Which one is the best for you a website, or a blog? If that
is a question you have let me share some experiences with you that might help.
Let’s start with a website. Personal websites are a great way to present your
talents, skills, and training to the internet world; kind of like a personal electronic
resume interested people can read 24-7 and interact with, if you have setup
your website for that purpose. Whether you’re a carpenter, mechanic, technician,
or in between job nurse, a personal website is one of the posting your job
skill qualifications to more employers. A lot of my friends are musicians and
their personal websites have not only helped them get gigs, but also helped
them promote their other musical skills, like song writing, or musicianship.
There are places on the internet like LinkedIn that can be
helpful if you’re job shopping, but even places like LinkedIn offer you the
link space to show your own business or personal website. If you’re an
organization, or part of an organization, a website can help you spread the
word about your organization in ways that to me are more helpful than phone
calls, or flyers, and allow interested people to interact with you instantly
night or day, weekday or weekend, to grow your membership, or donations.
E-Commerce websites allow you to both advertise and sell products,
so if you produce your own product, or sell the products from others an
e-commerce website can help you keep track of sales, and run a successful
online store. If what you plan to sell is your service (information, technical
repair, insurance, medical, holistic, or other service) your website can serve
as your online interactive business card. In many cases and online business
card that let people who visit your website, see, and hear your message.
A Blog is usually more text and expression related so if you
enjoy writing, especially about something you are passionate about perhaps a
blog will serve you best. In my case the word passionate translates to simply
knowing a little something about the person, place, or thing I plan to write
about. Usually the more I research or come to know about my chosen subject the
more passionate about my writing I become. When it comes to blogging it’s about
sharing what you know and feel about something with your readers. Example: when
it comes to writing I usually think in terms of writing a letter to a friend;
what I mean is if I discover something, or find something interesting about
writing, gardening, or some other interest of mine, my next step is usually to
think in terms of sharing that information in a letter that becomes my blog
post to a friend (you, the reader).
The real trick for a first time blogger is how not to
convince yourself that you really have nothing to write about. You may not
always be in the mood to write, I know that’s true for me, but what seems to
count most in blogging, besides dispensing all sorts of useful information, is
your own personal experience with people, places, and things. Sure everyone can do and experience the same
things, but what was your own personal experience? What stood out most to you?
Whether you enjoy working with your hands, sewing, cooking,
or planting a garden don’t be afraid to share that passion or information about
the effect it has on you, or how it makes you feel. Especially if what you are
passionate about stimulates feelings you don’t mind sharing. You might be
surprised how some topic you consider boring generates an interest in others. Naturally
I can only sight what works for me when it comes to writing down my thoughts; something
I’m still working on. With regard to blogging, I will say this, if you are an
author (published, self-published, or unpublished) you should have your own blog.
Blogging is a great way to keep in touch with your readers, and keep your
followers up-to-date about you, your writing projects, appearances, and new
releases.
For those in which the desire to write is already in your
DNA, having your own blog had even been responsible for the selling of a few
more of your books, articles, and short stories than usual. That’s just one of
at least a hundred good examples I can think of for having your own blog. You
should know your needs when it comes the website vs a blog question, and there
are web designers and blog designers out there ready to help you focus on your
internet goals.
Since I first became involved with the internet over ten
years ago I have watched internet capabilities grow in leaps and bounds from
personal computers and dot-coms in the early days, to laptops and Y-Fi growing
the amount of people with access to the internet, followed by tablets you can
take anywhere and now cellphones with all the operational perks of the old
comic book hero Dick Tracy’s wrist radio, so what will it be, website, or blog?
