Website vs. Blog

[Kinembe]

i guess my question is: are blog pages indexed the same way as web pages?

will a site created in, let's say, wordpress with a main page and a bunch of posts achieve the same search position as a static site with the same information written in html with individual pages.

basically, is there any real disadvantage/advantage to making a whole site in blog format?

[MrGamm]

Yes... the main disadvantage, is that in some instances it might be recognizable as a blog rather than a company website. Perhaps it is the difference between showing up at an interview with a suit and tie, versus torn jeans and a t-shirt. That being said, I've seen some great "blogs" which don't really present themselves as such, and I have seen some great websites, which just are not blogs.

They are both indexed the same way (as in each page is html so both are indexed), but a blog is designed to push new content forward first, and in some cases increase the speed at which content get's indexed. They should if written properly to standards achieve the same or similar rankings.

Blogs are good for journalists, and publishers. But in some instances they may not be suitable for things like classifieds, or Q&A websites, or directories, community based, or social style websites, or even commerce websites.

From the perspective of the project design goals, there are real advantages and disadvantages to choosing any format over the other.

Blogs are fairly common these days though, so I can see why you might think a blog is the only type of website that should be created. Lets be honest here, how many website launches have you come across that look exactly like the last website you were just at, and what kind of impression did it make on you?

In your case, maybe you are talking about Brochureware? Or making a website that uses blog software, but doesn't look like a blog at all? Shouldn't make a huge difference. But there are defiantly disadvantages/advantages to using particular pieces of software. (maybe be careful what plug-ins you use, and perhaps if you do any development for a client, disable their ability to upgrade the software.)

That being said, for some companies, they may have no interest in blogging, so making sure it is formatted in a way that the website doesn't look abandoned might be in your interests. A blog that isn't fresh, might leave the wrong impression... jmo...

[morestar]

Yes... the main disadvantage, is that in some instances it might be recognizable as a blog rather than a company website. Perhaps it is the difference between showing up at an interview with a suit and tie, versus torn jeans and a t-shirt. That being said, I've seen some great "blogs" which don't really present themselves as such, and I have seen some great websites, which just are not blogs.

I'm managing several professional service sites that are blog'd and doing great in the search engines, impressively. I wouldn't say the positive results are a result of the site being a blog but I don't believe there's a ranking factor that operates off a yes:no value.

Wordpress is a CMS, and that's probably the best advantage especially because it offers thousands of plugins that contribute to search and social success - plug-n-play most of the times too!

They are both indexed the same way (as in each page is html so both are indexed), but a blog is designed to push new content forward first, and in some cases increase the speed at which content get's indexed. They should if written properly to standards achieve the same or similar rankings.

Sure every page on the internet is indexed the same way (and wow to the 'same way' responses) but Wordpress has a built in function that Pings any number of sites you set it to ping once a post/page is created or updated. This means that a Wordpress site has a greater advantage of being crawled quicker by any number of web services.

Blogs are good for journalists, and publishers. But in some instances they may not be suitable for things like classifieds, or Q&A websites, or directories, community based, or social style websites, or even commerce websites.

There really is no limit to what you can do with Wordpress especially with the right Plugins/Themes. I've seen successful Wordpress sites with all the above you mentioned doing well, great.

From the perspective of the project design goals, there are real advantages and disadvantages to choosing any format over the other.

Tell me some disadvantages that stand out strongly against the advantages, please.

Lets be honest here, how many website launches have you come across that look exactly like the last website you were just at, and what kind of impression did it make on you?

Everyone of the many client sites I manage are powered by Wordpress with complete custom themes.

That being said, for some companies, they may have no interest in blogging, so making sure it is formatted in a way that the website doesn't look abandoned might be in your interests. A blog that isn't fresh, might leave the wrong impression... jmo...

All that needs to be done is create the page, create the main nav to those pages, create a template at website.com/blog and ensure the template pics up the blog posts. This can be done by copying the loop in index.php. Now all blog posts will go to website.com/blog and a link to Our Blog from the home page will do.

I've even setup a loop in index.php/hope.php to pick up the latest blog as a snippet...(fresh content).

[MrGamm]

There really is no limit to what you can do with Wordpress especially with the right Plugins/Themes. I've seen successful Wordpress sites with all the above you mentioned doing well, great.

I've seen wordpress websites never make it to the index at all. Not sure why, but seeing as it is a wordpress, it could be alot, like malware, or a broken plug-in, or maybe it is even a template that got caught up in a spam filter.

That being said, the most successful website I ever worked on was custom and it is a probably a good thing because the overhead of all that blog software probably really would have increased their bills.

[MrGamm]

I'm managing several professional service sites that are blog'd and doing great in the search engines, impressively. I wouldn't say the positive results are a result of the site being a blog but I don't believe there's a ranking factor that operates off a yes:no value.

Just to continue this... and I doubt it is a result of anything you have done. It's the content creators who that. If you need a blog, blogger.com, wordpress.com and tumblr.com all offer customizations and there is no cost, and there are very successful blogs running on those platforms. The only professional successful wordpress websites I've really seen are the Wordpress VIPS. Which is neither .org or a .com really.

Tell me some disadvantages that stand out strongly against the advantages, please.

Craigslist, lets say if it were a blog... it would probably suck for classifieds.

Now lets say, perez hilton, because I think that is a blog and one of the more populars ones, lets say it was formatted like craigslist. It would probably be confusing.

Lets say Future Shop was a blog... it would suck.

Lets say a forum was a blog... like this one right here in web pro world... it would suck.

Lets say Facebook or Google or Orkut or YoutTube, or StackOverflow/Quora or Bing/Google/Yahoo or anything that is not a blog, it would probably suck.

There really is no limit to what you can do with Wordpress especially with the right Plugins/Themes. I've seen successful Wordpress sites with all the above you mentioned doing well, great.

And what are the limitations with a website? Are they fundamentally different than a blog and limited as to what they can do? Maybe reddit should be a blog? Maybe Twitter and Facebook should be a blog?

Shit my dad says was a twitter page, now its a Television show. How many bloggers have done that?

Everyone of the many client sites I manage are powered by Wordpress with complete custom themes.

Yeah, and they are paying too much when they can get the same thing from wordpress.com, blogger.com or tumblr.com for free.

I don't know... it's just not everything in the world revolves around online opinion columns and daily journals. So a catch all solution to a problem doesn't exist is just too shill for me. That is the way I see it. Wordpress.com is clearly winning anyways.

[tplink]

blog is a better option for making money because it is easy to use and maintain.

[LD]

blog is a better option for making money because it is easy to use and maintain.

You can make money from a website too. And they are easy to use and maintain also. Can you elaborate why you feel blogs are a better option to make money and are easier to maintain?

[Kinembe]

there is no doubt to me that blogs are easier, but that wasn't my question. i was just curious if they were indexed the same, if they could achieve the same rank as regular websites.

mrgamm answered my question as close as i could have wanted, thanks all for the help.

[SteveGerencser]

Yes, they are indexed the same..

[n_touch]

They are indexed the same. The one advantage that you will get with using a blog is all the fun plugins that you can use to help your job. There is a plug in for just about anything that you can think of so that will make your job a little easier. The other thing is that you can get many wordpress templates out there and customize them to look like a regular website. The only way that anyone will know any different is if they go looking into the source code.