So, how do they differ?

Aim

Blogs serve two purposes. They’re brilliant for search engine ranking. The dynamic, changing content of a blog counts, but the biggest thing is building an audience. Google doesn’t care much about what you say about your business, but it cares hugely about what other people say about it. A lively, interesting blog containing articles which other people link to is the biggest thing you can do to improve your Google-ranking.

The other reason is relationships. Write well and you’ll be demonstrating your expertise, further strengthening your visitors’ trust in you. It’s the difference between the local butchers and the deli in the supermarket.

But, if the blog is about building relationships and doing well in search engines, it’s only a supporting role. The business end of a company’s web presence is the main site. Its aim is usually more direct, examples include, among others: providing information, visitors subscribing to a newsletter, purchasing a product, getting in contact and brand awareness.

Content

A blog is used to write informal posts on anything the blogger wishes, while a website is for publishing formal and official information. So, you wouldn’t normally go to a company’s website looking for personal opinion, but you might look for delivery details. And, you wouldn’t visit a company’s blog if you wanted more information about one of their products, but you might if you were after their thoughts on how a change in the law might affect their business.

It doesn’t matter what the business, the same distinctions apply: keep the main website for formal and official information, and the blog for informal opinion. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with discretely displaying the latest blog post on the main site, but it shouldn’t be a main feature.

Design

The informal nature of blogs usually means a more informal design, flexible enough to adapt to changing content, while still retaining the visual identity of the business. Most visitors also expect standard features such as categories, archives, RSS feeds and so on, simply because that’s what they’re familiar with.

The company website, on the other hand, needs more careful design to enable the business to communicate most effectively with its visitors. The structuring of the information, content strategy and user experience require careful planning, with much more emphasis on directly achieving the aims of the business.

Information flow

You wouldn’t normally allow commenting on the main website, but it’s positively encouraged on a blog. This two-way flow of information is vital to the blog achieving its aim of building relationships.

In summary

So, the difference between blogs and standard sites: blogs should contain impersonal accounts and opinion whereas the main site is for formal and official information targeted to achieve a specific goal. Why have a blog? Because they are the best investment you can make for search engine ranking and for building relationships with your visitors. Where? Company blogs work best when attached to the main company website, just like ours!

Another definition of a blog is: “an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on [the web],” from here.