Does anyone turn their blog posts into articles?

[KarenB]

As I am new to blogging, I'm not sure whether it's okay to take one's blog post and also submit it as an article to various sites.

My blog gets very little traffic because it's pretty new. At the same time, I would like to reach a wider audience.

I have to admit that my blog posts have been written in the same manner as if I had been writing an article. I'm just wondering whether I should have been differentiating more between the two.

Is a blog post essentially different from an article? If so, how is it different? Is it because it's less formal, not as lengthy, and is intended to invite comments?

I tend to thing of a blog as more of a friendly chat and less formal than an article, but I would still be communicating the same message.

Are there any golden rules that apply? Can an author post the same content to his/her blog as they would to an article?

Karen

[KristineS]

I know people who have turned their blog posts into articles. It really depends on the goal of your blog. If you're hoping to build an image for your business and to make connections with clients, than you may want to go with a less formal, more chatty style. If the purpose of your blog is to inform, you might want to go with a more formal, article like style. I certainly think the same content can be used on a blog and in an article. You can even write an article, post it somewhere else, and use it to drive traffic back to your blog. Lots of people do that.

[vangogh]

Karen I wouldn't take the exact post and submit it to an article directory. Search engines have no desire to show two pages of identical content in search results. The one they choose to show may not be yours.

What you could do though is rework a post so it's original even if the topic and ideas are the same and submit that, but it's best not to have the same exact content posted in two places.

There really isn't any substantial difference between posts and articles at times. The whole thing confused me at first too. Blog posts will generally be more informal, but it depends on the writer. Most of my posts tend to be more article like than blog like I think, though it varies.

There aren't any hard and fast rules to what makes a blog post a blog post. Different bloggers will develop their own voices. Some bloggers post very short posts and others post over a thousand words per post.

One of the best places to learn about blogging is ProBlogger (http://www.problogger.net/blog). Darren Rowse is the blogger behind the site and does a great job offering tips and advice. He's currently writing a series on how to craft a blog post.

Also click on the archives and read some of the posts he lists there. They should be some of the ones that will help you get a better feel for blogging.

[orion_joel]

I found that when i was writing for my blog, i was usually only writing smaller maybe 2 to 3 or 4 paragraphs. There was maybe only one or two exceptions on my blog. Even though that length is roughly what many articles you find on the internet are, i wanted to create a second site that i put more in depth articles on. So what i could do now is take the blog posts i created and add a couple more paragraphs with a bit more in depth information and i then have an article ready to go.

[Harold Mansfield]

I have one blog that I use to write articles for all my other sites and blogs and affiliate programs.
I do still submit articles to directories, but with writing articles on my own blog, I can Digg, Stumble, and Fark them, and still get the feed love from the submitted RSS directories, as well as pinging services.

[SouthernOfficeChairs.com]

I just started blogging a couple of weeks ago and for now I am trying to keep it "light" and "fun" so that it will hopefully gain readership and bring those readers to my website.
My main goal for the blog was to show my potential customers that I'm "real."
As time goes on, I may find that I need to adjust it a little bit but so far I've had good feedback.
SOC

[vangogh]

My main goal for the blog was to show my potential customers that I'm "real."

That's a good goal to have for your blog. It's one of the main reasons I blog too. A blog allows people to put a 'voice' on your company. You become a person instead of an entity.

Light and fun is fine for a blog. You'll probably find as you blog more and more that your style will change and adapt to your readers, but you can always keep it light and fun if you want. There really aren't any specific rules about what a blog should be.