In recent years the popularity of business blogging has dramatically increased.
Blogging platforms like WordPress have transformed the way small businesses approach websites and made content management systems much more accessible and easy to use.
Blogs have also opened the doors to businesses on a budget, allowing them to easily update their own website content, publish new content to their blog, interact with customers and website visitors, and generate new leads.
But which is the better choice? Adding a blog to your website so they both sit on the same URL, or hosting your business blog on a separate URL?
The answer to that business blogging question isn’t as simple as you would think because there are pros and cons associated with each choice.
First, let’s review the advantages of adding a blog to your website:
- Adding a blog to your existing site is a simple process because the CSS and design of the site is already complete and just required some adaptation to integrate the blogging elements.
- The URL for your blog and all blog posts will match your main website URL (www.yourwebsite.com/blog). This not only reinforces your brand, but also helps build backlinks to your website throughout the Internet from syndication of your feed and other people sharing your content. The more backlinks that you have to your website, the better it is for your search engine rankings.
- With your blog on your website, each time you publish a new post, your website grows by one page and with each new page, you create more opportunities for your audience to find you online and connect with you.
- Integrating your blog into your website keeps things nice and simple. With this approach, you only have to maintain one website, you only have to remember one username and password to remember, and you only have one domain name to renew.
- Keeping your blog on your main website keeps your readers and website visitors focused. Your website is the heart of all of your online marketing and one of the most valuable assets you have in your business – why would you want to send people somewhere else to read your articles?
Now let’s review the advantages of creating a Stand Alone Blog:
- A stand alone blog typically uses the home page as the main blog page instead of a traditional home page. This means your home page will constantly be updated with new, fresh content, which is a bonus for your search engine optimization efforts because your home page carries the most weight in your site and is often the first page that the search engines index.
- A separate blogsite (blog) also means that you now are optimizing and developing content for two different websites, both of which may show up in the search engine results pages, giving you two listings instead of one. And, when combined with your LinkedIn profile, your Facebook page, and your Twitter profile, you can have several listings on one page of the search results.
- A separate blogsite can focus on a single topic or niche to dominate the search engine results for a specific cluster of keywords and key phrases. Because it is highly focused, it has the potential to gain authority very quickly and the links from your blogsite back to your website will increase in value as well.
There are definitely advantages to both business blogging approaches.
Creating a stand alone blogsite (or several of them) that focus on a very specific niche or keyword is a great way to quickly gain a presence in the search results for a topic you’re targeting. And, if you want to dominate a specific niche, that is a great way to do it.
But, for the typical small business and entrepreneur, adding a blog to your website is the best course of action because:
- Your blog allows you to easily publish new content your site on a regular basis, it is built to be search engine friendly, and it is simply easier (and cheaper) to manage one site instead of two!
- It is much easier and less confusing for your prospects and leads to find you, contact you, interact with you, and buy from you when you are directing them to just one website.
- You typically don’t change the sales content on your main websites pages like your about page and your services pages, so by keeping your blog as part of your main website, the static pages of your site benefit from the optimization and fresh content published on your blog.
What about you? Do you have your blog integrated into your website or is your blog separate? Which do you prefer?
About Jennifer Bourn
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Great stuff Jennifer. Your analysis of both sides of the issue are appreciated. We currently have clients that are grappling with this issue, 2 websites for their business plus a blog for each, and social media accounts for both as well. It can be demanding, and somewhat confusing for one organization to produce content and engage in all of these venues. I think your advice to keep things simple is well founded!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the thoughtful analysis Jennifer. This post came up when I was wondering if I should put my blog back on my website or not. I like the idea of focusing on a couple of good long-tail keywords and simpler layout on a seperate site. I can’t really speak to the difference in traffic but I think converting blog readers to buyers is easier than hooking readers via a home page.
Brendan – Thanks for stopping by the blog! I believe that your main blog and your site should be all tied together in one place for the best results. With that said, creating strategic, high-optimized, mini-blogs all focused on specific long-tail keywords and key phrases that link back to your website are a great (and smart) strategy to implement to build your search engine results page rankings! -Jen
Great article Jennifer. Got me to thinking if I add my blog to my website, should it be on the homepage? Or, should I have my homepage static and my blog on another page?
Julie – I think it depends on what your site is for. If it is a traditional business, usually a more traditional style website with home page is best with the blog as a key page on the site. If it is more personal business, online, business, or your blog is your business, having your blog on your home page is a great idea…
thanks for this post it some up what i try to explain but often fail in word to my friends with small business anxious to get an online strategy…
Great post Jennifer. I am right at that point – which to go for – stand alone blog or integrated blog??? I think your right – stand alone blogs can be highly focused on very detailed ‘niche’ keywords – but whether you’ve got time to manage more sites – is another question. As I have got many, many plates spinning already in my business – I think an integrated blog will keep our website fresh and upto date. Thanks again in helping take the blogging plunge!
Jonathan – You’re welcome! An integrated blog is the best way to go for most business owners who are blogging for and to attract business.
I’m not even entirely sure this makes sense. Wouldn’t a stand alone blog be on a separate (sub)domain? How is a stand-alone blog one that sits at the root of your existing website? To me, that is exactly an integrated blog. =/
Cole – I guess I can see how you may read it as that … but what I am talking about with a separate or stand alone blog, is that it acts as it’s own website in many ways. It sits on it’s own URL and it has it’s own “home page.”
I keep pondering this question. I recently started a blog and it’s seperate from my website.I
Have a real estate company and the main website has listings and talks about who we are. The blog is my blog article and also has information on the communities in Tampa. I can see benefits to both. I’m not sure which one benefits me or that it matters. I feel like the blog gives me an opportunity to really advertise me and the website more so the company. I know some would say its all the same, and it kind of is. Im wondering for SEO does one benefit over the other?
Jennifer, many thanks for posting this. It seems to be a popular challenge for people, and certainly something I am grappling with.
It is possible to iFrame a blog site within a website and try and create a continuous experience that gives your readers 2 entry points to your wisdom, and there are also solutions (like a WordPress site being integrated into a Joomla site) which gives a more integrated feel.
Personally, and following your advice, I have come down on the idea of keeping it simple, for the simple fact that if it’s more simple for me, it’ll probably be more simple for our visitors, and I can concentrate on the most important thing – the content!
Rupert – There is no reason to put a blog in an iframe on a website. With WordPress, your website and blog are seamlessly integrated into one single domain, so users travel back and forth between the blog and website. This site is an example of that. The entire site is built with WordPress and the site and blog are blended together. I’m definitely not a Joomla fan – so my recommendation is to switch to WordPress and indeed, choose easy!
I have been in marketing and advertising for Over 30 years and I must say that their is no clear cut answer to whether a blog should be on a website or separate from your site. I find it amazing that anyone could recommend without reservation that both be housed under the same URL no matter what.
You have to ask yourself basic marketing questions such as…
What is the purpose of your website ?
What is the purpose of your blog ?
Who are your target customers ?
If your website is trying to generate leads and phone calls a blog is the worst thing to put on it. You invest your money in gathering people around the web to eventually get to your site and once they do you want them to ACT ! Here’s an example, You don’t advertise your restaurant and hope when people get there that they’ll want to research further prior to ordering their appetizers’ ! No when someone get’s to your restaurant you want them to order their drinks, appetizers etc..
In the restaurant case, once someone gets to your website you want them to choose you and quickly.
It really depends on what kind of business or objective you have.
If you are part of an organization, let’s say a cause for autism, a blog would be helpful if implemented within a marketing structure that will promote action in one way or another. People would like to make a connection with other people using a blog on a site like that.
If you are looking for a lawyer a blog is a distraction, if you are looking for a limousine a blog is a distraction, if you are looking for information on how to deal with your difficult child a blog might be in order on a website targeted to help parents with difficult children.
There is a difference between a website and a blog and placing both on a website as standard practice is irresponsible and not the right advice to give anyone.
Do you have a marketing strategy ? Do you have the big picture ? Is your marketing strategy synchronized and balanced properly ?
A Blog is a form of social media and we can’t forget that everything has a place and a purpose. Determining how all the different elements within a marketing campaign work with each other should never be a standard practice.
Serge -
I respect your opinion, but I do disagree.
Take our own site for example … The goal of the site, like for most service based professionals, is to get people to contact us. Our blog does NOT distract at all from that goal. The content reinforces our expertise and compels people to take action because they get to know us, like our opinion, and love the content. It also brings in more than 50% of our traffic … and the new visitors stay, click around the site, and end up buying a product or contacting us.
The same is true of our clients … they find much higher conversion rates on their sites when it is seamlessly integrated with blog. The blog is what gets new visitors to the site from social media.
In fact, we have a lawyer client who generates quite a bit of new business through his blog articles. The articles get indexed in search engines, people searching for his services find them, they enter the site through the blog, they then browse the site and end up hiring him because he provides such great information.
When they are separate, business owners struggle, trying to figure out which to promote, which to drive traffic to, which to advertise for …
When they are blended, you create one powerhouse site with strong search authority. The key is to approach the site and the blog portion of the site strategically … they have to work together seamlessly with the blog supporting the sales content.
I am still confused. I am looking to create a blog where I can give advice and answer questions on a subject. I want it to eventually turn in to a site where there is a blog to go on, live chat and advertisement from independent companies.
Not sure I am explaining this correctly but know that I am looking to give advise and direction to the public. My goal is, once there is a following on my blog and it gets more established, I want to earn a little income via advertisement and affiliates.
Do I start this adventure with a personal website or simply start with a blog site? If just a blog, can I turn it in to a money making, informational site???
Jack – These days a website and a blog are pretty much the same thing. Every website should have a blog incorporated into it and I believe they should be on the same URL. A personal website and a blogsite are the same thing. Your best bet is to get started with a simple WordPress site. An off the shelf theme like those found from http://www.StudioPress.com would be just fine to get you started. Because you can have as many or as few pages as you want, you can get started with just the blog and an about page at first, and then grow the site as you need to.
Jennifer, I appreciate you sharing your wisdom on this topic. I just updated my website using Joomla, and want to also get a blog going. I’m using Joomla because I learned it a bit in another job I had, and like being able to go into my site and make changes. I think I want my blog to be part of my website, but don’t know if Joomla can run the blog so people can make comments. Questions: must a blog accept comments? Is it really a blog of people can’t post to it? Doesn’t the comment activity help with SEO? If my blog is part of my website, can I give the blog a separate name/identity? Would I want to? Thanks…
Hi Jennifer. Your inputs are valuable, and while I did not get a clear Yes or No for either approach, I can fathom why.
In a situation in which advertising is not allowed on a website (for regulatory reasons), would the benefits of putting the blog as part of the website without any ads be higher than putting up a separate blog and getting ad revenue out of it? I know this will depend on a variety of factors, but a broad opinion would help me take the call.
Looking forward to your view.
Thanks in advance.
Manoj – It really depends on your goal for the blog. There is a difference between blogging FOR business and blogging AS a business.
When you’re blogging for business, you’re blogging to create great content that attracts new leads and clients for your services products and programs. In this case you should have your website and blog in the same place on the same URL.
When you’re blogging as a business, your blog is is the income generator —l and that is typically when the affiliate / advertising model comes into play. In this case, you may want to have them separate.
Thanks for all this great information! I am recently struggling to decide separate or combine the two. I have my webpage that has my eCommerce store and I am wanting to drive traffic to my website. My long term goal is to market my product and get my brand out there. Right now when you go to my website my web store is the home page. In your expert opinion should I have my main page be my blog? Since the home page will be updated often and bring new content and attract an audience? But then from reading some of the comments, am I right that on your webpage you can’t get paid advertisers?
Hi Jennifer, thanks for the good points. My situation is that I have a wordpress blog and I also have my clinic website hosted elsewhere. There is a link to the blog from my website and the new posts are added to the homepage. I am looking to add regular content to the blog to increase visibility on the web, improve SEO, let clients know some great information and they consider coming in to the clinic as a result. I think that the website is quite static and think that for SEO, the blog updates will increase visibility. But…I don’t know how to do this. Do I ditch my website that I have spent money on and recreate a wordpress one? Is the new post showing up on the homepage enough? I am not a tech savvy person and would have to hire someone to do this and am wondering about the cost:benefit of it also. I look forward to reading your thoughts.
Hi I have recently set up my own home based business making and selling natural skincare and mineral makeup, I have my own website with a few returning customers. I am trying to build traffic to my site and let people know who I am and what I’m selling, hoping to get people to buy my products and build up my brand. I’m finding this very hard and really am lost on what the best cause of action to take. So should I set up a blog on my website or have a separate blog? If the blog is part of my site how will people know its there as I getting hardly any traffic to my site as it is. I’ve set up a blog with WordPress but it has a different name to my website as the same name for my site was not available. I’m very confused and need some help or I will continue to be a lost soul in this internet & marketing world. Any help would be most appreciated. Thank you.