Website vs. blog: which one should every author start out with? And what’s the difference between the two?

I’ll begin by clarifying that a blog is a type of website. Basically, anything you visit online that has its own URL (e.g., web address, domain name) is a website.

To use a familiar analogy, they’re all fruit. But you can think of traditional, static websites as applies. And you can consider blogs to be oranges. One of these fruits is much juicier than the other in terms of helping you to improve your SEO and get noticed by more readers online. And your sole purpose in having any type of online presence is to do just that: attract a larger readership to your book(s).

Website vs. blog: Apple vs. Orange

As mentioned above, a traditional website is static in that once you create it, it just stays the same and sits there online waiting for people to view it. But a blog is dynamic. This means its content is always changing. If you’re blogging correctly, you’re adding new content to your blog at least three times per week. And this is important to SEO. Search engines LOVE new content. They eat it up! The more relevant and helpful new content you give them to share with their users, the more they’ll reward you by placing you higher and higher in their ranking.

A traditional website is meant to provide basic information about you. What are your books about? Where can you be contacted? But a blog provides an expanded view of your author business. A blog is where you can share your thoughts, opinions, experiences, event calendars, and book excerpts in more meaningful ways. 

Blogs allow for Reader Engagement in the form of the comments section at the bottom of each post. Websites don’t have this ability. If you can get your readers to engage with you in this way, then you know you’re having an impact with them. That’s important.

Website vs. blog: Summary

Websites are static, contain basic information, and don’t allow for reader engagement. A website is limited in its ability to improve your SEO.

Blogs are dynamic, provide your readers with an expanded view, and allow reader engagement in the form of comments. Since search engines love new content, blogs are the single best way for you to improve your SEO online.

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