Ask The Expert
Can I Run A Blog On My Website?
Q: My office already has two web sites up and running. Instead of going thru blogger.com, or someone else, can we instead add another page to our existing site and run the blog on it? This way, prospects could read the blog and get some information from the existing pages on the sites. — Gerri Daniels
A: Possibly. Not all hosting platforms will support it. However there are many good reasons to host a blog externally.
An external blog means easy setup and no security or software patch worries. You’re also free to create a different identity and use a different voice than you use on your website. If you need to abandon the blog, you can do so without making your website look stale and out of date. You can also generate quality inbound links to your website from an external site.
Who external blogs may be right for: Agents with limited technical knowledge who want to avoid the headaches of setting up and administrating their own blog software.
Internal blogging — adding a blog to your existing site — does have some advantages. It’s an easy way to add updated, search engine friendly content to your website. Comments and trackbacks can generate quality inbound and outbound links that can help you in search engine optimization efforts. And yes, your website visitors will not have to leave your site to check out your blog.
Who internal blogs may be right for: Companies interested in more aggressive search engine optimization, prefer a consistent voice and style across blog and website, and can handle the added technical maintenance. An internal blog also demands fresh content — so it’s important to have a staff member who can be dedicated to updating the blog on a regular basis.
So to sum up, don’t rule out external blogging. It can be a hassle-free way to provide value to your audience and drive inbound links to your site.
Popular blogging tools:
Blogger
www.blogger.com
TypePad
www.sixapart.com/typepad/
WordPress
www.wordpress.com
Movable Type
http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/
 Jeremiah Desmarais and his team have won 3 awards in 2006 for their marketing initiatives that touch Norvax' client base and carrier relationships on a daily basis. He is author of several white papers including the applauded ‘Selling Insurance Online: Identifying 9 Top Trends for 2006’, and has been a contributor to the Agent’s Sales Journal, Health Insurance Underwriter as well as a guest speaker at various carrier events and workshops. He is a member of the Society of Industry Leaders. He welcomes feedback at jdesmarais@norvax.com.
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