How to Transition from Blog to Website

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Nothing says “made it on the internet” quite like the transition from humble blog poster to the fully-fledged webmaster!

5 Tips and Tricks on How You Can Transition Managing blogs to Websites

Just ask the likes of SEO-superstar Moz or celebrity gossip authority Perez Hilton; both started out with personal blogs, found popular acclaim and now run successful and highly-profitable full-time businesses from their website.

transition-from-blog-to-website

The Transition from Blog to Website

First thing’s first: what is the difference between the two? Truthfully, the answer is very little. Simply put, the difference lies in the presentation and appearance of content. A blog tends to rely on shorter, daily or weekly posts ordered in a chronological list, with comment sections under articles for audience interaction. Meanwhile, a website tends to offer a homepage that links to separate sections of the site; it’s a more ‘fully-functional experience’ and is well-suited for marketing purposes in terms of having ‘contact pages’ and transactional online stores. This is where webmasters can leverage their high-traffic volume to make profitable returns on their site!

So if you’re a blogger with a decent amount of web traffic, how can you make the transition yourself? Here are our tips.

Hire a Professional

One thing that instantly strikes any web-wanderer when they land on a webpage, is that it has a professionally designed appearance and easy-to-use interface. If you’re not an IT expert yourself, consider hiring a UX/UI designer to help you out in devising and/or modifying a template through the visual editor that works for you and your needs. Check out this post on the Top 5 UI/UX Design Agencies in the World.

For example, are you opening an online shop? How will that look? What will happen when a user clicks through the various tabs to get to the checkout, and so on? These are all questions that a professional web designer can help you resolve so that any potential customer has a stress-free and uncomplicated experience- if your blog is turning into a website for commercial purposes, you will certainly reap the money you invest in this area back in the long run!

Buy a Domain Name

Platforms such as WordPress are designed to be suited for both blogs and websites style usage. One of the biggest leaps from blog-to-website is changing your ‘johnsmith.wordpress.com’ domain name into a ‘johnsmith.com’, by purchasing a personalized domain from a provider such as 1&1. By bringing your brand’s URL into the dotcom world and ditching the ‘WordPress’ domain extension in your domain (which basically screams “I have a free blog account”), you immediately achieve a greater outward appearance of professionalism… something which will always keep your visitors and customers happy!

Skip the Dates

Given that websites tend not to display content in dated posts, rather, actual ‘pages’, you will probably want to reformat your webpage to ensure that it no longer continues to list content in a chronological listed way. Worried about how viewers to your site will navigate their way around without this? Add a search bar function! (This is where a knowledgeable web designer or HTML coder comes in handy, again!) As with a blog, you’ll want to make sure you regularly update your site and with new content – after all, fresh and frequently updated content is one of the main items that ensure your site stays visible in the search engine rankings.