What’s Better for Your Personal Brand – a Blog or a Website?

I’m often asked this question, and my answer is pretty consistent: for an individual, a blog is almost always better, and for a company it is frequently better as well.

I have both, but that’s really an artifact (website, blog). While I can fool around with HTML and other web technologies, I’m not a web developer. My HTML learning pretty well halted in 1995, so what I know is largely useless. Nevertheless, I built a personal website that is Flash-based, using technology from an Israeli startup that makes this pretty easy.

Later, when I felt more confident about going public on the Internet, I started my own blog. I wrote pretty consistently for about a year, but I haven’t written much there recently. (I’ve gotten involved with a startup company, which is very time-consuming, so I’ve been restricting my writing to this site.) It’s OK to give yourself permission to write or abstain – unless your blog is your job. And once you’ve got enough posts – and assuming they’re good – you really don’t have to write frequently.

Oh, and don’t forget to have fun with your blog – just don’t write about religion or politics.

So, I have both a website and a blog. But I still recommend a blog for you, and here’s why:

1. You can write, edit, and post articles without any real technical knowledge. In fact, I write my posts in Word, which allows me to publish them on my blog site in draft or final form (this requires Word 2007).
2. Your blog can be infinitely adjustable – by you, without requiring technical assistance. WordPress, which is the platform I recommend, is designed to be a publishing system (also known as a content management system). Its main purpose is to enable you to post articles and create discussions as a content manager rather than as a technocrat.
3. Your blog will actually get higher Google ratings than most websites – and if you’re out there promoting yourself, this should be all you need to hear! My blog typically gets indexed by Google within 15 minutes of posting an article. I know because I immediately get a Google Alert about the article. I’m also easily found by topic (look up “personal branding statement” on Google and you’ll usually see my article within the first few results (and interestingly, you’ll see the version here on blog.Brand-Yourself.com rather than the version on my own, more humble, blog). Google may actually favor blogs because their content is more frequently updated than static websites.
4. You can make your blog just as appealing as a website. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of templates available for WordPress, and most are free.
5. You get useful statistics on readership. Not only do I know how many people read my blog, but I know how they get to it – including the search terms that are most often used. That, in turn, enables me to write more directed posts to get greater readership.
6. Blogs encourage conversations, and that’s hard to do on a website.

Keeping these ideas in mind, there are still great benefits to be had from a website that cannot be garnered from a standalone blog.  The biggest plus is the ability to provide a lot of information about yourself which doesn’t fit in a brief blog bio or LinkedIn profile.

Things like an extended biography, an annotated resume, detailed academic and extra-curricular information (for students and recent grads), and pretty much whatever else you want the world to know about you can all find a place on a website.  Brand-Yourself.com offers a great platform for website creation which is usable by pretty much anyone, regardless of technical ability.  Check it out!

Also remember, if your blog or website is on your own domain, and your domain is your name, it will help in your Google ranking. This is an advantage of hosting your own website or blog on your own domain.