Blog Or Static Website?
492 words | Last Updated: October 7, 2008 |
Some friends have been asking: Which is more profitable, a blog or a traditional static web site? Which attracts more visitors? Which makes more money? Perhaps this question keeps getting thrown around because a lot of folks are worried about the technical aspects of creating a blog. Can't I just build a simple web page and start earning online? Or do I have to read hard to understand techie stuff just to get by, assuming I survive the 10-month reading process?
Relax. The short answer is: The ordinary static site makes more money than the blog.
Here's why...
Ordinary static sites and web pages offer fewer distractions. They don't have the usual widgets that pepper the sidebars of most blogs. They also tend to have simpler, non-flashy designs that help the readers focus on the content, rather than on the design. If you want to make money online, you will need to focus both your efforts as well as the attention of your readers.
Non-blogs also tend to be more secure in the sense that you don't have to constantly keep track of the latest version of WordPress. For example, there are static sites that were last updated over 5 years ago, and they don't have any vulnerabilities found in "update every quarter" WordPress blogs.
Static sites tend to look "unique" from an html code point of view. If you look at the code of many WordPress-powered niche blogs, you will find several similarities. Other people call this a "footprint." No wonder a lot of online marketers prefer to build static sites. Some of them even use tools like XSitePro.
Traditional web pages have fewer duplicate content issues. If you build a WordPress blog, you'll have a higher chance of unwittingly creating duplicate pages. For example, some of your Category pages or even Archives might look like your actual blog posts. It's all automatic. With non-blogs, it takes more effort to accidentally create a duplicate page.
So, does this mean we can forget about blogs? Of course not.
With WordPress blogs, you can easily create a lot of web pages. With all those web pages, you can do a bit of programming to find out which layouts will maximize your online earnings. You can also quickly test different color combinations to figure out what works well with your site visitors. Armed with this marketing knowledge, you can then adjust your static sites to increase your online revenues even more.
All in all, it helps to build a combination of blogs and non-blogs. Sure you can try and monetize all of them. Afterall, there are some niche bloggers who are making $5,000 a month. Just make sure, however, that you're able to use them in line with their strengths: Blogs for online marketing information and SEO traffic, static web pages for maximum earnings.
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Manuel Viloria is your friendly multimedia internet publishing coach who helps you gain more traffic for your web sites. Whether it's through blogging, podcasting, article marketing, videoblogging, email listbuilding, or even through Web 2.0 or social network marketing, you can increase your website visitors today. For more information, please visit Get More Traffic | ManuelViloria.com
"Blog Or Static Website?"
First Posted: October 7, 2008 | Filed in: Make Money Online
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Most people prefer to use blogs because of the ease to which one is able to quickly publish a post or edit the layout and design of a page compared to static sites. But do they not say that the harder you work the more likely you are to make more.
I have found it more effective to use static website to create the important timeless content and then use the blog to promote the content on the static site.
A lot depends on how often you are going to update your site. For more updates a blog is better, not only because it is much easier but also for the RSS feeds, savings of drafts, being able to schedule the publication, etc.