by Edie Melson @EdieMelson
I’m on a lot of writer lists, and I read a lot of really questionable advice from well-meaning folks. But recently I read some advice that just about set my hair on fire.
The person giving the questionable advice stated that no one should ever use BlogSpot or WordPress in their blog address. They said that if someone did, it would be almost impossible to break into the highest levels of SEO discoverability. They went on to say the reason for this is that there are millions of Blogger (BlogSpot) and WordPress blogs, so SEO doesn’t consider them professional, no matter how often the site is update.
This advice is so wrong—on so many levels—I almost don’t know where to start.
So I’ll begin with the original question
A writer simply wanted to know which was better, a website or a blog. There were a lot of folks who chimed in, with a lot of differing opinions. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The places where you can build your digital home are varied. And they’re not a one-size-fits-all proposition. For some, a full website—with someone else to run it—makes the most sense. For others, a blog is the perfect fit. I don’t have an issue with which you prefer. It truly is a personal choice.
I have to disagree with the quote above first because it’s outdated information. Using BlogSpot in your address will NOT hurt your SEO. On this site, I average over 50,000 unique visitors each month (and have for quite a while). Yes, I also own my own domain name www.EdieMelson.com, that also points to this site. But the largest majority (over 73%) of my hits come by way of the actual site address: www.TheWriteConversation.blogspot.com.
NOTE: For those who don’t know, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. SEO is basically where, in the list of millions, your content will show up when searched by a reader (search engine). This is determined by a closely guarded, mathematical equation called an algorithm.. Here’s a blog post I wrote explaining SEO.
With all the search engine algorithm updates in recent years (penguin, panda, hummingbird, etc.), the SEO scale has tipped way over toward valuable content. That is the one single thing that weighs the heaviest in SEO. (I explain what the Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird updates are in this post.)
Personally, I have built a considerable business and reputation using Blogger. Through this site I have garnered the respect and attention from numerous top tier bloggers, including Daily Blog Tips, The Write Practice, Novel Rocket and Guideposts. It’s because of my site that I’ve been offered multiple blogging opportunities and it was this free platform that played a huge role in my landing the coveted spot as Military Family Blogger for Guideposts.org.
I’m not the only one on the web who proves out this truth. There are a lot of us with valuable, popular sites that contain Blogspot or WordPress.com. I prefer Blogger because it has the plugins necessary to grow a viable site. And, in my opinion, out of the free blogging platform options, it has the largest personalization options. (Here’s a comprehensive post I wrote to help writers decide which they needed, a blog or a website.)
Finally—and most importantly—it’s NOT blogging that increases visibility, it’s regularly updated, valuable content that does the most good. That can mean a site for podcasting, video blogs, really anything that is updated regularly.
The Bottom Line
There’s nothing wrong with deciding to pay for a website, it’s a personal choice. But that’s all it is, a choice. It does not make you less professional to use a free site.
I’d love to hear from you. What are your thoughts (and/or questions) about blogging?