Blogging vs YouTube Channel: Everything You Need To Know
Blogging vs YouTube Channel: Everything You Need To Know
With the rise of short-form platforms like TikTok and Instagram reels in the last several years, the competition for new creators has become incredibly fierce.
While these platforms are great for quick engagement and a serotonin boost, let’s be honest—they can be EXHAUSTING.
Plus, they often lack the longevity and searchability of long-form content, which has become my favorite type of content to create over the years.
More people want to become online creators than ever before and it’s easy to see the appeal: getting paid simply for sharing your life and what you love is a pretty sweet deal.
These days all it takes is one viral video to launch someone as an influencer, which is honestly pretty cool.
The question is how to MAINTAIN that influence beyond a few weeks or months.
For creators looking to build a sustainable long-term career, it's essential to invest in a long-form, searchable platform like a blog or YouTube channel.
These platforms not only help you build a deeper connection with your audience (you’ve heard me talk about know, like, and trust before which is a major pro of long-form content) but they also allow your content to work for you.
When you create relevant, searchable content it helps people discover you months or even years after you first hit publish.
And while I love a good reel we can’t say the same about the short-form platforms. So let’s review both options and help you find the best fit for you.
Why do you need either?
In today's digital landscape, creating long-form content is crucial for building a loyal audience.
Case in point, I’ll often catch myself referring to creators who I watch on YouTube or bloggers who I follow as my friends in conversations with my husband.
“Oh my friend tried this new restaurant in Soho last week and she said it was amazing!”
Guess what? That creator isn’t my friend—but she’s someone that I spend so much digital time with that I’ve basically forgotten we don't know each other IRL.
That’s potentially an embarrassing thing to admit, but let’s be real for a second here.
Which creator are you most likely to remember better?
Creator A who posted a 15 second TikTok or creator B who posted a 15 minute YouTube video?
It’s hard to compete with creator B when the viewer is spending so much more time consuming their content compared to creator A’s TikTok.
These days, we’re competing for attention which is why TikTok has become so popular.
You can consume a ton of content (I’ve had scroll sessions that have lasted an embarrassingly long time thanks to their addictive algorithm) but creators have the challenge of condensing an idea into such a short window of time.
With long-form content it allows for nuance and the ability to dive deeper on topics.
Long-form content allows for nuance and the ability to dive deeper.
The importance of long-form content to develop know, like, and trust
Earlier I mentioned the concept of know, like, and trust. If you’re new to marketing, this is a reflection of what I just described above.
Spending time with a creator through long-form content allows you to get to know them better and if you watch more of their content it’s probably because you like them.
Once you’ve established you like them, you’ll start to trust them when they start sharing their opinions and recommendations with you.
You may follow creators who share lifestyle content who give general recommendations like “I’m obsessed with this Stanley cup, it keeps my water ice cold!”
If you were wondering, that is a direct quote from my own Instagram stories and I’ve included the Stanley cup in my blog post of life-changing products.
But this can be especially powerful if you’re following a creator who is able to position themselves as a leader in their industry or an expert in one particular niche.
Which brings us to…
Positioning yourself as an expert
Some creators fear niching down because they think it’s limiting, but in reality it can actually help you grow.
If you’re not sure what you want the main topic of your blog or YouTube channel to be, first I’d try publishing an initial batch of posts, ideally one post a week for two months.
From there take a look at your analytics and see what the top two posts were.
Now think of ways that you can create more posts that are similar to the best performing posts.
As long as you’re creating posts on topics you’re interested in and that your audience seems to be engaging with, that’s a great way to start to build your momentum and find your focus.
Think of your favorite creators to follow and how you’d describe them.
One of my favorite influencers is a YouTuber who posts videos where she shares organization ideas, how she creates online systems and productivity tips.
Even though she’ll occasionally show her dogs or tell me about the book she's been reading lately, I associate her as the “feel-good productivity” creator since that’s what I consider her an expert in.
In addition, when you’re consistently producing high-quality content about that topic you’re an expert in it gives you additional credibility for being reliable.
Positioning yourself as an expert and being consistent is key.
Let’s talk money
It probably goes without saying in 2024 that you can make some serious money from both blogs and YouTube and I want to walk you through all of your potential monetization paths.
But first, let’s review what you might need to pay up front to get your new long-form content platform off the ground.
Cost of starting a blog
When it comes to blogging, there are a few key things you’ll want to make sure you invest in to get your site up and running.
Necessary expenses:
Domain name, hosting and an SSL certificate
Website theme/template
Basic SEO tools
Optional add-ons:
Professional email address with your new domain
Premium plugins for enhanced functionality
Graphic design software like Canva for creating visuals
Cost of starting a YouTube channel
It’s free to create a YouTube account. Rather than digital investments, you’ll need to invest in some equipment to get your channel going.
Necessary expenses:
Camera (a smartphone can be a good starting point)
Microphone
Tripod
Optional add-ons:
Lighting equipment
Background setup or green screen
Paid video editing software (iMovie and Capcut desktop are free options)
Ways to monetize
Blog:
Display ads from an ad network like Mediavine or SheMedia
Affiliate marketing
Sponsored posts
Selling digital products or courses
YouTube:
Ad revenue from YouTube Partner Program
Affiliate links in video descriptions
Brand partnerships
Super Chat and channel memberships
Some of these monetization options will be available for you right away. For example you can easily sign up for affiliate networks as long as you meet their minimum requirements.
Others like activating display ads are more of a long-game but are absolutely worth the work you’ll put into qualifying.
Potential for passive income
Both blogging and YouTube offer opportunities for passive income.
As people continue to view your posts and videos over time thanks to the searchable nature of both platforms, they’ll continue to view ads, shop through your affiliate links, and opt in to your email freebies on posts you published years ago.
Because of the longer lifespan of the content, you’ll also want to try to make a good majority of your content evergreen.
Evergreen content is essentially content that is always relevant.
For example, if you have a beauty blog and publish a post about “makeup application tips” that post can help beauty lovers in 2016 and 2024.
If you were to publish a post about Rihanna releasing a new lip oil for Fenty Beauty, that post may have some initial traction but it may fade over time as other new launches overshadow that one.
SEO is essential
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for both blogs and YouTube channels to increase visibility and attract organic traffic.
This is basically the process of giving Google and YouTube as much information about your content as possible so they can quickly scan it and evaluate what it’s about.
It also helps speed up the process of them understanding your content so they can recommend it to people who are searching for it.
Understanding keywords, tags, metadata and descriptions can help your content rank higher on search engines and YouTube's search results.
I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many SEO details in this post, but if you want a quick and easy way to get started you can download my free SEO checklist.
The ownership question
One major difference between these two long-form content options is ownership.
With a blog, you have complete control over your content and platform since you’ll have your own host.
On YouTube, you're subject to the platform's policies and algorithm changes, which can affect your content's visibility and monetization.
However, smart YouTubers will take advantage of the links in the description box and channel links to help drive traffic to their website or signups to their email list.
Directing traffic back to a platform you own will help protect you in the long run and give your most loyal subscribers a way to reach you if anything ever happens to your channel.
Long-term goals and plans to stay consistent
No matter which platform you choose, setting long-term goals and staying consistent is crucial. Plan your content, set a schedule, and track your progress.
Engaging with your audience and adapting to their feedback can help you stay relevant and grow over time.
On long-form searchable platforms, posting once a week is usually a sufficient and sustainable way to build an audience base.
This is honestly amazing compared to short-form content platforms where the algorithms punish you if you’re not feeding it new content every day.
We love platforms that prioritize quality over quantity!
Potential future crossover
Also, no one says you can’t do both a blog and a YouTube channel!
If you’re new to long-form content, picking one to focus on in the beginning is definitely the smart choice, but having both gives you a lot of options in the future.
You can even potentially repurpose blog posts as the basis for YouTube scripts and similarly you can take a transcription from a YouTube video and use it as the basis for a blog post outline.
I actually recently shared a YouTube video about how I do this using AI tools if you’re interested in learning more about that process.
So let me know in the comments: are you starting a blog or YouTube channel this year?
If you’re still feeling stuck, think about which of these sounds more like you:
Do you like writing and being more low-key online? You might prefer blogging.
Do you like talking and being a personality? You might prefer YouTube.
yours,
Austen