The name of your blog may or may not be identical to your business name. Let’s take a look at the decision from several perspectives. First up is the question of keeping your blog and static site separate or converting your entire site to a blog platform.
Static Website and Blog Linked But Separate
If you have decided to maintain a static site for your business and have a blog that’s linked to it, then differentiating the main site from the blog may be important so that you don’t inadvertently confuse your visitors. You have, essentially, three choices:
- Your blog and your static site share the same title, which may be the same as your business name (or not—more on this later)
- Your blog’s title is the same as your static site with “Blog” at the end
- Your blog’s title is different but associated with your static site’s name
Let’s say your business name is Dispute Resolution Services for Cat Owners (well, you’ve done a fine job of choosing a focused target market, I’ll give you that). If you title your static site and your blog the same, then visitors may find it a challenge to know what to look for where across two different websites.
Alternatively, you could name your blog The Dispute Resolution Services for Cat Owners Blog (or DRSCO Blog, I suppose), but that’s starting to become quite a mouthful. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue and presents some challenges for your domain name (more on that later). And a few people have mixed or downright negative feelings about including the word “Blog” in a title, though that’s a personal preference kind of choice.
Another alternative, then, would be to name your blog Purrfect Harmony. It’s separate and distinct from your static site, yet clearly related, and the visitor to your blog can probably guess that you write something about cats (or cat owners) getting along.
Your Blog Is Your Website
I predict that in a few years, you’ll no longer need to make the decision to convert your entire site to a blog platform or keep your blog as a separate entity. As more and more of us convert our entire sites, I believe the trend will evolve into all websites naturally integrating the special features of blog platforms—or whatever they mature into over time.
Almost two years ago I made the decision to convert my static business site to a blogsite, as I have with Mediator Tech. I want visitors to Mediator Tech to see new material right away, without having to click through one or more links to see what’s fresh. I also want visitors to be able to find out other traditional information (who I am, how to contact me, etc.) right away as well. I also wanted the ease and simplicity of managing content for my site without a lot of effort.
I’ll never go back to a static site in the way we know them now, multi-page online brochures. Obviously, I have strong opinions about this for my own business. How you structure your own site along the static vs. blog continuum is a decision that needs to combine your personal preferences with the needs of the target market you’re trying to cultivate. Here are some questions to consider:
- Do you want customer-focused content front and center? Then a blogsite is a very good choice.
- Do you want your customers to first learn more about you and what you’re selling? You can do this with either a static or a blog-based site, since blogs can have static “pages” just like a static site (my “Contact” page is a static page).
- Do you want articles to be an add-on but not a central feature of your site? Then a static site, from which you offer a link to our blog, is probably your best option.
- Are you website design and HTML savvy or have cash in hand to pay a site designer? If not, then a blogsite is much simpler to get going.
- Do you have the ability or the funds to coordinate the appearances of your static site and your blog site, so they relate to one another in spirit and design? If not, then selecting a blog platform for your site is likely a solid choice.
If your entire site is integrated on a blog platform, then it only needs a single name. Should it be your name, your business name, or something rather different? We shall see.
