Blog as Website

September 23, 2008

I have seen one or two small business web sites that were actually blogs.

I was not overly impressed because, Well, they looked, kinda blog-ish

Courtesy of Havi Brooks,  I was pointed to  this (micro) SMB web site that is actually doing a pretty good job of utilizing blogging software for their web site.

For a smaller organization, blog software could be pretty effective;

  • If you ensure that you update it regularly, search engine rankings will help generate traffic. Which can help generate sales.
  • Easy to operate
  • Easy to update
  • Easy to add pages and links

For All SMB’s?

I don’t see blogging software as much use in the general SMB /SME space as there are negatives. These include:

  • a very flat structure
  • lack of scalability into e-Commerce or CRM applications

That being said, for what I would call cottage industry businesses, it would be an excellent choice.

Also, local non-profits, or local chapters of non-profit organizations could use them quite effectively.

If you are a small business using blogging software, please point me to it!

UPDATE: After getting proven wrong, the Blog As WQebsite Revisited Post is now available !

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Posted by elliotross
Filed in SMB, SME, technology, web site
Tags: ,
5 Comments »

5 Responses to “Blog as Website”

  2. elliotross Says:

    October 1, 2008 at 19:07

    You win !

    Someone pointed out another as well – I will update that !

    Regards,

    Elliot

    Reply
  3. Julien Dionne Says:

    October 1, 2008 at 18:45

    Elliot,

    I’m expecting it would be as difficult as setting it up on a regular site.

    Here is an example of a good WordPress-Powered site.

    http://allthingsd.com/

    Reply
  4. elliotross Says:

    September 24, 2008 at 13:36

    Thanks for the input & dropping by!

    I definitely was thinking “out of the box” with blogs. The easy use and link creation is definitely perfect.

    Where I was thinking it could break down is having to get deeper as far as pages go, for example;

    company.com/industries/Your_Industry / Testimonials/Case Studies/ etc

    A real world example, one of our customers dives at least 4 layers deep. from ‘home page’ there are several options;

    Under one option (i.e. Resources)is sales, service, and management.

    And under each of those is up to four lower pages, (i.e. manuals, etc) under which “final data” resides.

    So this deep nesting ‘tree’ could be difficult.

    Reply
  5. Julien Dionne Says:

    September 24, 2008 at 10:36

    Hi Elliot,

    I haven’t seen blogs used a lot as business websites, but I think they could be used by many SMBs.

    Blogs don’t have to be flat at all… If someone decided to use WordPress as a business website, there is nothing preventing “theme” (layout) customization, adding more links in a side bar, adding web forms, creating cascading menus, embedding flash and PHP/Javascript code, or doing anything else a “normal” website would let you do. The initial customization will be slightly more difficult than for a “regular” website, but its maintenance will possible by anyone even with no IT knowledge.

    Unless there is a need to add other applications such as an e-commerce shopping cart or a discussion forums, I think there it’s a good fit for SMBs.

    Of course, if the requirements require more flexibility, then a content management system such as Drupal, would be more appropriate. With the maturity and ease of implementation of blogs (which are really just barebone CMS systems), and other free CMS applications, I think we will see less and less custom websites created by SMBs.

    Julien

    Reply

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