You may have seen some blog posts over the last few days debating the viability of blogging vs building static content sites.

Ken Evoy of Sitesell/Site-Build-It! fame recently sent out an email that was an apparent attack on blogging as a business model. It linked to a page on the Site Build It website entitled Blog Or Build?

It has stirred up some responses from people in the so-called blogosphere, primarily people who blog about internet marketing related topics.

Here are a couple of the posts I've come across:

• Blogging Is A Massive Mistake, Huh (NetProfitsToday.com)
• Ken Evoy Attacks Blogging & Wordpress (AndyBeard.eu)

There is also a thread going on the Sitesell forum with a healthy debate about the debates on these other sites. Unfortunately, that forum is semi-private and can't be accessed by everyone.

One of Ken's comments in that forum thread prompted this post, however. In it he said:

Actually, I must say that not a single blogger, as bothered as they claim to be, has bothered to actually debate the cold, hard points in blogorbuild.sitesell.com

Well, I'm actually not as bothered as some other people seem to be - everyone's entitled to their opinion, even if I disagree with it - but I figured I'd take Ken up on his "challenge".

So let's start to dig into the Blog or Build? page a bit…

First of all, the sub-head on that page actually narrows Ken's argument down a bit:

Should You Full Blog?

"Full blog" is a new term to me, but I take it to mean the traditional definition of a blog - a kind of journal or diary, with the posts organized by date and older posts falling off the front page as new posts are added. (Pretty much the way this site is organized.)

This tells me that Ken is not actually attacking blogging so much as stating that a "journaled" blog is not the ideal setup for most businesses.

I agree with that. But that's not to say that blogging has to be that way. There are plenty of sites built on Wordpress or other blogging platforms that appear no different than a traditional "content site" like you would build with Site Build It.

And a "full blog" added to a content site can be a great way to build traffic and reputation to that site. Which Ken apparently agrees with:

Blogging can also be a strong "add-on" to a successful, profitable Web site. If you want to build and maintain a "newsy" or "daily thought" element to your Web site, for example, add a blog. It's easy to do with Site Build It!, as we'll see. The right order, though, is to build your highly visited, profitable Web presence using SBI! first.

Naturally, Ken is promoting SBI as the first step. That is his business after all, and what else would he be promoting?

The fact is, however, that building a highly visited, profitable web presence isn't limited to SBI. You can do the same with a site built on Wordpress, for example.

Based on that, let's look at another statement from Ken:

Blogging software lacks what businesses do need to actually make money

What precisely is it that blogging software is lacking? Ken throws that statement out there but doesn't back it up right away. A little further down the page, we find this (which sounds like it's what he feels is lacking to me):

What's wrong with using blogging software to build a traditional, Theme-Based Content Site? Nothing, except that you now have just another site-builder with the same fundamental road blocks that exist for any non-SBI! sitebuilding/Web hosting combination. They all lack the clear process and the complete set of tools that SBI! provides.

Okay, now we're getting somewhere. Apparently blogging software's limitation is that it doesn't provide you with the process and tools that SBI does.

The question here is whether that makes blogging less effective than a content website.

I would argue that the process has nothing to do with the underlying platform. If you use blogging software to build a site following the process that Ken supplies with SBI, I believe that site can be every bit as successful as a static content site.

I can speak from experience here. I had a couple of SBI sites a few years ago and learned a great deal from the training materials that came with it.

I've added my own spin to it over the years, but I still follow many of the principles to this day. However these days I build almost all my sites with Wordpress as the platform.

Back to Ken:

Most only realize the error of the blog approach, too late, dazzled by the loud "pro-blogging noise" of those who blog about blogging. Bloggers interlink to each other with gusto, creating what they call "the blogosphere." They rave as if there were magic in blogging and the "blogosphere," when in fact it all adds up to content that will soon be degraded by the Search Engines as the "best before" date on blogging content expires.

Professional bloggers, and professional promoters of blogging, usually fail to mention the "dated-content treadmill" that they so desperately run upon every day. What happens when you stop blogging? You watch your traffic melt away. Why? Because Search Engines know that blog posts are like newspapers… good only for wrapping fish after a few days.

Human visitors instinctively know that, too. Most visitors do not want to read 6 month-old news (i.e., a blog post). Theme-Based Content Sites, however, are totally different.

I agree with the first part here. There is lots of noise in the so-called "blogosphere" and plenty of people who blog about blogging, while linking to other people who also blog about blogging.

But the fact is, there are also quite a few SBI sites that are built with the primary intention of promoting SBI as an affiliate. Ken recommends against it in his training materials, but I've seen many of them over the years.

Does that mean SBI-based content sites are a problem since there is this incestuous relationship on some of its sites? Of course not. You can't blame the platform or technology for the quality of the people using it.

Once Ken goes beyond that, however, he is making the assumption that all blogs are set up as news sites, where people will not want to read 6 month old posts.

I don't know about you, but I find plenty of older posts on blogs that answer my questions or catch my interest for some reason. Not all blogs are news-style, where the content "expires".

And I've seen plenty of articles on content websites that were outdated and served no purpose other than to add another page to the website.

I don't think this is a blogging vs content-based argument. It's a quality of content discussion, which again has no bearing on the underlying platform.

Back to the Blog or Build? page:

Bloggers, of course, form part of the online media. Many claim that blogs will replace old school media like The New York Times. But the professional media is moving online. And blogs, amateur media for the most part, don't report the news or events with trained, journalistic rigor and professionalism.

Instead, they comment on it. And they comment upon each other. The blogosphere features little original reporting, less disciplined editorializing and has indeed developed a few shining individuals who bring us flashes of brilliance (the stars).

Still, they do create a great deal of buzz, especially about themselves. This gives blogging and bloggers an amount of publicity that is disproportionate to their true significance. Previously unknown, unpublished pundits rise to celebrity status.

Again, Ken's statement is based on the assumption that by "blogging" we're talking a news site rather than a content site built on a blogging platform.

Take a 2-month break from your Theme-Based Content Site. What do you think happens? Your site keeps growing in traffic. Why? Because your material is properly organized for easy consumption and provides ongoing value long after you build each page.

Site Build It! manages and distributes your content optimally. And most importantly, your visitors continue to come, to enjoy and to respond to your site in positive ways… responses that Google tracks and credits to your site.

Try that same 2-month layoff with most blogs, though. Stop all your posting (a pleasure since blogging feels like a pressured obligation, constantly nagging at you). Stop posting and watch your traffic start to dwindle.

Again, this is all based on a blog as a journaled "full" blog style site. I have several websites built on Wordpress that are set up to appear no different than any other content site, haven't had a new post in over a year and still continue to grow in traffic.

And frankly, if your site is in fact a "full blog" with regular posts, you shouldn't be doing it if it feels like a pressured obligation. I'm interested in the topic of this blog and I enjoy writing for it. I don't write a post every day, but I rarely go more than 3 or 4 days before something inspires me.

It's not often that I spend as much time as I am on this particular post, but even with the extra time it takes I'm still enjoying it.

Back to Ken:

The best way to assess the severity of a problem is to assess its solutions. Many bloggers who use blogs to create niche sites turn off the "archive by date" indicator and the date of the post. For software that was originally supposed to deliver a time-sensitive journal, it surely seems to be "kludging" its way to "look" like a site that has been built by Site Build It!.

I have sites that I've turned off the date archives and the post dates. It's hardly "kludging" anything - I simply change a couple of options in the control panel for the blog.

Now, I'll admit that Wordpress doesn't have all these capabilities out of the box. I use Semiologic Pro for my Wordpress-based sites and it adds a lot of extra features. It costs about the same as SBI for the first year and then the cost goes down if you want to continue to receive updates to the software.

But with Semiologic Pro you can use it on as many sites as you want. SBI give you a single site for the price. Whether that matters will depend on where you are in your business, and what your business model is.

But even if you decide to stop paying the annual fee, you can continue to use the version of Semiologic Pro that you have with no further cost. Not so with SBI.

And wanting to make it look like a site created with SBI (or any other static content-based site) isn't a slight on Wordpress or the fact that it's a blogging platform. It's simply optimizing it to set up your site the way you feel is most effective.

I feel like this is starting to become a bit repetitive, so let me start to wrap it up. Let's look at the Blog or Build? page's direct comparison points between SBI and Wordpress:

no clean step-by-step process, you're on your own vs. "follow the Action Guide

Fair enough, but this same argument could be made for do-it-yourself theme based content site vs. SBI theme based content site. It really doesn't have any bearing on whether you use Wordpress or SBI, it's only a matter of whether or not you use SBI (in Ken's opinion at least ).

you have to "keep up" with what's new vs. digests what's important, you focus on BUSINESS

You don't necessarily have to keep up with what's new when you use Wordpress any more than you do with SBI. It's all a matter of how deep into the process you want to get versus letting someone else filter the information for you. Part of the idea behind SBI is that you put your faith in Ken and Sitesell to filter out the wheat from the chaff and tell you the stuff you really need to know.

Some people feel comfortable with that, some don't. Just because Ken and company don't think something is worthwhile doesn't mean that's in fact the case. You need to decide for yourself how much you want to learn and how much you just want to follow whatever mentor you choose to listen to, whether Ken Evoy or someone else (who may be a pro-blogging person).

you'll pay more to do full keyword research vs. choose the right site theme

That's true if you're dealing with a single site. If your business model is to have multiple sites, the costs even out since you only pay for a keyword service like Wordtracker once but you're paying for the keyword research component of SBI for each site you build.

you'll pay more to do proper keyword research vs. build the right site architecture

See the last point

no culture of success (most fail!) vs. the help-and-be-helped SBI! Forums

This is an interesting one. It may be true that most blogs fail (I don't have any statistics one way or the other, but let's give Ken the benefit of the doubt).

But part of the reason for that is because the cost of entry is so low that all the people who aren't really building a business can throw up a blog for little or no money.

If SBI were free or very low cost, I suspect there would be a lot higher failure rate there as well.

This doesn't necessarily mean blogging is less effective, it just means there are a lot more people who aren't willing to put in any real effort using it.

needed software (those missing no's) amounts to thousands of dollars vs. SBI!'s one low price

I disagree that the software amounts to thousands of dollars. It will depend on what your needs are and what you want to accomplish, but you can get started for as little as $50-100. You can actually get started for free, but I wouldn't recommend using a free blogging service to build your business.

major time loss ("figuring it all out") vs. efficient focus on business driven by C T P M

I've had an SBI site and there is still time spent "figuring it all out". But I'll admit that the process they offer is a lot easier than trying to piece it all together yourself.

That's not to say there aren't other people offering processes that work just as well and are just as easy to follow using Wordpress.

It's not a failing of Wordpress, it's a matter of finding a good process to follow.

learning curves and complexity vs. "follow the Action Guide"

I touched on this already. You can get as deep into Wordpress as you want, but you really don't have to spend a lot of time digging into it, once you understand the basics of how it works.

Again, it's a matter of having a good process to follow - whether SBI or someone else's.

scattered information, process, and tools vs. complete and integrated set of the right tools

Here again, this is a matter of having a process to follow. If you install Wordpress yourself through Cpanel and set out to figure out how to bend it to your will, yes the information is scattered.

But that isn't the only way to do it. You can get a step-by-step process from quite a few places that will get you up and running with an effective Wordpress-based site.

no one to help with your bottom line vs. we focus on your bottom line

I'm not too sure about this one. Back when I had a couple of sites hosted with Site Build It, I don't recall ever being asked whether they were making me any money.

Whatever platform you use for your site the only person who really watches your bottom line is you.

So after all this back and forth, you might be wondering whether or not I think Ken Evoy is right or is he full of it?

The bottom line is that I agree with many of Ken's points. Not all of them, but many of his points are valid.

I just don't think that they offer a conclusive reason that blogging is bad. Most of his argument is based on what kind of content is on the site - not what the underlying technology is.

His assertion that a "full blog" is the wrong way to do it for most businesses is true - they shouldn't use this format as their main website.

But having a "side blog" for lack of a better term to increase the power of a content-based site is a good idea, which Ken also concedes.

The way his argument is built, however, makes it sound as if building your site on Wordpress (or some other blogging platform) is a bad decision.

That I don't agree with.

In my opinion, building a successful website is 90% brains and only 10% technology. Whether you use Wordpress, Dreamweaver, SBI or hand-coded HTML isn't the point. You need to make sure your website is providing value to the people who visit. They're going to read the words, not think "Wow, this is built with SBI/Wordpress/whatever - it must be a good site!"

If you're able to do that, you'll find yourself with a growing, successful site.

I don't know what Ken's intentions were with the email he sent last weekend. It could have been to create controversy, to get people talking about him, or maybe it was just plain old linkbait (frankly I doubt the linkbait idea, but you never know).

But most of the negative reaction to his Blog or Build? site probably stems from the subject line of the email:

Why Blogging Is A Massive Mistake

I think that statement is way over the top, and is doing a disservice by putting a lot of the people who read it on the defensive.

If it had been a little less in-your-face and more like the argument he laid out on his website, it probably wouldn't have created as much backlash.