I see this mistake being made pretty often, where the words blog, blog post, and article are being used in the wrong way. Most of the time I get what the person means, but it can be a little confusing to others who may not be quite clear about what each means.

For those who are new to the web world, I can understand why they would make this mistake, but increasingly I hear experienced marketers or web professionals who should know better, do the same thing.

Let’s clarify the differences between them below.

What is a blog and a blog post?

A blog is short for the word Weblog, which is a form of website that publishes regular text-based information in a reverse date order, therefore, the latest entry being at the top.

The difference between a blog post and a blog is that blog posts are the individual entries made on a blog. Think about a book that contains many pages of information, the book would be the blog, and the pages would be like the blog posts.

Now that you understand this, it wouldn’t make sense to say you are writing a “blog” when you actually mean a blog post because the blog is the entire thing (the website).

Do you say article or blog post?

Whether you say article or blog post, the principle is the same when it comes to creating written content to be published on a blog.

Most people publish blog posts. These are more personal in that they share the author’s point of view but can also include factual information. They may also be written in a more casual or conversational way.

On the other hand, articles are fact-based and are written in our more formal style of writing. Examples of articles would be from news websites, universities, government departments, and certain companies.

Now that you know the difference, hopefully, you won’t get confused by other people who misuse the words. The main thing, however, is that you are able to publish great quality content that will ring value to your audience, regardless of what you call it.