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Blog software has a lot going for it in terms of dynamic content creation, ease of use, ease of update, content syndication and built in SEO tools. So why not use it as your entire web site? Great question - and one that more and more small business folks are coming around to.
I love WordPress and use it to power this blog. The WordPress software is very easy to use as an entire site management tool as well. The only real draw back is that most of the themes for WordPress are created specifically for blogs and have a very bloggy look.
I’ve recently run across a couple very talented WordPress designers that are taking the web site design approach to creating themes specifically for use as traditional web sites. With these themes the homepage looks like a home page and other static pages found on traditional web sites exist as well. But, you get a blog too - how cool is that?
iThemes - several versions to choose from in multiple color combinations - complete web site look and feel.
Remix - very flexible, multi design theme that comes with functions that allow you to create a very customized look.
Using this approach allows you to easily create a very stylish web site that can function much more like a content management tool allowing anyone with permission to edit and create pages from any web browser. Now, add some plug-ins from the WordPress community and you have some very powerful functionality for very little money and time invested.
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at Feb 12, 08 | 8:03 am and is filed under Blogging, Social Media, Web design, WordPress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
I love that you’re mentioning WordPress as a good way to step away from a “brochureware” website and towards a blog-powered website. We’ve been recommending this to our clients at Sustainable Websites for a while - customers are surprised how much they can do themselves. Certainly look for a host that has a one-click installer - most cPanel based hosts have a program called Fantastico that makes it very easy to install WordPress.
Rock on with the WP evangelism … and the observation that designers are bringing cool, “less bloggish” themes to the community. I’m an evangelist for REVOLUTION ( http://www.revolutiontheme.com ) , an inexpensive and very flexible theme.
I’m currently using it at my site, and my audience loves it.
[...] approach to creating themes specifically for use as t raditional web sites…. source: Is it a blog or a web site?, Duct Tape Marketing [...]
Wordpress is a wondering CMS and Blog platform. I think the more designers work with WP, the more they feel they can expand on it’s capabilities. Since WP is so easily installed on most hosts, even small businesses can afford to implement this CMS, and it comes with lots of support and help around the web. Doesn’t get much better than that!
Have you heard of Terapad? Well worth checking out if you are interested in a Blog / Small business website combination. Loads more features than wordpress and because it uses CSS editing our themes are a lot more customisable than Wordpress.
Thanks,
Josh
This post was a God-send. It reinforced a couple ideas I have had for the future of my site (which I no longer refer to as a blog, lol).
Anyway, I was wondering if yourself or your readers have any tips for those of us that use Blogger. I was advised to switch to WordPress last year and think it is too late to do so now. Anyway, if anyone has thoughts on premium site-like templates for Blogger uses, please share.
I’m by no means an expert, but was able to figure out a way to export the data from my old LiveJournal blog and easily import it into WordPress. I’m sure the same options exist for Blogger.
There’s so many support forums out their for WordPress. Overcoming a problem is very easy.
John, I have recently completed a couple of sites for customers using wordpress - one with almost all static content (pages) and the other with a mixture of pages and posts. The absolute turning point for me was the release of Microsoft Live Writer V2. If you are on Windows this is a must have Wordpress tool.
Windows Live Writer (WLW) makes publishing as easy as using a word processor. Pages or posts can be created or loaded from the website, edited and then saved as drafts or published. WLW reads your sites style sheets and even does a trial posting so that it can analyse the sites look and feel so that when you are editing you get a real feel for how it will look on the site.
The real killer though is how easy it makes handling images. Simply insert a picture from your local machine, size it, justify it left or right (etc) apply styling (drop shadow for instance) and then when you save the page WLW uploads a version of the image sized as per your scaling, and also, optionally uploads a full sized image and links to it from the smaller version.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I have had to explain to a site owner why its not a good idea to try and upload a 4Mbit image from a digital camera to their website! This removes all this hassle!
I should also say of Wordpress that as the project is community supported there is an excellent set of support documentation, forums and FAQ.
solomonsydelle
Check this post out it will show you how to move a blogger blog to WordPress
http://codex.wordpress.org/Importing_Content#Blogger
[...] Is it a blog or a web site? [...]
Thanks Lee. I have always been afraid of making such a step. But hopefully the transition will be relatively smooth.
Thanks John, for the link. Will check it out.
[...] shows how it’s possible to do this using WordPress with his blog post from earlier today - Is it a blog or a website? For most people that are currently not on the web, it might be a stretch, both in time [...]
I love the almost interchangeable nature of blogs and websites. I think making websites more accesible to those not so technically savvy, even if it’s through a blog format, is a great way to open the gates. Posting online should be easy.
The idea of a blog as a website is a good one, but if you’re going to use Wordpress, you should make sure you have a designer who can work with it and the ability to host it on your own servers.
I recommend Typepad for my customers, both for the SEO advantage and because it’s easier for small business owners and marketers to use.
Wordpress requires customization, and though it’s open source, it requires a lot more attention. Constant upgrades for security are also needed.
Although - when I convert from blogger, it’s easier to import content into Wordpress and then import the wordpress content into typepad. It saves the titles.
Jim,
While I agree that TypePad is much easier I’m wondering why you think it has SEO advantages. Seems to me that a blog on your domain and server would enhance your overall site more than a hosted offering.
[...] of a bloggy Wordpress look? Posted on February 13, 2008 by Carlo Maglinao John Jantsch recommends templates that would make your blog look like a “site” [...]
The sandbox theme is a designers dream. I’ve got our blog on wordpress.com, and just pay $15 a year to add custom CSS.
It’s amazing.
With Sandbox + CSS, our blog looks identical to our site.
Hi John,
Our site is also built on wordpress. It’s a great content management system.
We also get lots of clients these days who are looking for a good content management system, and we set them up with wordpress.
So far, so good!
[...] Read Duct Tape Marketing and make sure you have your own blog
One of the great things about Wordpress is that it’s free and there are a lot of free themes. It’s too bad there weren’t a couple of free themes highlighted as well.
I am in the process of changing my blog to use a more ‘magazine style’ theme like the ones you mentioned. I think the traditional blog layout of ‘the last X posts on the front page’ is too restrictive for information based websites. Having a theme such as the ones you mentioned gives you more control over your home page. A front page without too much post text has many benefits:
1) You can more easily include target keywords on your static front page.
2) There’s more information for people to look at when they first land at your website - in a traditional blog layout people are just straight into reading the latest post. If the front page is taken up with post content then you can include welcome messages, help and lots of navigation.
3) It looks more like a ‘real website’. Many people still don’t trust blogs.
I think Problogger’s new look is a great example of this type of layout.
Using Wordpress to create the entire site works perfect for the majority of small and medium business owners out there. You can just grab or have a template made for you and go to town.
One key that I found works best is to find the plug-in that allows you to control the front page if you don’t want the blog itself on the front page. That way you can have a traditional website with dynamic content (in the sidebar say).
It’s easy and works great. What more could you ask for?
To Higher Profits,
Dave Ryan, Consultant
[...] recently came across a post Is it a blog or website? on duct tape marketing that highlighted the emerging value of Wordpress as a web tool. Users are [...]
I wouldn’t just limit the Wordpress platform to small and mid sized businesses. It can actually handle thousands of indexed pages and be stitched together with a variety of other forum platforms, social media tools, and complex delivery systems.
When leveraging multi-user wordpress and having the ability to control and OWN the platform you are using for business projects, it only makes sense to control your own destiny.