Blog vs Website question?

[Nateskate]

I asked a friend to help me with a Blog, and told him my ideas. He's suggested getting a website.

Is this overkill?

What are the limitations and advantages of this?

Who has which here?

[Richard]

You can have both - a blog with fixed pages.

Obvious differences - a website is typically a one-visit thing, while a blog encourages return trade. A website is easier to style up as a marketing piece, while the amount of text you're pushing in a blog leads to more of a content focus. You can get away with more graphical glitz in a website. You don't need to worry as much about keeping it updated, unless anything of interest happens, while blogs need a fair amount of content.

It's really just a matter of what you want to do. Using something like WordPress, you can have both on the same site quite easily.

[Nateskate]

I intend to put a lot on it, art, photos, writings, music, links to other sites. My goal is to make it somewhat of a fun event with little stories related to the book series, with associated photos I've been working on. I've talked to a friend about scoring a soundtrack- at least mini soundtracks. We're both musicians, but he has much more digital recording experience.

Perhaps memory may dictate which is better in the long run? But my friend was the one who suggested a website over a Blog, and I wondered if it is overkill.

I definitely have more than enough to fill up a blog. (I think)

What kind of memory limitations are there in either?

[Linda Adams]

I have both. The Web site is something a little more formal, a little more permanent. It generally should have a single focus--i.e., if you have a series of books out, it should be focused on promoting those books. It's basically an information resource. Someone picked up a copy of your latest book, and they want to find out what else you've written--and when the next one is coming out.

A blog is far more informal, though still a representative of you. It allows people to see the person behind the books and that they have a normal life like them. You don't have to stick to talking about the latest book; you can talk about your cat or the party last night. Though do remember that you can gain or lose readers with it. A published writer posted a particularly self-serving comment on mine, and what he didn't know was that I had picked up a copy of his book at the library the day before. It went right back. He lost a reader because of his attitude.

Memory limitations on Web sites: The memory hogs that use up a lot of space are large files like photos, video, and sound. Your average Web page doesn't take up that much space. You won't really having problems with space unless you have thousands of pages or go with one of the free hosts (where they limit the space intentionally to get people to upgrade to paid service).

Memory limitations on blogs: You'd need to check with the individual blog providers.

[Richard]

Memory's not a factor in this, you're looking at disk space and bandwidth. The first determines how much you can hold, the second how much you can send out.

It sounds like you're after a website in this case, but I'd recommend using blogging software to build it. I use ExpressionEngine (www.pmachine.com) for mine, which is exceptionally good but expensive - I'd recommend WordPress (www.wordpress.org) for what you want to do.

[maestrowork]

Nate, I have both (you can visit them... listed in my sig). My website is basically static -- people can find information about my books, my writing, and order information, etc. Mostly for marketing purposes.

My blogs, however, are content driven. It's more up to date, and mostly about writing, philosophies, random musings, etc. If people find them interesting, they might come back. Usually, they won't read the whole blog, which may have hundreds or thousands of "entries" dated back 2 or 3 years. Then again, they may -- in a way, it's an interesting "time capsule." For example, you can go back 2 years and see what I was mumbling about before or after I sold my manuscript... it becomes kind of an interesting journey if you follow a writer's blog for a while...

So, my blogs become more intimate, and people get to know me more through my blogs. And if people come to my blogs through my website, they sort of get an "inside look" of the writer's life through my lenses, and thus get to "know the author" at a more intimate level. It can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you want out of it. Some writers like to maintain a distance between his readers and himself, but some like to be personal and approachable.

Memory is not a factor for blogs, if you use one of the public blogging services like Blogger or LiveJournal. Obviously, you're limited to what they offer and also if they go out of business, you're out of luck. You can also put up a blog and a website on a server or hosting company. Then you do have storage AND traffic limits (depending on your service plans); however, you'll have more control. If you don't serve huge files such as video or audio, and if you don't have 10 million hits a month (most people don't), you shouldn't have a problem.

[scribbler1382]

I've got both as a single thing. My blog is automatically published to my website, where it is used as the front page of my website. Feel free to check it out and ask any questions. Oh, I also have my own domain. Years ago when I first got it (being the technophile that I am) it was considered overkill, but nowadays you can get free hosting and a domain for several years for less than a case of beer costs.

[victoriastrauss]

I've had a website for years, and I only just began blogging (it's a Writer Beware blog (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/), not a personal one, done jointly with Ann Crispin, the other half of Writer Beware).

My website is about much more than just my books; there's personal information, articles, book reviews, and a resource on building a writer's website. It's not static--I add new material to it regularly to encourage repeat traffic. If I do decide to start a personal blog, I'll do so as a feature of the website, a way of adding more content.

I'm not sure yet where the Writer Beware blog will go--Ann and I are still feeling our way with it. We want it to be useful as a resource for writers, but we also want it to be a more personal window into the work of Writer Beware, and to some degree into our lives (though both of us are wary of putting a lot of day-to-day personal info online).

I think that for writers, blogs are starting to become what websites used to be: a way of personally interacting with an audience. All the things that used to be said about websites--make it personal, make it content rich, keep it changing so people will come back--is now said about blogs. Perhaps not surprisingly, blogs now suffer from the same problem that websites do: there are just too many of them, and anyone starting one is going to be one grain of sand on the beach of the blogosphere. Some writers see their blogs as a way of self-promoting, but unless you have an audience that will come looking for you, or unless you can come up with some fabulously unique hook (and a way to let people know about it), I think you face the same traffic issues as with a website. If you build it, they won't necessarily come.

Frankly I find it all rather exhausting. I probably write a million words a year, between my novels and articles and Writer Beware emails and posts in forums such as this one; the prospect of having to write thousands more in the form of blog entries just makes me weary.

- Victoria

[rbflynn]

I have a blog incorporated into my website, as scribbler does, along with my own domain name (I'd point you to it, but I am in the middle of a redesign and it isn't up at the moment).

There are advantages and disadvantages to eace kind of setup folks have listed, much of it depends on how you are approaching your web space. Be very specific in what info you want to provide, and how dynamic that info is going to be (i.e. how frequently will you update the content that is there), and that will help determine what route you want to take. From what you have said, it sounds to me like you want something similar in setup to what scribbler and I have.

Personally, I host with www.globat.com. I have been with them for a few years now and am extremely happy with them. There are literally hundreds of hosting options though, so do a bit of research, as costs and bandwidth restrictions will vary. My costs are less than $10.00 a month for more space than I can ever hope to fill with a website (1 terabyte). I actually use the extra space to store backups of my writing. There are a ton of free website templates out there that makes setting up a website a snap, and by looking at how the authors coded the page, you can sort of reverse engineer their work and teach yourself CSS and HTML along the way.

There are free blogging options like www.blogger.com and www.livejournal.com which can be incorporated into the website pretty easily. They are a great place to start, especially for a beginning blogger who either doesn't have a hosting option, or doesn't know alot about site building. I started on Blogger, and still have an account there, but one of the things I am doing in my redesign is incorporating a PHP blogging solution which I will host on my own site natively.

In a nutshell, a full blown website = time spent maintaining that website. A simple blog = almost 0 maintenance.

[rbflynn]

Frankly I find it all rather exhausting. I probably write a million words a year, between my novels and articles and Writer Beware emails and posts in forums such as this one; the prospect of having to write thousands more in the form of blog entries just makes me weary.

- Victoria

I couldn't agree more. I have had a website for ages, and added in the blog functionality about 3 years ago. I update and redesign the site as the mood hits me (I update the personal stuff weekly, but usually redesign about once a year, takes me forever as I am such a hack :)). The blog, on the other hand... I think if I averaged a post a month on it over the time I have had it integrated, I would be surprised. I would much rather spend the time working on my WIP.

[scribbler1382]

In a nutshell, a full blown website = time spent maintaining that website. A simple blog = almost 0 maintenance.

Bingo. The main reason I moved from a tradition website to what I have now, is that I'd spend a huge whack of time setting it up, and then I'd never update it. With this new setup, not only is it easy to logon and write a new blog post, but I even have a special email address assigned to me that I can use. I just write an email to that address and when I send it <boom> it shows up as a new post on my website. (fyi, I use blogger.com)

[DamaNegra]

I guess the easiest thing is to have a website with a blog on the front page or something. I have neither, I'm too lazy to build a website and too inconsistent to have a blog, plus there'd be nothing to say about my work or anything in a website, so there's no point in it.

[maestrowork]

I have had my site (and my own domain name for years). But recently I revamped it and included more content including the blog. Your website and your blog should be ever evolving.

[Medievalist]

Frankly I find it all rather exhausting. I probably write a million words a year, between my novels and articles and Writer Beware emails and posts in forums such as this one; the prospect of having to write thousands more in the form of blog entries just makes me weary.

- Victoria

Victoria, recycle! There's nothing wrong with using text you created for one place -- a post, a notification on the Web site -- as the core of a blog post.

It's not like selling the same story to two publishers; it's more like telling an anecdote or explaining something to one friend, then maybe e-mailing essentially the same information to a group of other friends, and then perhaps fleshing it out for a full fledged article.

It's a matter of audience and purpose.

[Medievalist]

I have both a web site, and well, a number of blogs (part of my geekish expertise is content management systems/LMS, etc. I try most things myself).

You might want to look at Typepad, which while it's seemingly for blogs, lets you also create stationary web sites--and you don't have to learn a lot of HTML etc.

Typepad includes not only access to the web based tools, but hosting as well; so while it's a bit more than a number of ISPs/servers/web hosts, it includes the blog software.

Or, there are very good free blogging tools as well -- MovableType, WordPress, . . . plus things like Blogger that let you use your own domain. There's an enormous variety.

[SpookyWriter]

I have a link to Ann Crispin on my blog site, only because I've known her for a period of time and respect her work.

[Nateskate]

I've had a website for years, and I only just began blogging (it's a Writer Beware blog (http://accrispin.blogspot.com/), not a personal one, done jointly with Ann Crispin, the other half of Writer Beware).

My website is about much more than just my books; there's personal information, articles, book reviews, and a resource on building a writer's website. It's not static--I add new material to it regularly to encourage repeat traffic. If I do decide to start a personal blog, I'll do so as a feature of the website, a way of adding more content.

I'm not sure yet where the Writer Beware blog will go--Ann and I are still feeling our way with it. We want it to be useful as a resource for writers, but we also want it to be a more personal window into the work of Writer Beware, and to some degree into our lives (though both of us are wary of putting a lot of day-to-day personal info online).

I think that for writers, blogs are starting to become what websites used to be: a way of personally interacting with an audience. All the things that used to be said about websites--make it personal, make it content rich, keep it changing so people will come back--is now said about blogs. Perhaps not surprisingly, blogs now suffer from the same problem that websites do: there are just too many of them, and anyone starting one is going to be one grain of sand on the beach of the blogosphere. Some writers see their blogs as a way of self-promoting, but unless you have an audience that will come looking for you, or unless you can come up with some fabulously unique hook (and a way to let people know about it), I think you face the same traffic issues as with a website. If you build it, they won't necessarily come.

Frankly I find it all rather exhausting. I probably write a million words a year, between my novels and articles and Writer Beware emails and posts in forums such as this one; the prospect of having to write thousands more in the form of blog entries just makes me weary.

- Victoria

I came to my friend, asking him to help me with my Blog- text/pictures/soundbites. And he starts digging, "What is your goal?"

He is a computer genius involved in the web industry, and what he was telling me was a bit overwhelming. Essentially he was coaching me to forgo the Blog for a website, how to create the site, create links to my site (all legal and ethical) so that when people search all kinds of keywords from music/poetry/religion/shopping, they will find my site. He's brilliant, and I think if "Marketing" is my first concern, and I have a lot of energy to invest, this makes sense.

But I'm much more of an artist than a business person. I barely know how to put my shoes on, let alone invest a great deal of time to making my website the great link in the e-world. Fortunately I have some kind friends who will help me put together my Blog once I get my artwork/photography...etc done.

It seemed he was thinking from a marketing standpoint, that if I want people to be exposed to my poetry, see my books...etc, this was the way to go?

[Linda Adams]

It seemed he was thinking from a marketing standpoint, that if I want people to be exposed to my poetry, see my books...etc, this was the way to go?

Your friend has some good ideas, especially for one note that often gets lost in the shuffle when a book comes out. I see a lot of writers talk about putting up a Web site a month or a week before their book is going to come out to help promote it.

What they don't realize is that the Internet has grown so much that it takes six months to get on a search engine like Google. A month before a book release is already too late for it to even be noticed by the search engine spiders, much less be an effective promotion.

If you have a book coming out, I'd suggest both because it's more opportunities for promotion, for getting the word out about you--and it's a form of promotion that's relatively low cost and 24 hours a day.

[Nateskate]

Your friend has some good ideas, especially for one note that often gets lost in the shuffle when a book comes out. I see a lot of writers talk about putting up a Web site a month or a week before their book is going to come out to help promote it.

What they don't realize is that the Internet has grown so much that it takes six months to get on a search engine like Google. A month before a book release is already too late for it to even be noticed by the search engine spiders, much less be an effective promotion.

If you have a book coming out, I'd suggest both because it's more opportunities for promotion, for getting the word out about you--and it's a form of promotion that's relatively low cost and 24 hours a day.

Thanks for the advice.

[MadScientistMatt]

I've seem the two as slightly different media. Although you can put "serious" articles on blogs - mine includes a couple - blogs are often best suited to diary-type writing where your main concern is ease of inserting rapid updates. For example, keeping track of progress on a project, opinions on current events, etc. Websites are often the best choice for a static collection of entries - articles, picture galleries, and especially sound galleries.

It sounds like what you need should be on a static website. However, the amount of artistry that it takes to put into a website does not need to be any more than what you put into a blog.

[victoriastrauss]

Victoria, recycle!I know. But there's still this stubborn little voice in me that says it's cheating....

About websites...my stepmother, a prolific nonfiction writer, confronted the website issue a couple of years ago. She didn't have the time to create and maintain the site herself (let alone learn how to use the necessary software), and wanted someone else to do it for her. I advised her to choose someone to whom she had easy daily access (me, for instance) and to eschew fancy design and cutting-edge technology, in order to keep her website accessible to the largest number of users. She did neither, and sprang for an elaborate design that can only be added to and changed by her webmaster--who is now MIA. So what she has wound up with is a static, out of date website that only looks right in Internet Exploder and isn't even working properly anymore, since a lot of the little applets the designer built in have gone wonky.

I think it really, really pays to make your website accessible--which sometimes means foregoing nifty design features--and to maintain it yourself if you possibly can.

You do have to market your website, or no one will know it exists. There's actually a fairly comprehensive section on this on my own website--probably a bit out of date at this point but still relevant.

For published writers, the advantage of a website is obvious--it lets you interact with readers and advertises your books. For writers who are seeking publication, it's a little harder to say what the benefit is. I don't think that websites build audiences, unless they (the websites) are really authoritative or unique--and in that case, they may not be building an audience for your books. Writer Beware, which gets a lot of traffic, is a case in point. As the Writer Beware person, I have a fairly high profile, at least on the Internet. As Author Victoria, I'm as obscure as ever.

- Victoria

[scribbler1382]

What they don't realize is that the Internet has grown so much that it takes six months to get on a search engine like Google. A month before a book release is already too late for it to even be noticed by the search engine spiders, much less be an effective promotion.

This is true, but something else to take into consideration, which few people do, is that it takes even longer to get OFF a search engine. Long after sites have gone the way of the discarded wrapper, links to non-existant pages pop up during searches. This can be frustrating to readers looking for your site. Possibly to the point where they'll stop trying.

It's best to remember that as with posts on usenet and even in forums like this one, your words are going to be around for a long, LONG time. Choose wisely, grasshopper.

[Medievalist]

What they don't realize is that the Internet has grown so much that it takes six months to get on a search engine like Google.

No, it doesn't really. There are a number of things that affect Google listing, but linkage is the key. Quality content, and quality links to your site have a lot to do with Google listing.

You have to submit your site too, of course, but using Google's Site Map tool--or Google Base, where appropriate--can have your site in Google listings in a matter of days.

[Richard]

Yes, I was about to say that as well. There's no way it's going to take six months any more - unless you've done something really silly, or produced something so bland that it doesn't attract any links or attention from anyone in the universe, it'll be up in the listings before you know it.

[Mike Coombes]

What they don't realize is that the Internet has grown so much that it takes six months to get on a search engine like Google.

Maybe if you sit back and hope for the best. You have to work at it. Sites I build usually show up on Google within a week, and usually get on front page and pagerank 3+ within 2 months. The pageranking's the hardest to achieve, but you get out what you put in.

[Mike Coombes]

Actually Google for writers is a red herring. Nobody's heard of you, or your book. You're brand new!

What counts is to have an attractive site that's easy to navigate and has killer content. Build the best site you can, tell everyone who'll listen it's there, and update regularly to keep them coming back - that's where your blog comes in. Assuming you write som,ething that others want to read...

[Richard]

Not necessarily. True, nobody's going to be searching for you personally, but you'll still pull them in when they hit keywords like (checks own statistics page)...um...nude mud wrestling, sexy holiday photos, Las Cruces J.T. Fisher, shitty objects tomb raider,george formby grill and prince of persia naked chick.

Uh..

You never know. They might stick around afterwards..

Uh... Maybe...

[Kasey Mackenzie]

I know. But there's still this stubborn little voice in me that says it's cheating....

Also keep in mind that nothing says you HAVE to update your blog every single day. I've seen some authors that do a weekly, or monthly, or even seasonal type post on their blog. Or just a newsletter page on the website if they are posting updates several months apart. I think it's just nice as a fan to be able to "hear" from your favorite authors even if it's just every few months or so.