In between the time when the Neanderthals were scraping their knuckles on the ground and the Cro-Magnons began walking upright, making better tools and eventually ordering dry martinis, I imagine there was probably an awkward interim period when neither seemed quite right. The old way was familiar but a bit, well, prehistoric, while the new model must have seemed a little weird, mysterious  and just different.

These days, traditional websites are the Neanderthals of the online world. Blogs, or more accurately, sites built on a blog platform such as Wordpress, are the next evolution.

But wait, you say, aren’t blogs kind of for kids, geeks or self-absorbed people who want to give the world all the gory details of their lives on a up-to-the-minute basis? Maybe you don’t see your business as being compatible with your perception of what blogging is. But just as Twitter has evolved past people posting “I’m eating a tuna fish sandwich right now,” blogs have also grown up into a powerful tool that is appropriate — and I would say essential — for any business. They are the new “how to build a website.”

There’s nothing really wrong with a traditional website for what it can do. I have one myself (see www.yourwriterforhire.com, built several years ago). I like how my web designer found a nice look and also allowed me to showcase my TV commercials and print ads, as well as my screenwriting samples. But while a traditional website is great for show and tell, like a brochure, once it’s out there, it just sits there, static. And if you ever DO want to make any changes, you either need to be a code-monkey or wait for (and pay for) your web guy or gal to do it for you.

Blogs and Wordpress-based sites allow you to do so much more. Besides giving the client a huge range of ready-to-go design templates by some really great designers, they let users test-drive the look and feel before  committing, and even change their minds after committing. Where an over all change to a traditional website (a change to a sidebar that appears on every page, for example) requires a webmaster to manually go into the code on every single page and make the change, doing it on a Wordpress blog only means making one quick modification to the style sheet and all the pages get the message automatically.

Blogs allow two-way communication with your clients. They can talk back to you by commenting on your posts. You can also get valuable information about what they want, what services you should focus on or refine, etc. Not interested in hearing back from people (That’s kind of silly, in my opinion, but to each his own) or don’t have a lot to say on a regular basis? You don’t need to even make your blog a blog. Recently, many people have simply been using Wordpress as a CMS (Content Management System) that may or may not have a blogging component. You still get all the benefits of easy updates, the ability to change look and feel in seconds, etc. This is simply how to build a website that works, looks great and is easy to modify and improve as your business grows and your objectives change.

What about traffic? Wordpress beats old-fashioned websites here hands down. The platform features your keywords almost automatically (as opposed to having to go into writing complicated metatags), plus the fact that you will probably update your site more frequently makes it much more visible to the search engines than your website that’s been sitting there for a year. Many Wordpress themes such as the popular Thesis Theme are specifically designed with better SEO in mind.

While blog platforms such as Wordpress do allow the user to easily make his or her own updates, there are some elements that require some knowledge of code; for instance, if you like the general look of a theme but prefer a different color scheme or typeface that isn”t the default.  In this case you would probably want the help of a professional. And maybe you’re not even interested in learning to use Wordpress and would rather delegate. It’s still a lot faster and easier (and therefore cheaper) for whoever is helping you to make your changes in Wordpress than in a traditional web environment.  For one thing, Wordpress is –unbelievably to me — free, while software like Dreamweaver costs hundreds of dollars.  Second, while different Wordpress themes have different functionalities, the basic principles remain the same, so it’s a fairly simple matter to totally overhaul the entire look and function of your site with just a few quick adjustments,while  keeping your contact intact. In a traditional environment, your webmaster would have to start from square one and build a new website.

If you’re interested in having a slick new Wordpress-based website or blog totally done-for-you, including expert copywriting and marketing consultation,  please click on the 1-Stop Website Shop at the top of this page.