Whether you are an experienced blogger or a newbie who’s trying to make your first attempts at blogging, you must have faced the dilemma of blog post vs. article. What type of writing would be best to opt for in order to draw the attention of the audience? Do you know the difference between these two types of content? Does this question matter whatsoever? In fact, it does because blogging and article writing are two completely different niches; however, active publishing of articles and blog posts on personal blogs, social media, or other websites has blurred the lines between these two apparently different writing techniques.
Before we get to the bottom of things, let’s bring up several common questions that appeared after blogging had taken the world of social media by storm. As a matter of fact, it’s getting more and more prevalent as an effective tool for marketing and SEO. Nonetheless, the essence of blogging remains vague for a large percentage of Internet users. Common questions concerning this type of writing include:
- If blogging is designed for marketing purposes, then why do people who are somehow involved in the fashion industry have their own blogs without selling anything?
- What are blog communities like Tumblr or Blogger for? If I decide to start my own blog, should I do it on one of those platforms?
- Aren’t blogs too subjective? How can my company benefit from them?
People related to marketing have different understanding of blogging as compared to journalists, travelers, field experts, etc. They seem to believe that “their blogging” is far cry from what traditional bloggers tend to write. In reality, many people are oblivious to the difference between various kinds of blogs. It’s all Greek to them because marketers’ distinctions are likely to be ambiguous; even descriptive phrases like “business blogs”, “professional blogs”, or “media blogs” don’t satisfy the need for an adequate explanation. Aren’t business blogs and professional blogs focused on generating more revenue and attracting more clientele? See, the difference is intangible.
Let’s Define the Basic Nature of Blogging
Blogging is a contemporary style of writing that enables people to publish content on their websites, platforms, or social media profiles by means of concise, loosely structured blog posts. In this case, a blog is a format, not a genre, and yet people frequently fail to distinguish between genres and formats. This situation coincides with the trouble of defining a “magazine”. As a rule, magazines are periodical publications that have a paper cover and traditional pagination. Also, you could state that the magazine is a genre with short articles that are editorial in nature. In the first case, we’re talking about a format while the second case deals with the magazine as a genre. Nonetheless, they’re both valid definitions of the word “magazine”.
Naturally, if we’re to examine specific magazines, like blogs, they tend to be of various types, sizes, and shapes. Over the course of time, editors and writers have expanded the scope of what the magazine can mean. The same situation is observable when it comes to blogs. The advent of blogging was marked with personal blogs; and now there’s an abundance of blog types to suit various tastes. For this reason, people get confused.
So Why Does the Problem “Blog Posting vs. Article” Matter?
The thing is that blogging is still in its infancy, and, thus, marketers should help their target audiences learn how to figure out blog posting vs. article. For instance, one of the most influential blogs, Huffington Post, doesn’t dub its content “blog articles”; they’re simply “articles”. At the same time, LifeHacker calls its informative digests “hacks” rather than “blog posts”.
In fact, in the B2B marketing, calling your articles “blog posts” downplays your image and makes the content seem less informative and credible.
On the Whole Brain Marketing Blog, things that we write are called “blog articles” because we’re one hundred percent sure that they’re well-thought-out and edited to perfection to serve as a helpful guide for Internet users. Calling our articles little “blog posts” would mean disregarding all the efforts that we make daily to publish well-researched pieces of information.
Thus, mull over your blog and the content you publish there. Does your writing deserve to be called a “publication”? Or your blog reflects your first attempts at professional writing? The way you determine the level of proficiency of your blog will help your readers decide how to read it and what to do with it.
Blog vs. Article Difference
Although blog vs. article difference is huge, it’s often ignored by many people who for some reason don’t want to unravel the nature of these two writing formats.
Articles
- Their length can range from 500 to 2, 000 words or even more.
- Articles aim to inform, and therefore they’re more formal in style and voice.
- Articles include detailed information and are always reinforced by additional literature.
Blogs
- Blogs are much shorter and are generally 200-500 words long.
- Blogs are usually written in an informal style and help establish a connection with the audience.
- Blogs reflect personal position of a writer.
- Blogs are typically published more frequently as compared to articles.
Should I Combine Both Formats?
It’s a viable idea to alternate between blog posts and articles. This way you not only provide meaty tidbits of up-to-the-minute information satisfying the need of those who are looking for specific information presented in a straightforward manner, but you’re also elaborating on concrete topics using well-researched facts and reasonable arguments in a full-fledged article.
A Small Reminder
When writing an article, make sure you’re putting some quality information there. Don’t try to pad it by adding too many transitional phrases, rephrasing what’s already been said, or including further info that has little relevance to the topic itself. It’s way too obvious, and as soon as your readers detect this ploy, they will quit reading your blog.
