Article writing VS. Blogging

[Keith Lutz]

I am confused about the difference?

If I always "write for content", should I put it in my blog, or as an article?

Then if I choose article, what about it being submitted and having the dreaded "Duplicate content" all over the web?

Please someone explain this?

[Goknights]

IMO - blogs should be first person.

[SEO Nick]

I agree, somewhat. I use my blogs more like I would use a journal. Whereas an article, I would write for educational purposes. Blogs are great because you can do both and it won't really matter...

If you posted a bunch of first person stories on your site, I think they would look out of place.

[Jaysonnhs]

I agree - blogs are usually first person but you can do whatever you want...it's your blog. Articles need to be informative.

You need to write in your blog, submit articles and come up with original content for your website. It's more important to have quality than quantity. Duplicate content isn't too bad of a thing (because anyone can steal your content) but too much of it is. You need to find a happy medium and always update your site with new content. Most importantly, give your visitors what they're searching for. Write for them and not the search engines and you should be fine.

[metaylor9]

It is my understanding that articles are not considered duplicate content but rather syndicated content and their is no penalty for that.

[JeepOnRock]

Most of my articles make it into my blog... but regular blog posts are not article worthy.

My blog is much more informal. I generally write it first person, and may toss in flippant remarks or off-the-cuff comments. For an article, I won't even use the (dreaded) "you". It is a personal pet peeve...

Back when I was in school, it was considered inappropriate to use phrases like "you feel..." and "you will find..." etc. Instead, it was drilled into me that "one may feel..." or "one should try...". I know it is a simple thing, but...

[Homesurfer]

Jason is right. If you write an article, it should usually be in the third person.

When you blog, you should use "you" a lot, just like you were writing a business letter. You should avoid "I" as much as humanly possible.

As far as metatyler goes, there is duplicat content all over the web. I was looking up data for an article I wrote today on real estate commissions and two different copies of the same Wall Street Journal article showed up in the first four results. If duplicate content were as evil as everyone thinks, one copy of that article would have been totally invisible and lost in the murky depths of the web.

As far as which is better, writing articles or blogging?

When I first started on the web, I wrote articles for IRED (which is the oldest real estate directory on the web and was once atop the search engines). I also posted the article on my site. Then for awhile, I wrote for Realty Times, and also posted the articles on my site. Then for awhile, I wrote for Inman News, who licensed those articles to other sites and I also posted the articles on my site. Then I wrote articles and licensed them to a web developer and they began to appear on 30,000 sites and I also posted them all on my site. Then I started a newsletter service, wrote articles for it, and as I wrote articles for my clients -- I also posted them on my site.

Talk about duplicate content!

I don't own that site anymore and I haven't got a clue how many keywords it ranks at the very top for, but for example, wouldn't you say that a term like "home selling" is pretty generic? My old pages still rank #1 and #2 in Google for that search term. How about "real estate glossary" -- everybody has one of those, right? My old pages rank #1 for that search term. And so on and so on.

Please don't pay any attention to anything I said.

[Cleo]

It's good to know that I am on the right track. I just started blogging and writing articles and wasn't sure - all comments were interesting to read.

[php4ever]

I am confused about the difference?

If I always "write for content", should I put it in my blog, or as an article?

Then if I choose article, what about it being submitted and having the dreaded "Duplicate content" all over the web?

Please someone explain this?

Keith, in one of the blogs I own regarding "faith" I write in the blog an introduction of sorts using WordPress and taking advantages of all the pining services and social bookmarking. Then, I write a full blown article with supporting images and parenthetical references or citations in the full blown article in my main site or CMS as I have it. A link in the introduction (blog post) to the full or expanded version of the article (CMS post) seems to do well for me, FYI.

What I've discovered is that cross linking seems to be better received by the SE's using this format from my personal experience. However on my personal blog I've yet to test this theory.

On a side note I usually also will NOT give people links offsite on my front page as I usually ask them to write an article about themselves that is NOT from their site which I direct the link towards. My theory is that I gain valuable content and they get the link. Again, the same play on cross linking has been my motive internally on my blogs that I manage.

~ Jared Ritchey

[Eric Blackwell]

@Terry--

Good points all around there, Terry (and unless you are in Louisville, they are WORTH a re-read IMO )

@Jared-- i'd also concur with your method. I don't think that there is one BEST way to do it, but that is a plenty good one. I tend to put my best content up in the venue that I think will have the most impact and then distribute it out from there as far and wide as it will naturally go and make sense.

I need to do a better job of using articles to support the blog posts and I DO like the notion that Terry put out about the use of "I" and "You". Just reads better that way.

Best;

Eric