Blog vs. Website

So I'm contemplating revamping the company website and I'm thinking about just scrapping it and going the way of the blog. It just seems so much more personal, and you can really have interface between the blogger and reader. It seems pointless to maintain both, in addition to the vast array of social networks, when you can just have a great interactive site, and I think that people (candidates) trust blogs. They feel (and are) maintained by people and are the human face of technology (I'll now spare you my GenY pontificating...). But seriously, for a newbie like me- what do you all think about a company blog being your main web presence?

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on February 11, 2009 at 11:39am

Ask Harry Joiner. I think he does this and it seems to work for him.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Mulhearn on February 11, 2009 at 11:40am

Thanks, I will!

pam claughton said:

Ask Harry Joiner. I think he does this and it seems to work for him.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph P. Murphy on February 11, 2009 at 12:21pm

Meghan
You might think of the web page as base camp and the blog as day hikes.
Main web page being a place to hold a core mesasge, BRAND differentiator and value proposition. The blog is interactive consideration with the world in which you travel.
In the Cloud marketing model the web is the platform and blogs are an SEO optimization and link back to the central source. Think of your blog as a trail of bread crumbs for others to find a way to your home. Each post a tasty morsel of enticement.

Just a thought
Joseph P. Murphy
Shaker Consulting Group
Developers of the Virtual Job Tryout®

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on February 11, 2009 at 12:53pm

Make it a hybrid. Use blogging software (wordpress or typepad or moveable type) with a static front page. Then you have control over content, good SEO, and it costs the same.

Design the site, and don't necessarily call it a blog. Think of the blog as your CMS.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Mulhearn on February 12, 2009 at 11:56am

I think that I may go this route. It seems the most intuitive to me.
Jim Durbin said:

Make it a hybrid. Use blogging software (wordpress or typepad or moveable type) with a static front page. Then you have control over content, good SEO, and it costs the same.

Design the site, and don't necessarily call it a blog. Think of the blog as your CMS.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Mulhearn on February 12, 2009 at 11:59am

Thanks to everyone for your insightful responses. You all have had some really good ideas. Now it's time to get experimenting...

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Permalink Reply by Tom Sweeney on February 12, 2009 at 1:20pm

If you can incorporate a blog on your website it can be really beneficial. My company launched a website for one of our branches that incorporated a blog from its staff members. It was successful before the company gave up the website. It is still active, feel free to check it out at http://procomottawa.com/.

Just a thought!

Tom
http://sweens.wordpress.com

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Permalink Reply by Kirsten Klaers on February 12, 2009 at 2:29pm

Well, personally I find BLOGS a little intimidating. I also think that they lack the overall static info option on a website. Searchability may also be affected in a negative way. I do know that you can imbed a blog on your site and that to me seems the best option.

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Permalink Reply by Ann Clifford on February 12, 2009 at 2:31pm

Your idea is valid. One of my clients, a successful Public Relations firm scrapped their website and now have a blog site only. I'm seeing a lot of marketing companies do the same. And, with the ease of blog software tools, maintaining the site is simple and inexpensive. Depending on the type of business you have, blog sites may be all you need.

Similarly, we have clients that have built "career sites" instead of a complete website. If hiring is critical and the sales model does not require the customer to go the site, then a career site may be all they need. We have build career sites for clients and have incorporated our TargetPort career site management tool to power the site. This gives the site job listing and resume submission functionality that is simple to administer.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan Mulhearn on February 13, 2009 at 11:56am

Thanks Tom! It is great to see this in action. Looks like the blog was buzzing. Did the company move to a different model of web communication rather than a website/blog combo?

Tom Sweeney said:

If you can incorporate a blog on your website it can be really beneficial. My company launched a website for one of our branches that incorporated a blog from its staff members. It was successful before the company gave up the website. It is still active, feel free to check it out at http://procomottawa.com/.

Just a thought!

Tom
http://sweens.wordpress.com