Having a blog on your site

[DaveGears86]

I've never understood what blogging websites give other than (often) free hosting space to publish articles
...Am I right in assuming this? Is there any SEO benefit for using wordpress/blogger?

My real question is, if I was going to put a blog on my website - would there be any benefit in integrating wordpress in to my website compared to just typing/coding a normal web page with my articles?

I wish I knew more about what is acceptable to be called a 'blog'

thanks

[Paul Murray]

Using a blog framework or other CMS makes it quicker easier to add content (which search engines love), plus they have extra functionality built in such as pinging search engines automatically when you update, plus loads more.

You could do it yourself, but when you can use open source frameworks for nothing I don't know why you would.

[DaveGears86]

Using a blog framework or other CMS makes it quicker easier to add content (which search engines love), plus they have extra functionality built in such as pinging search engines automatically when you update, plus loads more.

You could do it yourself, but when you can use open source frameworks for nothing I don't know why you would.

Thanks Paul,

I'm guessing wordpress is best? (just because its the most popular more than anything). The ultimate goal is to drive more traffic to my site with tutorial based posts - hopefully this will improve SEO aswell

[Paul Murray]

'Best' is subjective, everyone has preferred a CMS. I personally use WP, but I know Corrosive on here recommends another CMS. Hopefully he'll pop in with the exact one.

Wordpress is very popular though and there's a wealth of free plugins, themes and tutorials related to it available.

[Tony Hardy]

I use Wordpress for both mine and client sites.

I think Corrosive is still championing ModX as a CMS though? No experience of it except what I've read up on it on his recommendation, and it too seems a very good system.

[DaveGears86]

Am I naive to assume that implementing a blog (with interesting articles/keywords) will help bring traffic to the website?

[Paul Murray]

It will help but you'll need to work hard to write unique, quality content and then promote it.

Simply having a blog won't be enough, you'll need to spend time commenting on other relevant blogs, partaking in forum discussions, etc, to build a brand and bring traffic in.

This might be of use to you...
Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers

[Corrosive]

I never quite know what the dictionary definition of a blog actually is but I'd certainly advocate some kind of 'Latest News' or 'Articles' section that has pages added regularly talking about your company news or latest projects/clients or some industry relevant stuff.

If you check my bro's site at; Computer Repair Bristol | Bristol Computer Fix and look down the left hand side you can see our efforts at it. This is the site we probably stay on top of more than the others. As Paul says, it is hard work!

The reason for having an area of your site that gets added to regularly is that Search Engines love fresh content and recently and regularly updated websites. If you just have five pages with your services that never change you'll struggle to get noticed.

As Paul also mentioned, the good thing about a CMS is that things like your sitemap should get updated automagically with your new page references and so makes sure that Search Engines find and crawl your new content when it is live. Tweeting, Digging and Liking your new pages is also a good idea.

I do indeed advocate ModX but that is because I like to code a layout from scratch. From a code novice's point of view, Wordpress is more immediately satisfying because you can plug in a template and off you go. If you want a bespoke design or one that fits exactly to your current website then I find hacking a Wordpress layout is time consuming and takes some decent knowledge of how the WP templating system works.

I'm not adversed to messing with templates as I use Prestashop for e-comm and that uses the 'smarty' templating system which is a whole other ball game. But, for a simple website, the freedom to code whatever I like and then 'plug in' the functionality I need wins hands down for me every time.

[creatabledesign]

I do indeed advocate ModX but that is because I like to code a layout from scratch. From a code novice's point of view, Wordpress is more immediately satisfying because you can plug in a template and off you go. If you want a bespoke design or one that fits exactly to your current website then I find hacking a Wordpress layout is time consuming and takes some decent knowledge of how the WP templating system works.

I too am a MODx guy personally, I have themed / templated wordpress sites as well, onto the subject, I think a blog is useful to any business who wants to post unique content. Keeping it relevant to your business sector is the main key though imo. I am currently building a blog onto my site.

[Corrosive]

I too am a MODx guy personally

Fantastic! That is three of us, lol

Good to know, perhaps we can share some ideas and best practices at some point.