HTML or Blog For Index Page
Over the past 18 months or so I have become very comfortable with WP Blogs and all the different things you can do with plug-ins and the various themes that are available. Before I was introduced to WP I used programs such as Dreamweaver and Cold Fusion to develop websites. I have come to realize there are advantages to setting up your website as a blog from the get go or using a blog as a subsection of your HTML based website. I have used the WP blog format for complete websites and find the program to be great for a fast growing site that is continually updated. I think one has more control over the SEO of the index page when it is doen in a non blog format.
I have said in the past that each time I build a website I build a blog to accompany it. Whether it is using the Blogger.com or WP format I have found it to be extremely beneficial to start the blog at the same time the website is built. Rather than make the blog a subsection of the site I like to keep them seperate and on different servers if possible. I use the blog as the news reporting side of my web presence and keep the main site in an HTML format. This allows for two seperate sites on my subject of interest to be set up with different subject related keywords and thus have a greater chance of my service or product being found.
Here are some examples where I have used a Blog and a traditional HTML site in conjunction:
www.bbq-festivals.com (site)
www.bbqhub.com (blog)
www.truckerhub.com (site)
www.truckingjobs-usa.com (blog)
www.dsn3g.com (site)
www.todaysdigitalsignage.blogspot.com (blog)
In the end I think for larger sites, especially directory style sites like www.truckerhub.com, I prefer to build a standard website with an accompanying blog and for smaller sites using the full blog format. I like the HTML based index page.
What is your experience and thoughts on this subject.
Very nice work Eric and you’ve shared some really nice details by revealing these matching blogs with your static sites.
You know, I’ll be honest… I have never created a set up like this. I do indeed have quite a few static sites, but they do not have an accompanying blog. Instantly this makes sense to me and I will do this with a few of my sites right away.
Thanks for the tip.