What’s the Difference Between a Blog and an e-Newsletter?

Both blogs and e-newsletters are effective methods for building, maintaining and growing an audience interested in what your business has to offer. From doing both types of publications, I’ve found that the main differences between them are: how they are distributed and how they are interacted with. Below, I outline the purpose of each along with their major benefits.

A blog, short for Web Log, of regularly scheduled posts, is meant to engage readers who return to your website often to find out what’s new.

Build trust and authority in your business specialty as you build your prospect following through informative blog postings.

Your audience can subscribe to your blog and receive a notice when new posts are published, people can find your blog while browsing the internet, or people can click on links that you promote through social media posts.

Search engines like Google will index each post you publish – making it easier for people to find your business when they search on keywords.

For instance, if you search on “marketing bad attitude” my blog post, “Don’t Ruin Good Marketing With a Bad Attitude” along with my business name appears on page two of Google out of 53,100,000 pages. This is a good thing because people looking for this subject have a great chance of running across my article.

This type of visibility is possible for each blog post you publish!

A regularly scheduled email in article style layout. E-newsletters can include useful articles, helpful web links, notice of upcoming events, announcements and reminders, fun game or inspirational quote.

Stay in front of serious prospects who are interested in your business. Continue to build relationships and your subject matter authority.

E-newsletters are sent directly to an email address. Email marketing services like Constant Contact or Mail Chimp track how many people open your email and click on links inside the newsletter.

People will forward a good e-newsletter to their friends!

Your e-newsletter fans will reply to your mailing and let you know that they enjoyed the information you shared. The responses you get back are more personal because you are building a relationship with your readers.

It’s ok to publish the same article on your blog as you do in your e-newsletter. You may have a different audience for each type of publication. If you do have readership overlap, be sure to offer something “new” or different in each place so there’s a reason to check out both.

If you need help planning, editing, or writing content for your blog or e-newsletter contact me for a complimentary 30-minute writing services consultation.