Which is Better for Running an Online Business: Website, Blog or Both?

This is a question I was pondering yesterday while doing my online work. So what I did was went into my favorite forums, Mylot, SlashMySearch forum and the Marketing Pond forum and asked them what was better for running an online business? A website, blog or both? I wasn't really that surprised when I got my answer because after I thought about everything they said it really did make sense to me. Everyone who answered said both.

First I wanted to explore all of the features you get with having a blog and/or a website. Here are a few things I think is important about having a blog:

More personalization

A blog allows the technically challenged (including me) a way to get creative and personal without having to go through a bunch of html. Of course you can add html codes for banners and such but this is still a lot easier for those of us who aren't very good at creating websites.

Blogs also allow you to write from your own personal experience. In a blog you can write about what you earned from a certain program or programs. I guess you could also do this on a website but a blog is easier to do in my opinion.

People like to read blogs

In my experience, since starting my own blog about 4 months ago I have learned a new phrase called "blog walking." This is where people just go from one blog to the next and read them. This means they like to read these blogs and if they see something they like in your blog, say a money making program you are promoting or a product you are selling or promoting, they might sign up for it and get you a referral commission or buy the product and get you more sales.

Easier to maintain

Like I said blogs are easier for us technically challenged individuals. Easier to maintain and easier to add our own banners and such. Also easier to keep up to date and people love to write comments about what you wrote in your most recent post or older posts.

Now let's explore websites and what they do:

Customer Service on your website

A lot of people said that websites are great for helping customers out when selling a product or promoting someone else's for commission. Customer service is good for when someone has a question about a product or is having trouble accessing something on your site. Of course in a blog they can always leave a comment but for the more professional touch this is where websites would be better.

More staying power with the search engines

One responder in my post said that while blogs get indexed into search engines faster, websites have more staying power. I also believe that websites get ranked faster and make it to the top of the search engines faster than blogs.

More control of the website

This is another great point of view from a friend. She says that you have more control over the website if you're good at html and really creative with it. The thing about blogs you only have a limited amount of templates you can use, unless of course you know how to make your own.

Website builders

While blogs are easier to maintain to some people (like me) a friend also reminded me that there are a lot of free website builders on the internet which really help even the technically challenged create a nice clean professional looking website. And if you can make it easier to navigate then this should also get visitors to keep coming back.

Ability to take payments from customers

Websites give you the ability to take payments right on the site. You can set it up to take paypal payments or you can add a credit card processor to your website so buyers can easily make a secure payment right there without having any problems. This is a great way to keep making more sales.

All in all my nice friends on these forums have helped me come to the conclusion that when running a successful business you need to have both. Some people say it is a little hard to keep up unless you have the skills but even for the technically challenged there are services that help you maintain both the website and blog. I really do see all of the benefits of having both. With a website you sell your products and with the blog you can easily promote your website and let people know of anything new coming to your site. Also with your blog you can create some sort of ezine where you can send out a notice to your subscribers about anything new going on. One friend pointed out also that this is a great way to get your website indexed in the search engines and keep the spiders coming back regularly. So I think I might look into this web 2.0, as another friend called it and see if I am able to maintain both and maybe make a little extra money reselling products.

I want to thank all of my friends at Mylot, SMS forum and the MP forum who helped me with my research and also opening up my eyes about this. I definitely see the benefits and am really thinking of utilizing them for myself.