Writing Blogs vs. Writing Articles: What’s the Difference? 

Writing blogs and writing articles – is there a difference?

I didn’t give much thought to the question until I had been writing for more than a decade.  Blogs were only beginning to emerge early in my writing life and at that time, and my focus was on learning to write articles.

Things have changed a bit. 

It took me awhile to catch on to the fact that a blog post and an article are two different animals. In fact, for a long time I used the terms “articles” and “blog posts” interchangeably.  (Sometimes I still slip up.)

Writing Blogs and Writing Articles: Two Different Types of Content

Blog posts and articles are two different types of content. Definitions differ among content providers, but here are the consistencies.

	Blog Post	Article
Medium	Exclusively digital; the term “blog” is a shortened version of “web log”	Print or digital, often both
Content	Originally written to share a viewpoint, but today’s blogs call upon facts and research too	Written to inform; typically, well-researched and full of details
Tone	Conversational, casual, less formal	Professional, formal style
Scope	A narrow aspect of a topic	A broader aspect of a topic, even an overview
Length	Originally shorter; today can be any length, but averages 300-600 words	Originally longer; today can be any length, but usually longer than 300 words

What Blog Posts and Articles Have in Common

An Online Audience

While blogs have long been published exclusively online, articles are now published digitally as well.

Conversation

The first blogs launched as a way to create online conversation by including a “Comments” section. Today that capability extends to online articles, too.

Self-publishing

In the past, articles were printed via an editorial process; to get your work in print, you needed to work with a publisher. Technology now allows anyone to be a publisher, both online and in print – and not just through blogs, websites, and articles but books, too.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Using SEO (the process of writing and formatting a page for the web to return strong results in web searches and drive more organic traffic to a website) and keywords (terms and phrases that define a piece of content) in writing were originally in a blogger’s domain. Today, article publishers understand the value on online traffic. Digital articles increasingly target keywords and SEO for more traffic.

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Content by award-winning content writer and author Kathy Widenhouse, who specializes in writing for nonprofits and faith-based organizations.

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