Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Two Types Of Websites You Should Have

By Darrel Hawes


Websites are an effective means of marketing your services and staying connected with your customers, prospective customers, etc. But you may be wondering: what type of website do I need?

The first thing you'll likely have to decide is what format to go with. In the first phase it comes down to using either a blog or a static site.

A static site is the generally used type that has been online as long as the internet itself. In fact, most websites are static sites.

Then there's blogs. Blogs are such a widely accepted alternative because they're simple to create and maintain. Out of the two options of static sites and blogging, blogs are the least formal.

So which should you choose?

You should know that many companies utilize both. They may have a primary, formal website and a blog for casual messages. Oftentimes the blog is separate from the main site.

If you're just starting out, it's hard to go wrong with blogging, at least at first. You can always build a static site afterward. Blogs like Wordpress are easy to set up and work with.

Another nice feature of blogging is that content and structure are separate. Altering your blog's look and feel will not effects your content.

You may find that a blog is all you need because they can often be customized to look like a traditional site. So, you can have the best of both worlds: the benefits of a blog with the look of a static site.

If at all possible, you should spend a little time planning in advance what you want your site to look like in the future. Look at other successful sites in your industry and try to "deconstruct" them. Answer the question of why they are successful and emulate some or all of the features of those sites. You don't have to copy them, just creatively adapt to your own situation.

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