The One Question Interview series Darren created recently has introduced a number of interesting issues to me. But the one particular issue I want to talk about now is the one raised by Darren’s interview with Guy Kawasaki: Is it better to start a personal web site, with a blog as one dedicated component of it, or start a personal blog and use the sidebars (and equivalent areas) for all the promotional stuff about yourself?

Well, Guy Kawasaki prefers the latter, and would do that if he had to start his blog over. He argues his point by emphasizing both his update frequency (he hasn’t updated his site for the past 1.5 years while writing on his blog on a daily basis) and traffic levels (the site used to get 500/day while his blog gets 10,000/day).

I agree, but only if your blog is going to be your primary medium of communicating with your intended audience. If all the plugging you need to do is encompassed in an About page, a downloadable CV, a few portfolio pages and a Flickr gallery, then yes, this method is most suitable. In fact, this is effectively what most blog networks do (think blog network and person both as single entities). Just check out the mothersites of networks like b5media and Weblogs Inc.

But if you’re like me, and want practically everything you can publish about yourself online, then I say go for the overall personal portal site, and attach a personal blog to it. What I want is a clear personal introduction, a dedicated weblog, a dedicated photolog, a dedicated wiki, a dedicated portfolio, and the list goes on. To organize all this and present a good first impression at the same time, I just can’t depend on a personal blog that is already filled with all the widgets that seem so necessary today (e.g. recent comments, blogroll, category list, date archives, RSS and email subscription buttons, etc.). I need a personal portal site.

The key idea is not to dilute anything that you’re using as your primary medium of communication. If you’re using your blog for that, then make sure it looks like a blog. Adding a few things here and there may add value (check out blogs like 5ThirtyOne for a good example of the “personal blog + sidestuff” presentation), but cross that invisible line, and all you’ll have left is a messy piece of shit – one too cluttered to make any sense to anyone but those thinking on similar wavelengths.

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