It's no surprise that there is some difference between a blog and a website. But still, some tend to think that they are the same due to some similarities. As similar as they are, we assure you that there are nevertheless some differences between them.
Of course, you can use them for similar purposes like earning income, digital marketing industry, And so on. But, in other aspects, a blog and a website are slightly different from each other. In this article, we're going to show you the difference between a blog and a website, and end the conflict once and for all.
But before, if you have never installed WordPress discover How to Install a WordPress Blog in 7 Steps et How to search, install and activate a WordPress theme on your blog
Then back to why we are here.
1. Difference between Blog and Website - Overview
What is a website?
A website can be anything what collection of web pages with several types of content that can be found on the internet. The content added to the websites may be text, images, videos or any other type of illustrative information.
The information presented on a website is not updated as frequently as that on a blog. However, it is updated whenever necessary and after a certain period of time.
A website can be accessed using a web address or a Website url that you enter on your web browser as "www.blogpascher.com».
A website usually consists of a home page. Most of the vital details of the website are presented on this page. Various elements like header, footer, menu options, buttons, post sections etc. are used to display details.
Then it consists of a number of other web pages which can be viewed after clicking on links. If a blog is included on a website, links to the articles as well as the entire blog can also be featured here.
The history of websites
Websites have been around for over 25 and further afield and they have come a very long way since their invention. It all started in 1991 when the first website of the CERN, was put online, and was completely text-based. The tags used were just the HTML tag because not much developed at the time.
However, with the development of the first search engine, ALIWEB, and the first landing page MTV, everything was improving on the websites. With other improvements in JavaScript such as pop-ups and Flash for web animations, people started to create more creative websites.
Marketplaces such as Amazon saw their birth in 1994 and shaped the future of e-Commerce websites.
Likewise, the launch of Google in 1998 saw a revolution in history websites. Online transactions were also made possible after the launch of PayPal in 2000. And from that point on the internet and websites started to look like the ones we use today.
Later, WordPress took over the blogging industry in 2003 and many blogs began to appear on the Internet. Then, people started to see the potential of websites, which helped create revolutionary websites like YouTube, MySpace, et Facebook.
A lot of business-oriented websites also emerged from that moment. They have been very effective in promoting businesses and this practice has continued with immense innovations from website builders for decades.
What is a blog?
A blog is a type or part of a website with content focused on particular topics. These contents can be called "blog posts" or "publication" and are displayed in order from most recent to older. Blog posts are updated frequently, whether by modifying existing ones or simply creating new ones.
Blog content or blog posts can contain any type of information. These can be news, articles, tips, tutorials, lists, collections, and so on.
A blog could be a website itself or included in a website. For example, the blog Blog is a blog included in the website BlogPasCher.
A typical blog layout consists of a series of the most recent articles and a few additional sections. Recent posts are displayed with general details like title, author, date posted, or a brief description. However, the additional sections may include a search bar, social media platforms, categories, promotional posts, and other random posts.
How did blogging start?
The first stages of blogging date back to 1994 from the website called links.net created by Justin Hall. It was just a simple website created with HTML used to post some of his personal notes.
Then, in 1997, the term blog started to approach the title «weblog». It was until 1999 that the world began to refer to the term "blog". This is the same year that blogging opportunities increased with the launch of blogging platforms like Blogger et LiveJournal.
The history of blogs will continue with the development of blog search engines in 2000 and Google Adsense in 2002. Then, after the WordPress launched in 2003, the blogging industry has undergone a revolution and has grown significantly. Since then, many blogging platforms have been developed and blogging has rapidly evolved until we know it today.
2. Why create a website or blog?
Why do people decide to start a blog?
- Professional :
Blogs can be useful for providing additional details about products and services like tutorials and comparison articles with competitors. Sometimes it may be inappropriate to display them on homepages or any other page of the website.
Details of sales and big discounts on your website can also be worked out well with the help of blogging.
- SEO :
Blogs can help you improve your SEO, which will help your website rank on the top search engine results. They are frequently updated, oriented towards keywords, and contain internal and external links which are very important for SEO. External links can also help bring more backlinks to the website.
- News and information
There are a lot of blogs which provide valuable information and news on various things. Adding news to a blog will also help the website to be frequently updated. This can increase audience reach, which will cause some users to engage with the blog.
- Connect with visitors
You can connect with a large portion of your website visitors. Once they read your blog posts, they can share on social networks if they like them. Likewise, if they want to know more, they can even ask questions about blog posts by contacting admin and author via emails or Comments.
- Entertainment purposes
One of the growing uses of the Internet has been for entertainment and it has been the same with blogging too. Whether it's celebrities, movies, comedy, games, music, or even art, blogging can also be used effectively. This can be a great start for a blog, as it's human nature to love entertainment.
- Personal use or hobby
Some blogs are just used for personal use or as a hobby. Most people who have a keen interest in writing tend to start a blog to write about their personal thoughts. It was also one of the main reasons blogging started to become popular at an early age.
In fact, depending on the purpose, there are many different types of blogging. Some of the most popular types are: fashion, food, lifestyle, travel, and tech. But, people are free to start a blog on any topic they want or want to share.
Examples of popular blogs:
- Moz-Blog is one of the leading blogs for creating content aimed at improving the SEO of a website. Although this is a blog included in a website, it has been able to be one of the most popular and successful blogs.
- HuffPost is one of the most successful content creators not only in blogging but across the internet. However, it is also a news aggregator.
- Engadget is one of the most popular tech-based blogs. They create a lot of content and news on various gadgets and technology services.
Why decide to create a website?
Although the reasons for create a website are quite similar, there are some differences in how they impact audiences. Here are some of the most popular reasons why websites are created:
- Business :
As stated earlier, websites are great for business. In fact, websites have come this far because they are good for business. A business website can be created for anything from small agencies to large businesses to online stores. They can provide vital information about the products and services provided by the company on the website itself.
- Digital Marketing:
Websites are a good source for digital marketing. How can they not be! With conventional marketing techniques, your services can be limited to a certain region. But with the help of websites, they can be placed across borders and reach all over the world very quickly and efficiently.
- Social and professional network:
There are far too many network web sites these days that can help you connect professionally as well as socially. Some of them are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc ... Besides, you can even create your own portfolio website or use vacation websites which can be very useful for your professional career.
- News and information:
Similar to blogs, websites are also created to provide information. People rely on them day in and day out for the latest news and information on any topic around the world. So, it makes a lot of sense to start with a news website, or a knowledge-based website these days.
- Online communities and forums:
People can really learn or gain a lot from communities or forum websites. They can meet new people as well as discuss various informative topics. These websites can also be beneficial for professional knowledge.
- Entertainment and multimedia:
People mainly use websites for entertainment and multimedia more than anything on the internet. Even one of the first landing pages was based on entertainment purposes. So there is no harm in create a website for that. Many websites like Youtube, SoundCloud, Spotify and Netflix are used for this purpose and some are very informative too.
Considering the reasons for create a website just like a blog, many types of websites are created. The most common are business websites, photography websites, portfolio websites, news websites, etc.
Examples of popular websites
- Google is a search engine and perhaps the most popular website in the world.
- Yahoo is a website that provides several web services across the world.
- Facebook is one of the most used social networking websites around the world. You can connect with people on the internet, but it is also effective in growing your business.
4. Start a blog or website
The process of creating a blog or a website is also very similar. In fact, some of the tools used for creating a blog or a website are also the same. But where the differences between blog and website are in the platforms used and the cost.
Discover Why and how to organize virtual events in WordPress
If you are planning to blog in a website, there is likely to be no difference at all. You just need to add a section blog to your website. And after that start adding the blog posts.
But if you want to create an entirely different website for a blog, there are a few differences.
How to start a blog?
There are a lot of blogging platforms that you can use to start your own blog. Most platforms have their own blog themes and templates to help you save a lot of time. You can just use them and start modifying your blog so you don't have to build it from scratch. In addition, some even have blog plugins amazing and extensions to make your blogs even better.
How to start a website?
Building a website is not a big deal these days as there are a lot of website builders to get started. There is also some awesome themes, templates, extensions and plugins included with these website builders. They can also help you build a fantastic website in no time.
Cost of starting a blog or website
While considering the cost of starting a blog or website, there might be some difference. Since most blogging platforms can be used as website builders, the cost can therefore be determined on them. The cost may vary depending on blogging platform or website builder that you choose.
But for a website, it is very likely that you will have to spend a little more. A website might need additional charges for more services like speed and storage. However, this can only be the case if you are considering the same tool for creating a blog as well as a website.
What is the WordPress Customizer? And how to use it? Find out by following this link.
You might also need to spend additional costs in web hosting; both for a blog as well as for a website. But if you want to use self-hosted platforms, you might not need to spend a single dime on web hosting. It all depends on the needs and necessity of the blog or website.
5. Blog or Website: What Is Best For Making Money On The Internet
Whether you are starting a blog or a website, both are amazing sources of money. Like most of the points mentioned above, they have similar ways of creating a source of income.
Blog or Website for Affiliate Marketing
In affiliate marketing, affiliates are rewarded by bringing a customer or visitor to a business they are affiliated with. Blogs and websites are well suited for affiliate marketing, which can be done using affiliate links.
What should you know before doing affiliate marketing WordPress Find out by following this link.
But in most cases, blogs can earn more on affiliate marketing compared to websites. As mentioned earlier, blogs have a wider range of content, which can be added to websites. Therefore, some content on the website may be inappropriate for affiliate marketing while it may be mentioned in blogs.
Discover also our 10 WordPress plugins to create an affiliate program on your website
If a website starts adding affiliate links on certain web pages, it can seem a bit misleading to website visitors. But in the case of blogging, some affiliate business focused content can be created for affiliate marketing.
Website or Blog for the company
We know that business is one of the common goals of starting a blog as well as a website. It is therefore quite obvious to generate income there. While they can both be beneficial to businesses in their own way, websites could have a greater benefit.
Blogs can be great for promoting a business's services or products and can earn affiliate marketing too. But, even if they are part of the same website, they cannot earn as much as the website. This is because all transactions usually go through the websites themselves, even if a customer has been redirected from the blogs.
Blog or Website for advertising possibilities
Ads are another source of income that websites and blogs can bring. But the income you generate from ads mostly depends on your ads and SEO strategies.
Some of the best practices for advertising are Google Adsense or featured articles, offers, products or reviews.
The Google Adsense approach primarily depends on the amount of traffic to your website or blog. It doesn't have a specific amount, but higher traffic can lead to higher income and vice versa.
Is making money with Google AdSense so easy? To discover in this article
However, featured articles, products, and comments may differ from a blog and website. Featured articles, products, offers, and reviews can all be included on a blog with premium guest posts.
But, it is very unlikely to advertise them anywhere on the website except for featured products. You can merge the featured offers on certain circumstances in your website, but blogs have a lot more opportunities.
Blog Or Website, Which Is Better For You?
We hope you are now fixed on the difference between blogging and website. But, to answer what is best for you, it all depends on what you need and want on your website. If your needs are more blogging, go for blogging. If they are more for websites, go for websites.
Final verdict:
We can see that blogs and websites are almost similar in every aspect presented in this article.
The major difference comes down to the sources of income between a blog and a website. But even though blogs have more earning opportunities, the amount earned by fewer website opportunities can be almost the same. Since they can both generate almost similar income in their own way, you can go with either as per your requirement.
Also discover some additional premium WordPress plugins
You can use other plugins to display countdowns on your WordPress blog. In what follows, I propose some of them.
1. Drivr
Ce WordPress Plugin will help you add files from your Google Drive account to your WordPress blog quickly and seamlessly. It quickly integrates with your WordPress editor. With a click on the "Add from Drive" button, you will have access to your Google Drive account in a modal window, known as Google Drive Picker.
Among its features we will find among others: a file explorer, the ability to consult your files from your Google Drive account, support for the Drag and Drop functionality for uploading files to Google Drive, tabs categorized according to file types and more.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
2. Snow Effect WordPress Plugin
Christmas 3D offers you more than 15 images and animations focused on the Christmas theme. It is light and easy to install. and offers several features which we will mention among others. :
easy integration into any website, animation that gradually fades as the page scrolls, a setting to display a single animation and save the functionality in a cookie for the session or the number of days, modern and fluid animations, a fully responsive layout, highly optimized code, extremely comprehensive documentation, and many more.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
3. WordPress Multisite Shared Media
If you have multiple websites, you will likely have all the sites in your network interconnected. The plugin " WordPress Multisite Shared Media Is a new interesting plugin developed for this purpose.
This plugin allows you to share your images between all your connected sites. In fact, it applies to anything uploaded to the WordPress media library.
All you have to do is download a media file, once, and you can access it from any of your other sites. It can be a real time saver if you reuse your images on all your websites.
Download | Demo | Web hosting
Recommended Resources
Find out about other recommended resources to help you build and manage your website.
- Common mistakes when building a multilingual WordPress website
- How to Track Conversions on WordPress: The Step-by-Step Guide
- 10 WordPress plugins to improve the visual of your website
- 10 WordPress WooCommerce plugins to use on your blog
Conclusion
Here is ! That's it for this article. We hope it has helped you understand the difference between a blog and a website. You can also see our guide on Common WordPress multilingual website building mistakes and how to correct them.
However, you will also be able to consult our resources, if you need more elements to carry out your projects of creation of Internet sites, by consulting our guide on the WordPress blog creation.
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