Should Content Be A Blog Entry Or On The Main Website? Options

[RisaBB]

Hello,

I'm going to get aggressive, with the help of copywriters (I'll SEO their work), to add content to my e-commerce website. I've also neglected my blog. So, what's the difference between content on my website and my blog, which is really part of my website?

If I interview someone, does it go in the blog? or the website? When I add a new vendor's products to my site, do I write about him in the blog or the main website? If there's an upcoming event or holiday, where does the article go?

Is there some kind of guideline? For ex. hot, timely topics go in the blog (a new item, a new event); timeless, more generic topics go on the main website (yearly holidays, bios of people).

Thanks!

Risa

[DCrx]

Is there some kind of guideline?

Yes, it's called a content strategy and it's pretty much up to you to develop one.

Almost anything can go into a blog or website. The tools now are generic enough where you might as well flip a coin as to what goes where ...without a coherent content strategy. That's what is going to provide the guidelines which are right for your objectives.

And sorry "adding content" isn't an objective. The reason behind why you're adding content might lead to an objective ...hopefully. Something about the quality and type of content might also help.

...Marketing objective? Maybe engaging in brand journalism is the right idea.

What this all boils down to is figuring out what you expect "adding content" to accomplish, then making sure what you're doing actually is the best course of action. Too many people are asking which is the best step ladder ...then they proceed to lean it against the wrong wall and paint the wrong house.

If you're actually trying to achieve some objective, you might use blog entries to tell an evolving story. It could be about a project related to a product you're trying to sell. It is almost never a good idea to simply "add content." A blog could be a marketing tool or a distracting mess of unrelated rambling half-thoughts. Strategy usually is the determining factor.

Related Reading

Content Management Strategy, How To Develop The Other CMS A disturbingly high percentage of people have not the slightest idea of what they want to accomplish ...and precise ideas they will need such-and-such precise CMS with this other exact theme customized in exactly that way. This is a recipe for disaster.

This post has been edited by DCrx: Apr 12 2008, 05:14 AM

[EGOL]

Boy, that question can start some arguments...

Here's what I think.... Blogs are great if you have newsy snippets that you want to quickly get onto a site in a time sequence and have them automatically filed in categories. That is their value.

If you have really valuable content, such as articles that you feel will be highly linkable then those should go onto pages where you will have total control of the layout and absolute control over *every SEO element*.

We produce two types of content.

1) Short newsy stuff that has time sensitive value and that gets posted between four and ten times per day. These are two to three sentence snips that are slapped onto a blog.

2) Expert-level articles with tables, images, call outs, lots of KW research for each - a major investment in time and money. One article might take me a couple of days to research and write. One of my employees might spend a day doing research and taking photos. Another might spend a day making images.

If I slap up an article that is written in an afternoon it will not get links because it is "average content". However, if the goal is to make best on the web content that immediately upon entry people will say... Wow.. this is a good one... then spend time reading, email it, link to it, book mark it, and then return to the site again by typing my domain into the google search box.

That type of content deserves better presentation than a blog entry.

Lots of people will disagree and some do write content produced with the same care as mine and post it on a blog... however, I believe that a blog format has too many distractions on the page with category links, archive links, blogroll links, etc. Most important, it has mass production SEO, instead of being tuned like a finely crafted arrow.

We place the best articles on separate pages and announce them on the blog.

This post has been edited by EGOL: Apr 12 2008, 08:01 AM

[RisaBB]

We place the best articles on separate pages and announce them on the blog.

That's a great suggestion! And it gives the opportunity for internal linking.

Regarding:

And sorry "adding content" isn't an objective. The reason behind why you're adding content might lead to an objective ...hopefully. Something about the quality and type of content might also help.

DCrx, I agree.

Thanks.

This post has been edited by RisaBB: Apr 12 2008, 08:09 AM

[iamlost]

I agree with both Dcrx (so few people work to a plan) and EGOL.

I find that creating a plan is easier when one has a mental visualisation of the purpose of the parts - which can then be written as a type of RFQ for the site architecture. I like to think of them as parts of the house:

For instance think of the blog as the living room (or Kim's famous kitchen table) where you get to start the conversations, lead them, extract new ideas, and actively help customers; where you get to announce breaking news; where you get to direct customers to other parts of the site.

Think of EGOL's authouratative articles as the library when one can read and research - always with links to appropriate blog conversations, product pages, etc. Think of product pages as the pantry with shelves of things ready for use. The kitchen where things are made, i.e. recipes, beading instructions.

If a house doesn't work for you try something else. It is really about identifying usages and then grouping them together to create a site structure. Traffic flow within home and site are critical. Then build out each according to a broader plan of action.

[DCrx]

The real trick is to come up with a purpose. Too many people drive traffic, when they have to figure out how to convert traffic.

The "knit your parachute before you hit ground" plan is one tech bubble out-of-date.

If, I'm guessing, the category is SEO ask two questions:

....Don't SEO companies may your mad when [fill in the blank]

What we do is [counter measure]

That can take up all of half a cocktail napkin to complete. Yet people rarely develop a coherent purpose for the traffic they use SEO for.

[EGOL]

I agree with the idea of a "plan". I ask, what do I want this site to look like five years down the road? I am producing some content to work towards that goal. This determines what my navigation structure will eventually be and I am working to fill it out.

However, events related to the theme of my site also drive content creation. I can get large bursts of traffic because of some event that is happening or some topic that is on the mind of many people. So I watch the search terms that bring people to my site and often write articles that enhance, supplement or replace the content that attracted those visitors. I use ClickTracks "what's changed" report to identify those.

I also capture all of the search terms that people type into my site search and watch what they are clicking with crazyegg. That is really valuable because it tells you what your current visitors are asking for. So I use that to create content that will position in front of this search volume. ClickTracks does this too.

Finally, serendipity drives a lot of my content. I will find some topic while reading or surfing and that will ignite an interest to write or inspire interesting photographs, statistics or graphics. This leads to some of my best content.

So, I probably spend...

30% on the plan
10% on "Events"
30% on search / visitor actions
30% on serendipity

My employees are usually working on the plan but then get yanked away to help me with unplanned stuff.

[Autocrat]

Well, I'll ask a question in return.
What is the difference that you see between a blog and a website?

That answer should pretty much answer your own question.


Perception is a damn hard thing to handle, as few peopel ever see the same thing the same way... and this is one of those areas where it will rapidly boil down to either cold hard logic (follow your site archetecture, infromation place etc.), or go for personal preference (stick it in what ever part of the site that makes sense to you).
Only time will tell which yields better results (thats if they are different of course).


I suppose another way of looking at it is "process flow".
Will the information be part of a process you want the users to go through?
If so, will it logically and easily fit into that flow, and permit egress to the next part fluidly?


I, personally, would say that if it is something integral, somethign that you want everyone to see, that is a valuable piece of your business and that is part of the flow... then it goes into the site.
If it is simply "additional", "extra" or general and not serving a very specific purpose... blog it (shove it into the NEws/Information/Updates/Latest - what ever you call yourse area).

[kulpreet_singh]

Hi Risa,

I would say that the blog is for anything time sensitive, or being relevant in the present, recent past, or near future.

Meanwhile your website pages, articles, reports, etc. should have information that will last longer, maybe six months to a year, until the next time the technologies mentioned in the article evolve to the next level.

Of course, in the case that a website is about some relatively static topic like high school chemistry, or college math, then the information will still be relevant years, if not decades, later.

-k.s.

[A.N.Onym]

I have been producing quality, researched content like Egol mentioned as blog posts. It did gather some links, obviously and some of the posts still drive SE traffic. However, a blog was all I had at the time

Truthfully, I'd only create static (not-blog-integrated) articles, if I were to create the best source on the topic, ever. Like spend a month on creating a 20k char article or maybe a collection of articles on the topic. Such as the SEO guide at SEOmoz or their SE ranking factors. They clearly publish some good content on the blog, though leave some for the articles (been a while they published articles, though).