Like a lot of things, the answer to this question is a little bit “it depends” but I wanted to run through how my opinion has changed on this.
I think I just sort of fell into the habit of having a blog separate from the main website and, more often than not, would advise my clients the same. It made sense to me to keep your website as your polished shopfront of your products/ services and to have your authentic blog as a more personal outpost – offering a separate route in to you. But I don’t agree with that anymore. If you are your business then your blog/main website should be one on the same (on the basis that content is relevant obviously). We can marry the two together.
Backlinks, SEO & Google
Having a blog separate from your main website can be good for search engine optimisation (SEO) but focusing on Google, instead of on your audience, is fatal mistake. You could get fixated with “back links” etc instead of purely focusing on creating meaningful content; and surely it’s better to have all your content & offerings in one place? Put all your ducks in a row (as long as it makes sense to the audience).
Your authentic voice
However, I’ll forgive myself for dithering on this whole issue. The thing is, blogging and publishing online is a funny old game. It’s pretty easy to set up a blog. It’s even easier to tweet. What is not easy is to create relevant, engaging content which your audience love. And to do so in a tone of voice which is authentically you – that takes time.
And I’m not saying that I’m 100% there yet with the whole relevant, engaging content thing – it’s just that my thoughts are a lot clearer on the subject & of the task at hand.
Final Notes
On the upcoming Jojet website redesign, this blog will be incorporated into it. I’ll probably keep my personal blog going but that will typically be for slightly less relevant topics. Actually my personal blog did stumble for a while as I got confused as to where to post content: here or there? – luckily that’s clearer now.
Joel
p.s. keeping your blog separate from your main website can still be the right decision in a lot of cases; but just make sure you question the decision and that you are sure it makes sense.
I keep my blog (http://www.cvwdesign.com) separate because it’s mainly personal and technical posts (I guess aimed at other web developers) whereas my business site (http://www.cvwdesign.co.uk) is aimed at a different audience (small business owners). Is that good or bad? For me, it makes more sense to do it like that although I have pondered moving it and changing the articles to write for for small business owners. No decision on that yet.
Hi Clive,
that’s a really interesting point. I don’t go into uber techy stuff on the JOJET.COM blog for the same reason – that’ll be the domain for the JOELHUGHES.COM (or perhaps for the Port80 blog which does have a more defined web dev audience).
However, we also want to make sure we give our audience as much credit as possible. If a business user looked at your blog then yes, they may not understand all the ins & outs of LESS/SASS*, but perhaps they would take away the fact that you are passionate about about the web, authoritative on the subject and have the commitment to put pen to (virtual) paper….see what I mean? These are good things and are in your favour.
I think that your blog should probably be raised more in profile on your main website. Oh, and it needs a photo of you (you knew I would say that!)
Joel
*That article is very readable mind – not uber techy.
Good points Joel. I’m revising my main site at the moment so I’ll make sure that the blog is better placed. I’ve always struggled with the photos thing, finding a decent photo that isn’t taken in a pub or something proves difficult! I need to get a photoshoot done or something.
I know the photos one is hard but people buy from people – and yes, use a pro. They can make silk purses out of sow’s ears like us
Joel
Very interesting this Joel – I can’t see why visitors return to a site if there’s no dynamic content upfront – and a cheap and relationship building way of doing this, is via a blog.
And a blog looks like a small simple thing, but as I know you know, a great deal of thought needs to go into positioning and voice behind that small simple thing…
I’ve two blogs, one for psychology and one for creating content. Visitors to them behave quite differently, with psychology visitors wanting quick boosts, and content visitors sometimes hanging around for hours…
Accompanying twitter streams operate differently too – one fast and furious, the other slower and much more considered.
Aren’t we humans endlessly fascinating? – and thanks for the post.
Thanks Pippa,
and a very interesting comment!
“Aren’t we humans endlessly fascinating?” – yes. All this is talk of websites/blogs etc is crap – it’s all about the fascinating communication
Joel