SBI Site or Blog?
Did you know that 95% of blogs are quickly abandoned, never to be posted to again? A recent NY Times articles goes into more detail: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html?_r=1
SBI is a strong proponent of building a quality, content rich Web site over building a blog. That’s not to say that that they are totally against blogs. They just think sites stand the test of time better.
We’ve had a couple of blogs including this one and one thing we totally agree with is it’s really hard to keep up with a blog on a consistent basis. You are all fired up when you first start out but then it becomes a chore, a heavy weight on your shoulders.
Another thing about blogging is that you don’t have much guidance on how to organize it, how to keep things fresh or how to build it into something that will earn money.
Blogs take a lot of time and like we said can become a monkey on your back.
One of the blogs we had [link: chickmagnate.com] was rolling along great for quite a while. Then things changed for us in our personal lives and our beloved blog went by the way side. Our traffic plummeted and it’s been sitting there ever since in the blog poppy field. It still looks great (we think so anyway) but no one visits. We could kick ourselves now because if we had made that a Web site – even an SBI site, our traffic would have kept on growing over time. Increasing traffic is another key point in favor of building a Web site over a blog.
Another thing is that both of us have made far more money on our sites. In fact, we’ve made very little on any of our blogs even when we did spend time regulary providing what we felt was original, valuable information. We just felt that with the blogs, people were in and out. They read a post or two, maybe posted, glanced around at best and then they’re off to the next thing. Pretty hard to sell something to folks who are there and gone within minutes.
It’s different when it comes to Web sites.
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Another thing we look back on now is that we didn’t market our blog much. We counted on keyword generated traffic and such but we never thought about inbound links, article marketing and other marketing techniques. I guess because we did not always have direction.
Relationships are tough to build on blogs too especially with hundreds of new ones popping up everyday. A Web site on the other hand allows you to build relationships in a variety of ways and if your site is decent, your visitors tend to stay longer. For whatever reason, they seem to connect better on a Web site.
So here’s the question…
Why don’t people just build Web sites?
We guess it’s because most people online want “fast and easy.” They want to believe they can make money with as little effort as possible. It’s just human nature I guess. That little “get-rich-quick” voice starts talking in their ear and they’re off chasing the next thing. We know, because we’ve fallen for it too.
So Why The Big Buzz About Blogs?
- It’s easy to do
- You can get one up fast
- Blogs get indexed quickly
- Blogs are starting to look like “real” sites
But…
After a while blog’s content falls off the main page. Visitors typically don’t visit old posts. Think about it. Do you visit old posts? Who has time for that when there are so many up-to-the minute ones?
A specific topic-focused content site on the other hand can be constantly adding evergreen content. Search Engines come back because they know there will be long-term, enduring value provided on a site.
After many learning experiences online, we realize that any successful business requires persistence, learning the right skills, and implementing a plan over the long haul. And we mean the really long haul. This is what the SBI! process offers without needing tech skills or constant attention. And the result is a long term business that will succeed and stand the test of time.
If you are starting to wonder about this site vs. blog thing, check out the comparison chart on this page about doing an SBI! site as opposed to a WordPress blog. We think it’s quite helpful…
Let us know what you think!
