WordPress isn’t just for blogs- in fact, the word blog needs to die. WordPress builds a website- actively served, using a sophisticated Content Management System that is easy to use. It’s so easy- that smart companies are starting to use it to manage content and keep their site up-to-date, and W3C compliant for a lot less money.

Here are some of the sites we’ve found using WordPress as a back end. To verify- you just type /wp-admin after the url.

• http://www.xxlmag.com/ home isn’t WP, but it all leads to interior pages managed by WP.
  
• http://autoshows.ford.com/
• http://wildscotsman.com/whisky/ must be of age to view
• http://redblock.com.au/
• http://whoisjengordon.com/
• http://agenturblog.de/
• http://www.deliciousdays.com/
• http://allthingsd.com/
• http://www.2checkout.com/
• http://www.houseofnaked.com/ (it’s an ad agency- don’t worry)

Some, more than others look like a more conventional site. The point is, data from a database can be formatted anyway you want. The key is understanding the real beauty of a WordPress site is that everything offers the ability to build community.

 Well, if you are the king of the Internet, and have a market cap higher that the GNP of all the developed countries in the world plus Bill Gates and Warren Buffet (well- almost) you have, well, at least 45.

Official Google Blog: The wisdom of orkut

1. More Google Blogs
2. AdWords API Blog
3. Blogger Buzz
4. Blogs of Note
5. Dentro de AdSense
6. Dentro de AdWords
7. El Blog de Google México
8. Google AJAX Search API Blog
9. Google Analytics Blog
10. Google Checkout API Blog
11. Google Code – Featured Projects
12. Google Code – Updates
13. Google CPG
14. Google Librarian Central
15. Google Polska – oficjalny blog
16. Google Talkabout
17. Google Testing Blog
18. Google Web Toolkit Blog
19. Google Webmaster Central Blog
20. Google 黑板报 — Google 中国的博客网志
21. Google 한국 블로그
22. Il blog ufficiale di AdSense in Italiano
23. Inside AdSense
24. Inside AdSense – Das offizielle deutsche AdSense-Blog
25. Inside AdSense: Het Officiële Nederlandse Google AdSense Blog
26. Inside AdWords
27. Inside Google Book Search
28. Inside Google Desktop
29. O blog do Google Brasil
30. Official Google Base Blog
31. Official Google Blog
32. Official Google Checkout Blog
33. Official Google Data APIs Blog
34. Official Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog
35. Official Google Enterprise Blog
36. Official Google Italia Blog
37. Official Google Japan Blog
38. Official Google Mac Blog
39. Official Google Maps API Blog
40. Official Google Reader Blog
41. Official Google Research Blog
42. Official Google Video Blog
43. Por dentro do AdSense
44. Webmaster-Zentrale Blog
45. Официальный блог – Google Россия

Still not convinced blogs are great business tools? If I hear one more “I want a website- not a blog” from someone who can’t tell a browser from a broaster- it’s time to leave Dayton OH for somewhere where people want to learn how to win at business.

The word Blog needs to go away. It’s a very smart, backend for a sophisticated content management system that can get to the top of Google without having to pay for your position. Blogs can also allow anyone to manage content for a site.

If Google is doing it- why aren’t you? Take the Websitetology seminar and become a brilliant asset to your company.

We often learn more from our students than from our studies, and in the last seminar someone asked what the difference between blogs and forums.

I don’t feel that I offered the best answer, since blog posts offer a forum for discussion.

While this is simplistic: a forum is a place where a community can post and discuss things- many to many- mostly posed as short questions. A well moderated forum keeps new users from reposting the same questions and makes sure questions are framed in useful language. “Help, my blog is broken” isn’t a good forum question- “My categories in wordpress aren’t working” is a better question.

A blog is a place where a single user posts ideas- and builds a community- that may eventually add a forum to the site. WordPress allows for multiple authors, with different degrees of access, so this model can be adapted to a forum concept, but generally, blog posts are longer questions, and the tools of moderation are structured differently. The developers of WordPress have built a forum software that integrates closely with WordPress- bbPress, and over time, the functions may begin to overlap. Some blogs leave the base level of ownership as “author” allowing anyone to publish- this turns a blog into a forum.

The reality is, the difference is in the eye of the beholder. The true measurement really comes in the size and activity of the audience. A blog that is read by nobody, with few comments or trackbacks isn’t much of a forum just as a forum with no participants is really just a blog.

The thread that got this idea going is linked to below- where a bunch of academics discuss it at length- in a “forum”- I found the following bit interesting.

SCoPE: Seminars: Distinction between forums and blogs
From Formal courses: Blog protocol, Public/Private, Forums/Blogs (Long Post) by derekc on Fri Feb 16 22:24:00 2007:
1. the blog owner posts without an awareness of audience
2. the blog owner posts with an attempt to identify audience (at this stage, the poster finishes their entries with questions or invites “invisible” readers to comment)
3. the blog owner posts for a clear audience (e.g. the poster refers back to blog commentators or includes links to other blogs or sites by them)
4. a regular group of commentators is set, and dialogues take place via blog comments
5. some of these commentators start making entries (as “guest bloggers”), and each of them goes through stages #1 to #4.
6. a regular group of posters is thread, with a group voice gradually developed.

Either way, the idea of community and community generated content is key to the whole “web 2.0” experience. If your site is built for business- and you aren’t involving your customers- you won’t be in business for long. Either customers will discuss your products and services on your site- or they will do it on someone elses (including their own). Consider yourself informed and go out and let the community discussion begin.