SEO

Blogs Or Articles?

25 Comments

I’ve been in the business of business website consulting for 4 1/2 years at this juncture. Most of the concepts have stayed the same; great SEO, continuous new content, balance, etc. There are two things that have changed the landscape a bit in that time. The first is social media and how companies can use it in some form or another for their advantage. The second… the conversation about blogs or articles.

Back in the day it seemed a fairly easy conversation. Having articles on a website makes a lot of sense to a degree. If done properly they help enhance the authority of a website. They’re fairly easy to optimize and, when done well, end up with their own page rank and many more opportunities for websites to be found fairly high for their search terms.

Nowadays a couple of things have changed. One, search engines value new content more than static content; even a page ranked fairly high will only maintain itself for so long. Two, more website owners and businesses want the ability do certain things for themselves, which means they need an easy process; not everyone knows how to write code to add new pages to their website or links within the website.

This means blogging becomes a more viable option for some people. In some ways, blogging it easier. You can write multiple short posts and keep your website relevant. You can write long posts and keep your site relevant. You can easily add video or sound to a blog. Blogging is easy because you don’t have to know how to code anything. You should for maximum effect but you don’t have to.

So we come to this conundrum of whether a website should have a blog or articles. Actually, for me, it’s not a conundrum at all. I tend to believe websites need both. And I’m prepared to say why.

Websites should have articles that pertain directly to what they say they do. I’m going to use the example of my business website to highlight this. My business website says I basically do two things; leadership/management training and health care finance consulting. Within the health care finance consulting, there’s one thing I do specifically that’s more specialized, that being something called charge master consulting. Not all consultants do this, so it’s my edge, if you will.

Now, I could just write about this every once in awhile in my blog, but that’s really not strong enough for me. Since this is a core business issue it needed that specific link that I shared. However, if you follow that link to the page, which talks about the service I provide, you’ll see I have 3 other links on that page. All of those links are articles I’ve written that are related to what I do. That helps the search engines really zone in on what I do for business. My main search terms are all in the top 10, most in the top 5, for providing this service. I used to be number one for all of them but you just can’t always keep the big dogs down I’m afraid. 🙂

I have a similar page talking about leadership and management, and I link to some articles from that page as well. But there are many more people that provide these same types of services. Therefore, even with the articles I have, I need more of a boost when it comes to that topic. Hence, my blog talks more about leadership issues there than anything else. Doing that helps keep my site in the SERPS, although I still battle for recognition. My checking it last night when I was putting this together has me at 143 on Google, 103 on Yahoo and 136 on Bing. In a crowded field that’s not bad, but it can be better.

So, this is my argument for having both articles and a blog on a website. How do you see it?

25 thoughts on “Blogs Or Articles?”

  1. From a business standpoint, I can’t agree with you more. A website must have articles that are “directly” related to what is being offered and a blog to keep things fresh to leverage on search engines and whenever possible to “strengthen” those same articles for greater exposure.

    1. Thanks DiTesco. Putting one’s eggs all into one basket never seems to get it done quite right.

  2. That’s very true Mitch. Many corporate websites that are static in nature have started including their blogs in their redesigned sites. Without these blogs, probably a quarterly earnings statement or news in press kind of things are the only updates they have. Blogs plus permanent information would be the right formula. Moreover, blogs (like FB pages) facilitates bi-directional dialog and hence should help retaining patrons as well as getting new cusomers.

    1. Thanks Ajith. I’ve been thinking about it recently and I think I’ve been missing out on some cross linking between my blog and my website; I really need to take better advantage of that.

  3. As for me, I think blog and article are both great factors on leveraging when it comes to SEO . Like a ladies make up, putting powder on one’s face is not enough to a ladies physical beauty, she should put on a lipstick to enhance her looks. Just like on a website both article and blog are very much important, they make a website more interesting to visit.

    1. Good stuff zililin. And since your site talks about dating, no wonder you used the analogy you came up with. But I agree, both are very important in the long run.

  4. I don’t know if this is by chance or what, but me and my friend are both talking about this article and blog thing. We are kinda figuring out if we have to create two separate categories for blog and articles or just create a ONE category wherein we can have both of them.

    Sometimes, its kinda confusing if a write up is suitable for a BLOG category or ARTICLE category.

    1. Ron, I have separate categories, though I also have to admit that I use them differently on my two business blogs. On one I use articles to highlight what I do, but those articles are on my site. On the other I highlight my articles, but all of them have been posted elsewhere. Strange, but it’s still kind of cool.

  5. I don’t think it has to be one or another, why not articles + blog. It requires extra-effort, but it might just do the trick.

    1. Mia, that’s my thought on the subject as well, but one has to put the thought out there.

  6. I agree with Mia. I use both because it’s fairly effective for me, though you might need to hire a help at some times.

    1. Jessica, one might need help if they don’t know how to code, but otherwise it’s fairly straight forward.

  7. Sound like cliche, but it depends, lets say that website static page is promoting product/service, but blog is reviewing this product/service with personal touch. It is true that dynamic website have much more power nowadays and web2.0 give many options for syndication of content. Even a static website can have strong SERP if link popularity is high and pages are relevant and cross linked properly.

    1. Carl, I tend to think both works as long as people plan what it is they’re hoping to achieve. Static websites can certainly rank high for their search terms.

      1. Absolutely right, planning, research and deployment are the things that stand behind success online. Probably dynamic sites work better as it is easier to manage and scale the plan.

  9. Blog all the way, it can be the best choice in most niches. Don’t get me wrong, static websites are still important, but I personally feel better on a blog, knowing its still active.

  10. Mitch, you know I look to you for SEO advice, as I am nearly clueless. I mean, I know HOW to optimize a page but I never spent much time at 30,000 feet.

    Anyway, I need some clarification: by website, are you referring to the traditional static website? You use the term static pages but, of course, WordPress allows you to simulate a static site.

    Also, is article distinguished from post by its physical location on a website? I’ve written some article-length posts and just wonder about the difference.

    Cheers,

    Mitch

    1. Mitch, if it simulates static, it’s static. lol As to your other question I’m not sure what you’re asking. To me, “article” is a stand alone thing on a website and a “post” is what we pop into a blog. Now, these can be used synonymously if one wishes, and then the lines become blurred.

      1. Eh, I guess it’s all semantics, then. The second question was whether the location “content” was the issue.

        It seems to come down to your direct question: Static website or Dynamic website?

        Cheers,

        Mitch

  11. Hi Mitch.
    I prefer blog type. Since it’s more like free one, you can choose whatever you want to put in it. not like static websites, you need to stick into one or two main topics all the time.

  12. Hi Mitch,
    I strongly agree with the opinion of having both blog and article for a site. My argument is that blog is very much different from the article. A blog organizes information by time whereas an article based website organizes information by content. Thank You!

    1. Thanks for stopping by Adam. I like how you’ve described the two options, in a way much better than I said it. 🙂

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