When is a Blog not a Blog? Two Client Examples Showcase Blog Flexibility

Jun 17, 2008
13 Comments

Blogs are much more than online diaries. The blog format is extraordinarily flexible. It can adapt itself into all kinds of uses. This flexibility is applicable to business blogs in a variety of ways–especially if your audience isn’t even sure what a blog is. Everyone understands “announcements” or “updates” or “news,” right? No geek badge required (somebody please come up with a geek badge I can link to). In some cases, you don’t need to employ the blog aspect at all. WordPress makes a fine lightweight system for managing a website with or without any kind of blog function.

Cosmetic Dentistry Guide

Cosmetic Dentistry GuideOne such interesting and slightly unorthodox use for a blog is found at the Cosmetic Dentistry Guide, who hired me to redesign their entire site and blog together. This was a bigger-than-normal project that went beyond the standard blog consulting packages I offer, and it had some challenging requirements (such as SEO-ordered source code). Business owners take note: this site is a great example of how a standard website and a blog can coexist seamlessly.

Essentially, Cosmetic Dentistry Guide is designed to drive business for the dentists which are part of its collective group. It has become the go-to information center for cosmetic dentistry in the United Kingdom. Here’s where the blog comes in: it’s called the Cosmetic Dentistry Experts Answer Blog. The cosmetic dentists answer questions which are submitted to them by people who are considering whether or not they or a family member might need cosmetic dentistry. Each post title is a question and the answer is in the post body. It’s a very ingenious way to use a blog.

Nursing School Programs

Nursing School ProgramsNursing School Programs is a site about how to choose and apply to nursing school. I have featured it before, but it was a while ago. This client had a wealth of information about how to research and get into nursing schools–sometimes ahead of other applicants. This is a very competitive niche, but by creating well-researched, original content and posting it to the site, the client is now making some money with Google AdSense. Interestingly enough, the longer the site exists, the better it does. The client has added no new content to the site in a while, which gives the AdSense an opportunity to slowly home in on the best ads for the content.

But notice how the site does not resemble a blog at all. It looks like a regular article content style of website. It is using the WordPress system under the hood, so the client can easily add and manage content without needing a computer science degree. Anything that regular blog readers would recognize as a blog element, such as permalinks, RSS icons, or comments has been removed.

When is a Blog Not a Blog?

People get all hung up on the definitions of things, and we often become personally attached to things which we care about. I love blogging, but I’m not tied down to one single definition of it. Perhaps the most objective definition of a blog is that it is a publishing platform that often features newest content at the top. Both of the above examples fit this definition, even though they do not resemble a “normal” blog.

If you’ve been feeling torn because you see clear benefits to using a blog (such as not having to pay a web person just to update something), but you’re not sure if a blog would go over well for your audience, I hope you can see there is plenty of room for possibility here.

Although I call it blog consulting, it involves much more than it might seem at first. In fact, the reason why I call it blog consulting rather than web design is because it often does involve so much. And, of course, because I really believe that a blog is often the way to go–even if it takes on a mutated form, such as in these examples. This just proves how adaptable blogs are to any audience and any market. Contact me to discuss your situation with a free phone call.

If you’re not ready to make contact and talk, that’s okay. You can subscribe to my blog in an RSS reader or by email (form is up and to your right), which will give you a chance to get to know me better over time.

  • Excellent post. Your information is a great resource. I live to learn. --Candace
  • I can't think of a SINGLE advantage that a static HTML website has over a Wordpress as CMS blog er, um... website. The dentist blog in your case study is an EXCELLENT example of "regular" people who are using a blog as a POWERFUL marketing tool for their business.
  • @ Michael - Communication skills? You mean we have to TELL clients these things? Oh my god, okay, I quit.

    ;)
  • @James - exactly. There are other ways to have a website that isn't static, but also is not a blog. Drupal and Joomla are two examples. For many freelance or small businesses, they are like using a cannon to swat a fly.

    Using a blog CMS for a non-blog website is a brilliant move if we can get past the confusion clients feel from the technical aspects. It's our job to explain this so they understand it, but it often requires better communications skills than most of us possess. :)
  • This very issue came up lately with a client. Should she get a website or a blog? Aren't websites old dinosaurs?

    Well, no. A site is a site is a site. The definition of website, to us, is "content that is static" and a blog is, to us, "content that changes."

    Everything else is the same. The look may be a little different, the layout might be different, but essentially, a blog and a website are the same thing, from a coder's perspective.

    I LOVE how many Wordpress themes now have the static potential on the home pages and the blog potential on other pages combined into one. Best of both worlds.
  • Perhaps another new term - a 'slog' or 'webslog' for a site that is also a blog?
  • Excellent flexibility. Michael I think you are a bridge builder with fabulous listening skills. You've given your clients hybrids that are kind of cool within fields that could be kind of boring. That is no small feat. Adaptability and innovation- good ways to keep growing even better solutions.
  • @David - You are right about the SEO for such content. This technique helps with that.

    @TriExpert - Thanks for the links to the geekery. :) I would like to gently remind you that you need to use a real name in the comment name field. That is my comment policy, which is stated above the comment box in each post.

    @Easton - Thank you. A blog is just a certain kind of publishing platform and content management system. You can do whatever you want with it to meet the needs of your customers. They don't need to know it's blog software under the hood -- it doesn't matter to them. But it matters to business owners who have to consider the costs and time spent updating and creating content. A content management system like WordPress makes that very easy and efficient.
  • Michael, great to see what you've been able to do for these businesses.

    I agree - sometimes we need to use the word "blog" and sometimes it's better not to - whether or not the thing we're building actually qualifies as a blog. :)

    It just depends on the client's needs and the needs of their audience.
  • Michael, here are some Flickr images under CC license that encapsulate geekdom especially well (prepend http://www.flickr.com/photos to each URL):

    /eecue/108265856/

    /luchoedu/2453280674/

    /luchoedu/2452441007/

    Savin' up my pennies to hire you!
  • The Post-As-An-Answer is an interesting idea. Probably is also good for SEO since the question will likely be what a reader would input in a search engine to look for the information.

    Will have to think how I can apply this to my blogs.

    Thanks again Michael!

    David "Crazykinux" Perry
blog comments powered by Disqus