The more and more I blog this idea keeps popping into my head, “Why isn’t the bluefur.com site just a blog”. With the ability to have multiple pages and update them easily it seems like a very appealing idea.
I have suggested in the past few months to people starting out to just start with a blog. You can add content to your site quickly and update it when you need to. These people are very happy the did not have to spit out $1000′s of dollars for a designer to build and then update their site.
That idea that keeps popping into my head is it way off? Should our site just be a blog?
If more and more businesses start to use their sites as blogs will that kill off a portion of the web design industry?
Matt
July 14, 2007 12:45 pm
Well, once you use WordPress for a whole site, it’s no longer really a Blog. It’d be a CMS (Content Management System), with a Blog.
It wouldn’t ruin the web design business either, because someone still has to design and make themes for WordPress (or a similar platform). Of course, they would no longer be able to charge for things like updating the content, etc. But, they’d still be able to charge for updating the theme.
They could also offer managed services for Blogs. So, they would charge the client for updating WordPress, installing Plugins, etc. Like BlueFur does, accept on a per-action basis, not a monthly basis.
But, still, some site just won’t work on WordPress without substantial hacking/Plugins. Take a site I made for my step-brother. Jeff Depner. He’s an artist, so he just wanted the site so tat he could show off his Artwork, etc. But, it was much easier to code all that (it is a CMS, just made by me), than to try to make WordPress do the same thing.
But, for BlueFur, do you really change the site enough to deem that you need a CMS? You would still have to put (X)HTML and CSS into the pages, because you have those “bubbles” to show the Plans and such. Of course, you could make a “Template Tag” with a Plugin to do something like [plan]Plan Details here[/plan] or something.
Dr. Cossack
July 14, 2007 6:26 pm
This one is obviously answered by with a “no”.
A blog is, by definition, some sort of online journal where one or several authors write posts for people to read and comment on.
An actual, informative website isn’t that. You don’t make a comparative list of hosting packages with blog posts. You don’t accept account creations with a blog software. You don’t run a knowledgebase system through a blog.
This actually sounds like a content manager (which often includes a blog engine, by the way) and it’s another thing entirely. Content managers such as PHP Nuke have been around for years, and they work quite well for several people. Even yet, those don’t replace the fact that, for any serious business, you need to have some sort of custom layout created for your website. There’s where the largest part of the cost usually lies.
Even if a blog could be used for some information pages, at the end, you’ll still need several other pieces of software to take care of other tasks.
Matt
July 14, 2007 8:40 pm
WordPress is very much so (also) a CMS. It’s sort of a 2-in-1 deal. Blogging Software and Content Management Software.
You wouldn’t be replacing things like a Support System or the Knowledgebase (which is part of the support system, in BlueFur’s case), or even the account ordering with it. Those would all stay the same. Although, you could get/create Plugins to do that, but that would be a waste of time.
Vadim
July 14, 2007 9:33 pm
I think the question here is more about “look and feel” of a website and a blog and their respective use (as Dr.Cossack mentioned) rather than their backend architecture (CMS or no-CMS). It is about how you use them rather than how you build them.
I’ll use an analogy. Let’s say an online business is a store. Then a website is a storefront and blog is an accounting book. The storefront is more for the buyers, while an accounting book is a point of interest of investors who wants to get familiar with operations of the store on a daily basis.
Christian
July 15, 2007 5:47 am
It could be a good idea for small sole owner garage/basement type of business.
But for a company like BlueFur, its a bad idea.
People still find blogs more like a personal diary.
Vadim put it right.
“Let’s say an online business is a store. Then a website is a storefront and blog is an accounting book.”
jentekk
August 3, 2007 10:43 pm
“If more and more businesses start to use their sites as blogs will that kill off a portion of the web design industry?”
No – it won’t kill off a portion of the web design industry, it will only change the face of business websites.
Besides, as long as there is a diverse market, there will always be room for small brochure (static) websites, CMS websites, eComm sites and yes… blog sites – and someone has to design them and host them! ;)
In my opinion, the web design industry has nothing to fear. With the popularity of blog sites growing – website designers would benefit greatly by adding “customized blog & cms template design/development” to their list of services.