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Are you wondering which is better, blogging vs YouTube, in 2021? You’re not alone. Content creation isn’t just for influencers and teenie boppers anymore. You can use YouTube, blogging, or both to grow your business or brand. You just have to evaluate your own needs and decide what is best for your audience. There is no right or wrong answer to this question.
Blogging on YouTube
First of all, there are an awful lot of people wondering how you can get started blogging on YouTube. Let’s quickly talk about the differences between a blog and a YouTube channel.
A blog is a written article, and a VLOG is basically a blog in video format. VLOGS are often less formal. You don’t “blog” on a YouTube channel. This is really petty, but enough people searched for blogging on YouTube every month that I found it relevant to touch on the subject.
You should know that there are ways that you can optimize your YouTube channel and videos so that your content shows up in search results and recommended by YouTube, and I’ll share how to do that in just a minute.
Is Blogging Better Than YouTube?
As I mentioned, blogging is taking the time to write articles with information relevant to your audience. If you’re smart, you’ll stick to one main value proposition and niche. As with YouTube, you should optimize your blog posts in order to rank on Google. You want your business or brand to be one of the first pages that comes up on Google search results for a particular keyword.
But when it comes to blogging vs YouTube and which is superior, this comes down to knowing your audience, also known as your avatar.
What is an Avatar in Marketing and Business?
Every brand or business has an audience. As you create more content, you’ll notice a trend in the demographics of the people reading your content. You can check Google analytics to see the age, gender, location, etc of the people reading your articles.
Once you start to see a pattern, you need to create every single piece of content with the average of those people in mind. For example: my avatar’s name is Brandi. She is 25 and single. She went to college and has a substantial amount of student loans, but (spoiler alert) she found out that 1. it’s hard to compete for well-paying jobs in her field and 2. she wants to use her smarts to work for herself.
When you get super specific about WHO you are helping with your content, you can figure out HOW to help them better.
Should I Start a Blog or YouTube Channel?
So should you start a blog or a YouTube channel? I can confidently say that I’m glad I decided to do both blogging and YouTube, and I’ll share the differences in how much I earned blogging in 2020 vs how much YouTube paid me with 5,000 subscribers, but stay with me for a few, okay?
Blogging for Business
- You can start a professional website for $2.95/month. It’s one of the least expensive ways to grow your online presence.
- Outrank your competitors by creating informative articles that solve your avatar’s problems. Example: You’re a real estate agent, and you build your entire website with information about all of the subdivisions in the communities you serve. You create a hierarchy directly on your homepage menu with dropdown lists of each city – subdivision – restrictive covenants and amenities. I can promise you that other Realtors® will go to your website seeking the information that they’re looking for. They may not give you credit, but you’ll earn ad revenue from their visits to your site.
Bottom Line – Blogs are good for business. I think a lot of people think blogs are online diaries with the owners’ personal stories, and while that is true in some cases, it can be an amazing tool to help you grow your business.
YouTube for Business
Raise your hand if you’ve watched a YouTube video in the last 30 days either for motivation or “how to” do something.
- More people searched How to Start a YouTube channel in March 2020 than any other month ever. Coincidence? I think not! People are realizing that they must adapt to what’s happening in the world today. Government lockdowns are always a possibility, and you have to be prepared to diversify your reach and your income sources.
- YouTube is not over-saturated. It’s true that the platform features more than 2 billion active users, but there are only 9,000+ YouTube partners using contentID.
- 79% of 18-34 year-olds prefer videos uploaded by people.
- 71% of 26-35-year-olds from the U.S. use YouTube.
Bottom Line – YouTube is even better for business, and I believe every single brand, online business owner, blogger, and content creator should be utilizing YouTube to reach more people.
Video and audio make it easier for people to consume content while driving, getting ready for the day, working out, or cooking dinner.
If you can use blogging and YouTube to complement each other, you’ll be in a much better position. You surely know that Google is the #1 search engine on the internet. But did you know that YouTube comes in second? It’s also owned by Google, so your videos can help you rank on Google as well, improving your authority in your market.
Blogging vs YouTube Income 2020
I haven’t shared my 2020 blogging income report as of yet, but I’ll share the basic numbers here.
Blogging Ad Revenue – $14,401.53
In 2020, I saw an increase of around 39% in blog traffic, but my ad revenue increased significantly!
- 2019 traffic – 386,601 pageviews – $5,612.65 income from ads (Monumetric and later Mediavine)
- 2020 traffic – 540,853 pageviews – $14,401.53 income from Mediavine ads
My pageviews averaged around 40,000 per month which just goes to show that pageviews don’t matter as much as content does! You can add another source of income by starting a blog and creating content that offers solutions to your avatar.
Note that the largest portion of my income comes from affiliate marketing. This is the practice of offering products or services relevant to your audience in the form of an affiliate link. When a reader clicks on your link and purchases a product, you then earn a portion of the revenue from the company.
Using the example from earlier, if a real estate agent wrote an article titled 10 Ways to Make Home Beautiful and Sell a House Fast, she could include affiliate links to Studio McGee’s latest book. You see what I did there? That was an affiliate link!
I don’t want to go down the rabbit hole of teaching you how to make money with affiliate marketing, but just know that you can earn affiliate income with both a blog and a YouTube channel.
YouTube Ad Revenue – $3,730.35
I promise to always be transparent in everything. You can clearly see that my ad revenue on YouTube isn’t nearly as high as on the blog. Here’s a screenshot for reference.
What’s interesting is that I received half the views on YouTube as I did on the blog. My average RPM (rate per mil, or 1000 views) was $13.66 whereas my RPM on the blog was on average $26.62.
I believe that a good portion of my affiliate marketing revenue came from video reviews of products on my YouTube channel, so I will continue creating both video content and articles for Perfection Hangover.
Affiliate Marketing and Other Income (Sponsored Posts) – $27,169.32
It’s important to note that I didn’t create and sell any of my own products (digital or physical) in 2020. Most creators who earn upwards of $10k-100k per month and more (yes, you read that right) are selling products and courses that they’ve created to help other content creators and business owners grow.
Total Blogging and YouTube Income in 2020 – $45,270.28!
You can see my 2019 income report here, but (spoiler alert) I more than doubled my online income in 2020, and I am so grateful that I took a leap of faith and started a blog and YouTube channel.
Starting a Blog That Makes Money
So you wanna start a blog but have no clue where to start?
Begin by brainstorming your domain name. Stick to 1-3 words at most, and avoid cheesy or trendy words (like “yeet” and “lit”.
I love your energy, but keep it professional! If all else fails, you can always choose your full name (especially if you’re growing your personal brand).
Once you’ve decided on a domain name, head over to Bluehost for my promo pricing of $2.95/month. You can purchase as little as one year, but if you buy 3 years, it’s a much better deal.
You can read step by step how to start a blog here. I’ve even created a YouTube video to walk you through the steps.
Starting a YouTube Channel in 2021
If you’ve decided to start a YouTube channel, check out some of my recent content related starting and growing your channel from 0 subscribers to 1000+.
How to Start a YouTube Channel in 2021
How YouTubers Make Money
5 Reasons You Need YouTube for Business in 2021
In Conclusion
To wrap this up, I think both platforms can be beneficial depending on whether you’re comfortable writing or speaking to a camera. I prefer to use both together to grow my brand, but I realize this isn’t practical for everyone.
So what do you think about blogging vs YouTube? Can I help you get started? I’m launching my YouTube for Business course soon, so be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you’re the first to know!
I’ve done all the things! Girl, I’ve washed my face. I’ve trashed everything that doesn’t spark joy. I’ve walked the baby steps. I’ve cried. I’ve prayed, but my perfectionism has really held me back.
Perfection Hangover can be crippling. Stop comparing yourself to others and start living your best life! That’s why PH exists! I want to encourage you to take control of your money, your blog, and your business.
