The Content Jedi Blog

The question that keeps everyone up at night is: What is the difference between a blog and an article? 

You’ll find that the answer is the new melatonin, and once equipped with this knowledge, you will catch more Z’s than you ever thought possible. 

Before we get to the differences, let’s reverse engineer this and note how blogs and articles are similar. 

Blogs and articles serve to educate with facts, supporting evidence, some research that can involve interviews, and citation of other sources. The intended outcome is that you walk away having a little more knowledge about a topic than before. 

But then there’s the fork in the content road where blogs and articles go their separate ways. Below we discuss their three main differences. 

1. Blogs Are Marketing-Driven

Blogging is content marketing and targets specific industry audiences, typically comprised of consumers and other businesses. Whereas a Reuters article about the latest Coronavirus news is intended for general consumption, a blog post is more targeted. For example, a tutoring company writes blogs for parents to read since they’re likely to decide whether or not their children need the academic support. 

Blogs also focus more on keywords to enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which helps the posts visibility on Google. 

2. Blogs Have a Stronger Point-of-View

Op-ed’s notwithstanding, compared to articles, blog posts are intentional about points-of-view. It makes sense because good blogs help businesses establish credibility as leaders in their industries. That’s achieved by demonstrating expert industry knowledge and writing with authority. For a blog to stand out, it needs to be compelling and useful, and that requires having a strong point-of-view.

3. Blogs Focus More on Length and Structure

Blogs tend to be shorter than articles with a word count as low as 250. Now, there are different schools of thought on the optimal blog length--HubSpot reported that one-third of their top-read blog posts in 2019 were under 1,500 words--but in my expert opinion (see, I’m exercising a strong point-of-view), they should average 500 words because...short attention spans. 

Blog posts are also distinguished by structure. Subheadings and short text blocks keep readers engaged and present information more succinctly than the story-telling nature of articles.  

I’d like to close with some exciting data on the efficacy of blogging. In HubSpot’s just released Not Another State of Marketing Report 2021, blogs are ranked second overall among the top forms of media used within content strategy. 

Blogging is alive and well.

About the Author, David Telisman
I am a Writer and Content Creator, and I work with businesses to inspire their customers to buy from them. I believe that my clients deserve to feel proud of how their content marketing looks and what it says, and I deliver by providing expert copywriting and email marketing solutions.

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