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[ellatep]

What is the best way to start a blog on the same subject as my static website? Is it better to have it as part of my static website which I already have built similar to affilorama or to make it a separate entity under its own domain name? Sorry if I have asked this before but Im confused. What are the pros and cons and is there a lesson anywhere on this topic?
cheers
ella

 

[faradina]

Hi Ella,

There are lessons on blogging at http://www.affilorama.com/marketing-ideas but they do not specifically address your question.

In my opinion, it's better for the blog to be attached to the static site, either on a subdomain ( http://blog.staticsite.com ) or a subfolder ( http://staticsite.com/blog ). I prefer the subfolder option myself.

When the blog is incorporated with your static site, it will definitely be identified with your site, being part of it, and people who regularly read your blog posts will be more likely to look at the other pages on your site. Compare that to having a separate domain for your blog: it would actually be separate site altogether and people may not be as ready to click on the links that lead to your static site.

Just my 2 cents. I hope that helps :)

 

[ellatep]

Thanks Fara
cheers
ella

 

[referee]

I agree with Faradina. I have a subdomain for my blog.
Good question!
Mark

 

[MyOnlineTrainingHub]

Hi Ella,

Add the blog as a subfolder to your domain.

By creating a new folder in the root of your domain e.g. yourdomain.com/blog you can install Wordpress into that subfolder and just add a link in your site's menu to yourdomain.com/blog.

You'll have to duplicate the menus from your static site in the Wordpress blog, but moving back and forth betwen your static site and the blog will be seamless to users, though you will have some work to do to make the static site and the blog look the same.

If you add the blog as a subdomain then that's not as good for SEO as you essentially have 2 websites as Fara said.

 

[Z&D_Marketing]

Hi ella,

I have my blog ina sub folder in my domain. There are a few reasons really.

Firstly and most importantly, because you howst your content - you control it. If you don't host it and your blogging service decides to cancel / remove your account or has problems you can lose all your previous posts and won't be able to stay in contact with your readers.

Next I'd say is that as the above post mentions - the transition from your blog to index page / other pages on your site will be a lot smoother for visitors and they will see that your blog really is part of your website. Some people are afraid to click on links to other sites, so this prevents that issue from coming about.

And finally I'd say that it is easy to do with sites such as blogger and WordPress - I use wordpress.

Hope that has helped!

Dan

 

[gibowetz]

Sorry to take over but I would like some help taking this a step further.

From reading above I want to add a blog to my static site via a sub folder.

That is exactly where my understand ends. Would someone be willing to go into detail of how to do this or point me in the right direction?

I am using Wordpress 3.0.1. and Affilotheme 3.0

Would be hugely appreciated!

 

[jmpruitt]

It really depends on your hosting. If you are using hostgator, you can go to your Cpanel and select fantastico. When you install, designate the subfolder t hat you want your blog in. I see a lot of people name this sub folder "blog" but I would recommend using the main keyword that you want to target for your subfolder name.

 

[gibowetz]

Thanks James, your a great help. Yes I am using Hostgator, I will check it out. If I need more help I will start a new thread. Thanks again!

 

[esolutions]

Hi,

Are you using wordpress as the actual structure of your static site? If so, then I assume that you are either using posts or pages. Either way, you could setup a category for your blog, and then just do all posts inside of that category.

 

[mattyk72]

Hi

The easiest thing I do is create a Wordpress page called 'Blog' or 'Articles' and then go to Settings-->Reading, and then select Static Page (make sure you select the page you want as your home page), and then the 'Blog' or 'Articles' page as the place where you want all your posts. Then just post as normal and Wordpress does the rest. My excessivearmpitsweatinginfo dot com website is an example.

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[ellatep]

Thanks everyone!