What’s Changed, What’s the Same in Business Blog Content Writing – Part Three

Blogger Saugat Adhikari’s observation that “Things were different back then” made me curious enough to use all three of this week’s Say It For You blog posts to discuss some ‘state of the blog” observations of my own, looking back at the way things were in 2008 (when Adhikan and I began our respective blog series) and seeing what differences there are today.

Five years ago, I offered my readers the following explanation of the relationship between a business’ website and its blog: “Corporate websites provide basic information about a company’s products or a professional’s services, but the business blog content is there to attach a “face” and lend a “voice” to that information by filling in the finer details.”

“The big thing about a corporate blog,” I continued, “is that it's made up of lots of little blog posts! In each post, you highlight just one idea, showcase just one of your products, or describe just one special service you provide. Rather than a resume-like list of all you have to offer, you engage blog readers with several delicious details centered around just one idea. You can get to all the other wonderful things you have to share in future blog posts!

As Lisa Irby of 2planawebsite.com acknowledges, “Blogs are typically easier and cheaper to set up than websites.” Back five years ago, of course, it was even more difficult for an untrained business owner to create even a basic website. By contrast, “Today’s easy-to-use website building software offers…an endless choice of templates and functions,” according to “Top 10 Best Website Builders of 2013”..

Looking back over five-plus years of freelance business blog copy writing and website copy writing, I can see that, while websites have become far easier to update, the basic differences between website and blog still apply. Fellow marketer Michael Gaasterland organizes those differences as follows:

•  A website is created to publish a definitive message; a blog is created to keep publishing fresh content.
•  A website is organized hierarchically, intended to be read top to bottom. A blog, organized in reverse chronological order, contains hundreds of posts and can be searched by readers for specific content they want.

What’s changed? With all the new site building platforms available, it’s much more feasible for even non-techie business owners and professionals to make changes to their own websites. But what hasn’t changed is that blog writing is meant to accomplish different goals – creating current conversation around informal, newsy, frequently posted new content..