content and a "Contact" section with the company info.
I'd say to split test and see what works the best, but anything can go if executed the right way. :)
In a word. No. A blog is a great ADDITION to a website but I think that having an actual website give more credibility to business.
Of course a poorly designed website is another story.
No, it is an adjunct. Same goes for Twitter, Facebook, etc. At the end of the day a company needs website.
I wouldn't make a blog your company website, but you can certainly use Wordpress and a cool theme to develop a website and have a page dedicated to updates/posts. I have seen many real estate companies use Wordpress platform as a successful website along with a blog.
Just a thought
Are Blogs hard to design and get up and running?
If you're willing to spend about $ 400, you can have a company do it for you.
I don't know if it's hard or not, I just didn't have the time to do it myself, or the time to learn how to do it myself.
Look at our blog site, it mirrors our website and even has links to popular parts of our website.
http://blog.sellphillyproperty.com
This might give you an idea of some of the things to have on a site.
I think that blogs are an excellent idea, but I dont think that it should be used as a substitution for a company website. Suprisingly, websites are easy to design and fairly inexpensive. A few days ago I created a very simple website in about 9 hours, and trust me, I'm the least tech savvy person in the world. Yahoo uses various software that makes it as simple as can be at only $12 per month for hosting... The best bargain I've found and you can include a blog on your website if you would like to.
not completely;
it can be only sometime but if you are looking for full time business then its no.
Blogs themselves can be free (www.blogger.com). At its core, blogs are online diaries and sounding boards.
There is a lot of confusion out there. However, if you are still undecided because you want a website for a sales-letter to promote your product, you really do have two choices … you can create a mini website (one with less than 10 pages) and then add a blog to it in a sub-directory and market your product or service (by way of giving great tips) from your blog. Or, you should most definitely check out the WordPress Semiologic Pro theme which enables you to write an ordinary blog “page†(not post, though the process is exactly the same) and save the page as a Sales Letter Template. Hit the publish button and you have a sales letter online.
Go and check out the Semiologic Pro theme and find out how you can have the best of both worlds.
I wouldn’t recommend using a blog instead of a website, like everyone else it can make a good supplement to your whole internet campaign but really just using a blog seems to come up a bit short. I think the wordpress route for a website is a fine idea because it has the all-in-one seo pack plugin, but it requires a little computer know how or have the patience to follow a ton of direction.
Personally I’ve set up about half a dozen wordpress sites and the tools, plugins, and flexibility are there to make it come off like a regular site. I buy the hosting from godaddy because you get a discounted $2 domain name and they have an option that integrates wordpress into the hosting for you. So basically the starting cost is like $9 with a $6 recurring hosting fee. Pretty good bargain if you’ve got the time, patience, and know how.
One thing that really stands out to me that is missing from the picture is that blogs don’t typically support squeeze pages for special reports. But our system involves running that combo because we go with the autoresponder approach and do fairly well. We’re big fans of the special report :)
Another suggestion would be to take advantage of some of the other social networking tools, like YouTube is a great resource where you can make a playlist of what you have options on or what have you. I really like the blog tech because it qualifies you above others if they learn their options from you and heck, you already have a rapport. Also it gives you a great chance to take up some more space on your keywords and fine tune your brand.
Quick ideal set up: Website – (Wordpress Blog/GD-hosted) & a Wordpress Blog... well maybe Blogger by google. I think google kind of favors its own product in the search engines a bit. :P
Probably not but it is good to have both.
Some really great advice in these posts.
The only thing that I’d like to add is the fact that one must realize that owning a blog means a serious commitment to actually bloging!
There is nothing worse than a visitor entering the site and seeing the last post dated more than a few days old. They will simply click away.
However, nothing stops you from organizing a blog in such a manner that the posts look more like articles and don’t show posting dates.
raz
Definetely not. A website gives your business a sense of credibility, saying, "I'm in business". Go to getafreelancer.com. You can take bids for for your site from many experienced designers from India. You will get an awesome flash website for around $200US. If you want to contact the person I used, PM me.
I agree with those who would use wordpress pages and a blog. This is the best platform I've seen that can give customers the information they seek about your company and furthermore they can interact with you via your blog.
Originally posted by Dave Taurinskas:
They are fairly simple depending on your level of experience with web design. If you are comfortable with HTML, PHP and CSS and MYSQL, you are good to go. If not, it can be learned. Or if you need something quickly and/or don't want to bother with learning, there are a number of ways to hire someone to get your blog up and running very inexpensively.
If you're blogging for your inspection business, for example, it's a mistake to go with a free solution like Blogger. It's attractive, because it's quick and easy, but you'll wish you had gone with a more custom solution sooner rather than later.
Originally posted by Silvia Pirazzini:
It's interesting...a blog IS a website. It just depends on what you want your site to do. If you're going to update your blog regularly, a blog can be an ideal way to make a truly search optimized site for your business.
In real estate, things like IDX displays and lead capture can certainly all be integrated into a blog, so a blog can definitely serve all the needs you have.
The only caveat I'd offer is that many visitors, especially if your market niche is not comprised primarily of tech-savvy clients, are not as familiar with a traditional blog format. If you're going to have just a blog, make sure it's designed well, implementing static pages and different page formats, so that it will present itself as a more traditional-looking site.
I believe that a blog with a professional theme such as "Mimbo" can be used as your main site; if you want to display lots on properties then some knowledge of php and html is required.
Many investors use blogs because of ease and manageability and initially, most are free. It is important to remember that whether using a blog or company website, it is a representation of your company for public viewing. If you prefer a blog, you need a professional theme to help win the trust of potential clients. We recommend you purchase a theme to ensure the overall look and feel is professional. However, if you are serious about real estate, consider a website. Although you have multiple options, outsourcing the website design is a cost efficient choice. Once the site is launched, your only expense would be annual hosting fees. With a website, it is vital that you work closely with the designer to ensure every detail for appearance and functionality is included.
Yeah, I think we have to separate the platform from the content.
Like somebody said, WordPress is a blogging platform that is being used successfully to create static-pages as well (websites).
If the question is, can a sequential series of posts serve as your company's calling card exclusively, then I would say no.
One thing to consider is that people and search engines are starting to favor the interactivity of social media over the staticness of websites.
As to the challenge of creating squeeze pages in websites, I recently came across Squeeze Theme for WP, which seems to span the gap.