What is a Blog? Do I Need One?

What's the difference between a blog and a website?

To illustrate the differences between a website and a blog, I've created these two example sites on my (host) hosting. They both use WordPress's standard TwentyEleven graphical theme.

Website	Blog
Is a structured presentation of web pages. Web pages are typically carefully-written pieces of information.	Is a collection of "posts". Posts are typically casual pieces of writing and news.
Each page is linked to from the menu bar.	Posts have no fixed location. New posts are added at the top of the main page, and automatically arranged into categories by topic and/or date. Older posts are moved to an archive.
Visitors are typically not permitted to post comments on pages.	Visitors are typically allowed to write comments on posts. The post's author typically joins in this discussion. (Allowing comments is optional.)
Appropriate for businesses, information sites, or any site where information is not time-sensitive, and doesn't go out of date. Examples: A furniture store, a gardening information site, a parenting resource site.	Appropriate for any group or activity that's casual or where information is time-sensitive news. Examples: A blog about current events, a blog about the latest technology, a blog about recovery from an illness.

The exact definition of a blog

There's no exact line between what's a blog and what's a website. A website can have a blog page somewhere, and most blogs also have at least a few normal web pages, such as an "About Us" or "Contact Us" page. If the main page of the site is a page of the latest posts, then I'd call the site a blog.

By default a WordPress site is set up like a blog, with a blog page as the front page, and one regular web page as well. You can easily change this, however.