Blogs vs. Websites: What’s The Big Difference?

Online journals, better known as blogs, are becoming more and more popular. When the Internet was first getting started, users rushed to build personal web sites. Web sites are still very popular among web users, but many are now turning to blogs. What’s the difference? This article will examine the main similarities and differences between a Weblog and a website.

While blogs and website are intended to be different, there are a couple of similarities in blogs and sites. Mainly, they are both found on the Internet using a URL or a web address. Both also must have some sort of host to keep the information online. Another similarity of the two is that they both can be maintained by virtually anyone from individuals to companies. Both Weblog and websites can also contain information, pictures, link and keywords, as well. These two types of sites will target readers.

With a blog, information that is entered on the site is generally updated very frequently depending on the writer. Sometimes blog writers even update several times a day. Usually with a website, information is not updated regularly. Websites generally contain information about something that does not change often. When a website is updated, usually the entire page is altered. With a blog, just one entry at a time is updated. After a website has been changed, that information is gone and cannot be seen again by the reader. On a blog, new entries are added, but the old ones are not deleted from the site. Instead, they are stamped with the date and time that they were created, given a title and indexed on that blog page. It makes it easy for a blog reader to go to a certain blog page and read past entries without having to search.

Another main difference between a blog and a website is that a website is generally a little harder to maintain and oftentimes requires a solid understanding of the way the Internet works. With a blog, almost anyone can easily and quickly update a blog. It does not require any special working knowledge of the Internet. In addition, there are many sites that offer blog features and most of the time these can be used for free.

Blogs also encourage people to communicate with each other much more so than with a website. A websites primary function is to provide some sort of information to a reader. While there may be a place to leave a comment or an email address for writing that is not why that site was created. Blogs are used for communication. Writers may choose to make their site private, but most choose to publish their blogs making them public to any one who wishes to read. Most blog hosting sites offer options to add to the site so readers and the writer can leave comments to each other on the site. In addition, there are entire web communities built just for blogs. Blogs encourage those who have similar thoughts, interests or even businesses to share their blog site so readers can find them easily. Blogs offer guest tracking, keyword tracking, hit counters, comment areas, and even tag boards for both the reader and the writer to use.

Blogging is extremely popular right now. As more people begin sharing their thoughts with others, there are more blogs created each day. Blogging gives writers, journalists, professionals, moms, dads and even teenagers an instant way to publish their thoughts on a regular basis. For those who enjoy writing, blogs give a unique opportunity to practice writing skills and experiment with what others want to read. Businesses use blogs to show off their expertise and knowledge in their fields, whereas websites do not always get this type of message out to the readers.

Blogging and websites do have some similarities. They are both found on the Internet and contain information. However, blogs give a writer the unique opportunity to communicate with their reader and update their entries on a frequent basis. Anyone who tries blogging will love the instant gratification of getting their opinions and thoughts out on the Internet right away and getting instant feedback from readers that visit their site.

Blogging is fun, simple and easy.

By Liliana E. González

@LilianaElena

Blog is short for the term weblog. There are no formulas when it comes to blogging. Bloggers have the freedom to express themselves any way they want.

A popular blog type is the one that takes the form of a personal diary. Persons who want to document the daily battle of their day-to-day lives, poems, rants, opinions, discover that blogging offers them a medium in which to express themselves.

Blogs come in different styles, formats, and settings, depending upon the preference of the user. Many blogging sites, offer integral features such hyperlink, straight texts, pictures etc. Some blogging sites, even allow you to put video and mp3's on your blogs.

Basically a blog incorporates these features:

- title- which permits you to label your post
- body- this is the content of your article
- trackback- other sites can be linked back to your blog
- permanent link- every article that you write has a URL
- comments- this allow readers to post comments on your blog.

Among the advantages of blogging, is that it is made of templates. This make it easier for blog users to create new pages, because it already has a fix setting that include: slots for title, body of the post, category, etc.

Blogging isn't just limited to personal use. There are blogs that follow a theme such as: sports, politics, philosophy, social commentary, etc. These blogs embrace specific themes. This way blogging becomes a medium in which people can share their knowledge and thoughts about a diversity of themes and subjects.

Nowadays in instruction, blogs play a significant role. Professors use blogging to document the lessons that they have discussed and taught. This way, scholars who have missed classes, can easily catch up with their assignments.

Some bloggers even use their blogs as a way to advertise. Some writers promote their books on their blogs. Although other bloggers, use their blogs to shed light to currents issues, events, news and disasters.

Many entrepreneurs profit from blogging by advertising their businesses on their blogs, with billions of people logging onto the internet everyday, blogging has become a remunerative move. Some bloggers who operate online businesses advertise their products online. Although others benefit by advertisement.

Blogging is actually for everybody. It is fun, simple and easy.

To start blogging for free, go to blogger.com

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