Defintion #
A blog is a type of website that contains individual posts (called “blog posts”) listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recently published blog posts appearing at the top of the list.
You can kind of think of it like an online journal or diary, where each day gets a separate entry.
You create a blog around a specific topic
Characteristics of a blog #
Some key characteristics of a blog:
- Dynamic, fresh content – blogs are always publishing new content, which is different from more “static” types of sites that don’t change very much.
- Publish dates – most blog posts will have a public publish date or “last updated” date. Having a publish date is one of the key things that differentiates a “blog post” from a “page” on the internet.
- Reverse chronological order – a blog’s posts are ordered in reverse chronological order. That is, the newer posts are listed before the older posts.
- Public author – most blogs have a public author associated with each blog post, which usually isn’t the case for a static website page.
- Comments section – many blog posts will allow comments from readers. Typically, the comments section is below the content of a blog post.
- Categories/tags for posts – many blogs use categories or tags to organize blog posts. This lets readers filter posts by the topics that they are interested in.
- Built-in RSS Feed – WordPress blogs have a built-in RSS feed for syndication
What’s the difference between a blog and a website? #
The difference between a blog and a website can be hard to tell because a website can contain a blog, so the definition can also overlap.
All blogs are websites, but not all websites are blogs. What’s more, a website can also have a blog.
Here are some general differences:
A website is any site on the internet that you can access. It could be a portfolio, an eCommerce store, a business website, or even a blog.
A blog is one specific type of website (or part of a website) that meets the characteristics of a blog.
