Once you realise that visitors and search engines prefer
regularly-updated content to static archives of never-updated
articles, there's a simple way to make this a reality: just put
your content in a weblog format. Let's take a look at some of
the many advantages this approach brings.
No Need for HTML
Weblog software will give you an easy interface to upload
articles you write. You don't need to put them in templates, you
don't need to add HTML tags, and you don't need to use any
WYSIWYG editor - all you do is paste them into the box the
software gives you and press 'post'.
The advantages of this are obvious: it saves you time and
trouble (especially of you don't know HTML all that well). It
also tends to make it much easier to avoid layout mistakes
caused by typographical errors, since the weblog software is
producing the HTML for you.
No Need for a CMS
Likewise, you don't need a CMS (content management system) to
keep your site's content in check: all you need to do is add
tags to the content as you post it. Most weblog software will
create categories for you as you go, instead of you having to
categorise everything and pay attention to the way it all works.
Instead of managing your content, you just throw it on there and
let the software do the managing.
Since there's much more good weblog software available for free
than there is CMS software, this can save you quite a lot of
money. Also, although this is a subjective judgement, weblog
software tends to make your site look better than CMS' templates
do. People Know How Weblogs Work.
The weblog format has now become a standard, and people know
what they're doing with it. Instead of having to learn yet
another website format, looking around to see how you do things,
they know straightaway where to look to find things. The date,
the name of the author, the archives, the page about you -
everything has a standard position on a weblog, and most web
users have read enough weblogs to know what they are and how
they work.
This becomes even more powerful when it comes to asking visitors
to leave comments on articles: every non-weblog site does this
wildly different, while with weblogs it's quite standardised.
You just type your name, leave your comment, and it gets added
to the list - no muss, no fuss.
A Little Each Day
It's a well-known fact that it's easier to do things if you chip
away at them a bit at a time instead of trying to do them all at
once. The same goes for websites: it's much easier to write
little bits of content each day instead of trying to do it all
in one go. Weblogs give you the freedom to write when you're
inspired to and write as little or as much as you like, instead
of having to create a structured article or set of articles.
Trackbacks
Using weblog software that supports trackbacks (most do) makes
other weblogs more likely to link to you, as they know that
their site will appear in your trackbacks section. These links
increase your traffic and search engine rankings, especially if
you get linked from a popular weblog - and if you link to
others, they're more likely to link back to you.
RSS and Syndication
Putting your data in a weblog format also has the effect of
letting the weblog software produce data about the latest posts
using RSS (really simple syndication) format. Users can then
'subscribe' to these feeds using special software and websites,
and keep track of your latest posts, clicking through to read
the ones they're interested in. This is a little like turning
your existing content into an email newsletter, with no extra
trouble on your part - it gives people the opportunity to come
back over and over again.
About the author:
Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of Eclipse Domain
Services
Domain Names, Hosting, Traffic and Email Solutions.
