One comment and question I have seen come up a lot lately is, should a blog be integrated into a website? While I have no problem with putting a link on your website to your blog and vice versa. I do have a problem with actually integrating your blog into your website. I actually discussed this with Kevin O’Keefe of LexBlog today. Kevin is one of the most knowledgeable individuals I know when it comes to blogging. What follows is a summary of that conversation.
A blog is akin to an educational magazine. If you are updating your blog with new content, as you should be, you are publishing new issues of your “magazine” every time you do. You are providing free information to the public in a form and method people can use and understand. It is not the same type of promotional tool as a website. You are providing updated information on a blog often. You update it daily, weekly or monthly. And a blog is meant to be cited, people don’t cite a website. The big advantage of a blog over a static website is just that, it gets cited. Not just from lawyers, but lot’s of other bloggers. If you put your blog inside the website, those cites to your blog will not happen. You will not get the same SEO either. Cites and links are what drive traffic to your blog and in turn drive you business.
A blog is networking and a conversation without physically leaving your office. You leave your office, but you are leaving it via a virtual relationship with your readers. The conversation continues on a blog by having people comment directly on your blog. The conversation also continues by having people drop you an email. Or by linking to you blog posts and either agreeing or disagreeing with you. This is something that you won’t get with a website. And in my view, it is not something you will get with a blog imbedded in a website.
Most if not all of the time, I don’t even notice a blog that is imbedded in a website. The blog looks too much like the website for me to notice. And in that sense, you are actually harming your possible Search Engine Optimization (SEO), by imbedding the blog into the website. In addition, you are “shooting yourself in the foot and you are going to get lower Return on Investment (ROI) compared to having a completely separate blog. In addition, there is a significant SEO advantage, especially if you put the blog on a separate domain.
From my own experience, I get must better SEO in Kansas with my blog compared to most of the static websites. You should keep you blog separate from your website. Drive traffic to your website with your blog.
A website for the most part is a static creature. Something that once you put it together, it does not change. Now, I will admit, there are exceptions to that rule. But only a few. A static website is a lot like a firm brochure that stays static. It contains promotional content about the firm, lawyers, the work they do, the services they offer and contact information for all the firms employees, including staff.
However, dare I say, you can do the same thing with a well designed and professional looking blog. You can take advantage of a blog’s About page to provide the basic information a static website does and in turn get much better ROI and SEO.
I know this post is going to cause some of you to call foul. If it does, please comment. Lets keep the conversation going.
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