I’ve seen some confusion with my clients when I use the words “blog” and “website” interchangeably. They are not interchangeable things, but I don’t distinguish between them when talking about WordPress because WordPress is first and foremost a blogging platform. When you install WordPress, you get a blog, and that blog has all the tools you need to create your website too. Looked at another way, your new WordPress website comes with a blog.

What’s the Difference Between a Blog and a Website?

A website is any site on the Internet, including every blog. A blog, short for “web log” is a journal. Therefore, the contents of a blog are chronological. Even if the dates aren’t shown on the website, the content is still ordered with the most recent posts first. Conversely, the pages of your website are static. You may go back and update the contents of your webpages, but generally speaking, they stay put. The About page of your website lives in the same spot, and will likely not change until your life has changed enough that you need to update it. The blog, on the other hand, will change all the time as new posts are added documenting your life, exactly like a journal.

What if I Don’t Want a Blog?

I presume that every person who installs WordPress wants it to have a blog. But if you are sure you won’t want one, WordPress is still a terrific content management system for a static website. My other professional site, karmabennett.com, is a simple WordPress website without a blog. Note that WordPress comes with a blog, so if you don’t want one be sure to let me know as it will need to be removed.

Not sure if you even need a website? I’ve created a page to help you determine if it’s worth doing at this stage in your author career.