Trying to create a new website, my sister-in-law called me to help her through the steps of the process. Bewildered and frustrated, she had become extremely irritated with the whole thing. Not really schooled about making a website myself, I still agreed to help in any way that I could. It made me feel good that she thought I might know something about building a web page; however, I don't know how she got that impression.

Finally, I realized that my brother's wife probably assumed I could help her build a website based on my personal blog. Like many people, I feel she may have mistaken a blog for a website. Creating a blog, however, does not necessarily make you an expert able to tutor others in website design. Unfortunately, several new computer users are under the same impression not knowing the difference between the two.

I am no expert, but I think I can explain the difference between a blog and a website. Not ever having created I website, I'm not positive about what all of the differences are. I do know that a blog is more like a journal that is kept online rather than in a traditional paper notebook. The "blogger" writes brief articles, posts pictures, and adds other interesting things to make the blog more complex. Creating a blog involves a minimum amount of work. You can create a blog for free on user friendly sites that will guide you through the format step-by-step.

Since websites are a great deal more complex, I would think that there is a much more involved process in creating one, especially considering that professionals get paid good money to design websites full-time. I was familiar with Bravenet, a service that provides all the tools a user needs to build a website. Suggesting that my sister-in-law use this as a starting point, I felt that with Bravenet's information and support we would be able to make it through the process of creating a website.

I might consider building my own website if we are able to get hers created well. Until I am more familiar with it, though, I'll be comfortable staying with a blog. Since they are free and user friendly, I don't feel like I need any more than that at this point. Once my sister-in-law gets more into her website, maybe she can help me build one sometime down the road.