One of the top questions small business owners ask is, 'What is the difference between a blog and a normal site?'. Usually they already have a main web site that has been up and running for years, and while it is not setting any visitor records alive, it is providing a much needed online pressence.

So why do they need a blog?

Here we will go through the Top 5 reasons that makes a business blog a lot different from a normal site.

1. Adding/Updating Content without HTML knowledge

   The biggest culprit with traditional sites is stale content. Everyone hits content that hasn't been updated for a while. It sends out all the wrong signal with reader not knowing if the owner has simply forgotton about it, or can't be bothered. This then begs the question if the owner will actually answer any email to them.

   The reason content becomes stale is that its a chore for the owner to update it. More than likely the site is arranged in fixed pages, with an FTP or some sort of upload procedure to go through. It's just too darn hard with too much risk of breaking something.

   A blog thinks in entries not pages. There is no HTML to learn and updating your blog is as easy as writing an email.

2. Higher Page Rankings in search engines

   If you want your site to be found, then it is key to get noticed in the search engines. This is where blogs excel. The primary reason for this, is that many of the algorithms employed by the likes of Google, Yahoo etc, will favor content from sites that have been updated recently. Again, no one likes stale content.

   With the blog site being easier to be updated, your site will remain fresh and have a higher chance to reach the top of the rankings.

   In addition to this, each time you publish or update an entry, the software at Blog-City will automatically alert Google (and many others) that your site has updated. This sends a signal to them to come and crawl you, instead of waiting for them to "remember" to come and check. This mechanism is one of the key tools in a good relationship with the search engines.

3. Automatic RSS Generation

   RSS is a technique for allowing people to keep uptodate with your site without having to visit it each time. An RSS client (like Outlook, Google Reader etc) can monitor your site for new content and alert them when you have published or updated an entry.

   Blogs come, out of the box, with all the necessary tools for the generation of RSS automatically. You don't even need to think about as it is done for you behind the scenes. The user can subscribe to your RSS feed for your complete site, or instead, subscribe for a given keyword.

   Did you know that RSS generates around 40% of all traffic to their site? That is a huge amount of traffic your normal web site is missing out on.

4. Rich User/Reader Experience

   Blogs don't just make it easy for you the content owner, but also for your reader. We've touched on the power that RSS offers them already, but there is so much more on offer. For example, they can easily forward any entry to another via email. They can also comment on any entry, should you allow that feature.

   Blogs are all about the content. To that end, the reader has a much richer way of finding the content through the use of tags, categories and automatic in-site searches.

   This makes finding content so much easier.

5. Web based Administration

   Gone are the days of wrestling around with FTP clients and ugly uploading pages. The modern day blog is all about the web administration, making it very quick to not only upload and publish new content, but also to make changes to the look'n'feel of the whole site.

   But the ease of adminstration doesn't stop there. Blog-City even lets you add new content to your site by simply emailing your site. How much easier can it be?

   In addition to this, you can see at any time the latest statistics for who and what is reading your site. All through a web browser. No matter where you are, the office or at home, you can always update and keep an eye on your site.

These are of course just the Top 5 as there are many many more differences between a traditional site and a blog. Discover the power of the blog.