Ever wonder what is the difference between a blog and an article? It’s a topic that makes people wonder. Though they are often used interchangeably, an article and blog post are not the same thing. No matter what, it all starts at one point “great content”. Great content helps you stand apart from the crowd. 

With digitization expanding at a fast pace, everyone is switching coherently towards it, where content reigns king! In the era of digitization, without content, you will not be able to convey your intentions to the audience. That’s where understanding the material required, plays a major role for researchers and scientists. Here’s an in detail look at the difference between a blog and an article. 

Writing style and length:

A most noticeable difference- a blog is a relatively new form of writing, whereas an article has been existing for hundreds of years now. A blog is usually written from a personal perspective, an inside point of view. Based on this it is safe to say, a blog is something more casual and provides a great way for you to personally connect with the audience you are trying to reach. 

It can include interviews and facts, however, it should be based on experience and should include more personality. 

While on the other hand articles usually have a more sophisticated and journalistic tone due to the amount of detailed information involved. The author’s opinion is not encouraged and is mostly kept formal, where an editor is usually involved. 

Blog posts are usually short in nature, consisting of around 500 words but this is not the limit. You can also find blog posts as long as 1000-1500 words. However, it is recommended to post short blogs to keep your audience engaged as people don’t prefer reading long items.  The usage of the first-person language and recent updates makes it easy for the audience to relate to what you are trying to convey. Blogs are meant to be intriguing, capturing but don’t usually contain a lot of intellectual tones usually found in an article. It is meant to be more laid back and even amusing in some cases. On the other hand, an article is crafted by a third person point of view, and is usually long with a minimum of 1000 words. They use more intricate language that discusses the topic more formally. 

The purpose:

The informal nature of a blog makes it relatively easy to write. They serve the purpose of instant satisfaction- an urge to communicate. If the goal of yours is to build a relationship with your target audience, a blog is your friend. It will help you convey a great amount of information without getting into the little details. 

Articles cannot be scanned through with ease like a blog, due to the fact that it is not their sole purpose. A lot of time is invested by the author in carrying out long hours of research and creating content to convey detailed information to make sure it gives the targeted audience a feel of sitting in a classroom. 

Editing:

A blog post is to keep your audience up to date. It is usually published on a blog page or a website, giving the writer the freedom to edit and update it according to the time. Articles being long, once written cannot be changed again. 

A blog goes through very minimal straight forward, simple editing, while on the other hand articles are edited meticulously making sure to avoid any type of error whether its grammar or facts. Articles are usually published in a journal or magazine, hence editing is very crucial here. 

SEO perspective:

To speak in a more digital point of view, a blog would help you create a more authoritative status and build leads for your business. It will serve an important purpose of building your SEO ranking by strategically including keywords, several links to serve the purpose and keep the visitors on the site for as long as possible.

On the other hand the objective of an article is to provide the necessary topic information in full description and don’t emphasize the keywords required for SEO. Being written in an extended format and published in journals, the use of keywords is not a crucial part of an article.   

The final showdown

So the above are some of the crucial differences between a blog and an article to help writers to target their audience more effectively. Keeping that aside both blogging and article writing are extremely important for any business to create additional awareness for their brand and there is no reason a website can’t contain both. After all CONTENT IS KING! Now that you know the difference, let’s get cracking and get the increased traffic you are looking for!