Why I have a Website and Not Just a Blog is a question I get asked a lot. I once had only a blog and that was enough for me. I used to post something once a week, usually a tutorial, a DT post or a project. I didn’t have a lot of people following my blog and I also didn’t have a lot of comments. But it was fine by me. It was fine because it matched my Business goals and what I was looking for as an online business owner.

Having a blog is enough if you have a small business, if you operate locally or if you don’t have multiple streams of income.  But if you want to expand, change or evolve you need to grow and think about starting a website as well.

Online Presence

At that time I didn’t have a strong online presence I was concentrating on the local crafting community. I was designing custom scrapbooks for weddings and other occasions and I was teaching classes at a few local craft stores. However at some point I decided to change the focus of my business and decided to expand beyond the local market. This meant I had to reach new people that didn’t live near me or didn’t read hebrew so I needed to develop an online presence. That meant going on social media, expanding my blog and starting a website.

Multiple streams of income

As I expanded I added more streams of income to my online business. I started teaching online classes, I opened a creative club and I started an Etsy shop. I wanted all my activities and avenues to be under one roof. The blog was a way to communicate with my audience, tell stories, share tutorials and create engagement but I needed to create easy access to all my other avenues. But starting a website everything was in one place. It was my hub. My audience could find my blog there, how to subscribe to the creative club, to take classes, watch videos and shop. Other than the business logic behind this step it was also technical. It was technically impossible to have the blog, create a subscriber’s club and add links to different sites in the blog I needed a better platform for that.

Professionalism

One of my goals was to start working for companies in the craft business. The first thing a company looks at is if you have a blog or a website. A blog can sometimes be considered (unjustly in my opinion) to be less professional by some companies. There is some truth to that especially if you want to present an array of things that you do.

So I finally did the move from a blog to a website but I realize it’s not for everyone. There are some great designers and crafters who only have a blog and they’re very successful. At the end of the day it’s also a matter of choosing what you feel comfortable with and what your business needs.

Einat

Do you have a blog, a website or both?

Share and Enjoy

• Facebook • Twitter • Pinterest • Delicious • LinkedIn • StumbleUpon • Add to favorites • Email • RSS • Reddit • Tumblr