YouTube vs Blogging Compared – Which One is More Profitable?

Blogging and YouTube can both be highly profitable and passive if done properly.

While in most cases you should be doing both, the answer to which one you should focus more on will depend on you and your niche.

Related: The Top 10 Richest YouTubers That Inspire The Most

Are you thinking about creating an online presence for yourself, but you’re not sure whether you should start a blog or a YouTube channel? Let’s talk about blogging vs YouTube in 2022 and which one you should pick.

Should I start a blog or a YouTube channel? If you’re more comfortable writing and prefer not to be on a camera, you should start a blog. If you don’t mind being on camera and feel confident learning video editing skills, then a YouTube channel is best for you.

One huge difference and something that’s very important in this comparison between blogging and YouTube is the control you have over it.

Let’s dive into the details of each and help you decide which one you should pick.

The Skills Required: YouTube vs Blogging Compared Which One is More Profitable?

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The skills needed for each of these platforms are a bit different as well. As you read through these, keep in mind that you do not need to already have these skills. These are things that you can learn in time as you grow and progress.

For a blog, you will need the following skills:

• Basic photography skills – If you need to take your own photos. Or alternatively you can use the stock photos for niche websites that don’t need original photos 100% of the time.
• Writing skills –  You will need to know basic writing, how to outline a post, how to write eloquent and grammatically correct sentences. Again, this is something you can learn in time or you can use tools to help you do this with greater ease.
• Basic graphic design skills – You will need some very basic graphic design knowledge to help you create logos, featured  images, Pinterest pin graphics or any other social media designs you might need.
• SEO knowledge –  You will also need to know at least some very basic SEO, in order to have a chance for your blog post to rank in Google Search or in Pinterest search. This is the way to ensure that your blog posts get seen and get traffic to them.

 For a YouTube channel, you will need the following skills:

• Basic photography skills – You will very likely need some photography skills for your YouTube channel as well, because you will need to use photos for your thumbnails and graphics that you might present in your video.
• SEO knowledge –  YouTube is also a search engine, so you will need some basic search engine optimization knowledge in order to help you rank in YouTube and get more views on your videos.
• Video recording skills – You will need to learn how to record a video properly, how to set up a good background for your videos, basic lighting knowledge and how to use your camera settings in order to get a good quality video.
• Video editing skills –  You will then need to learn an editing software, so that you can do editing on your videos. You do not need to know fancy editing techniques or use pro transitions all the time. Just some basic video editing will work fine.
• Basic graphic design skills – Some basic graphic design knowledge will be necessary in order to create eye-catching thumbnails for YouTube videos. Thumbnails are a very important part of getting your videos seen, because that’s what people first see when they stumble upon your video and it will determine whether or not they actually click on it.

Equipment You Need: YouTube vs Blogging Compared

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There are different things that you will need for starting a blog as opposed to running a YouTube channel.

The Equipment You Need for a Blog:

• Laptop With Internet Connection – In order to start writing blog posts, you only need a laptop with decent internet connection. No other physical tools are absolutely necessary in order to run a successful blog.
• Camera (optional) –  A camera is optional, depending on the type of blog that you will run and niche that you write on. Obviously, if it’s a very visual type of niche, such as Photography, Food or Fashion, a good camera will be absolutely necessary. But for lots of other niches, you can actually get away with using stock photos for some of your blog posts.

The Equipment You Need For a YouTube Channel: 

• Laptop With Internet Connection –  In order to start creating videos for your YouTube channel, you will also need a laptop with a good internet connection obviously.
• Good Camera – A good camera is really important when you are starting a YouTube channel, because video quality is huge in order to grow on the platform. You could potentially start filming videos on your smartphone, but you will likely outgrow that very fast and will need to invest in a proper camera.
• Microphone (optional) –  A separate microphone is optional, depending on how good your camera is at recording audio or how often you need to record voiceovers for your videos.
• Video Editing Software – Another thing that will be absolutely necessary for a YouTube channel is a video Editing Software. You can use something very basic, even the free iMovie. But you will need some sort of software to do basic editing on your videos.

When it comes to monetizing a blog or a YouTube channel, there are multiple ways in which these are similar. YouTube vs Blogging Compared – Which One is More Profitable?

Here are the ways to monetize a Blog:

• Display ads –  You join an ad network which then allows you to place ads in the content on your blog and you make money from each impression on those ads. For your blog, you have multiple choices of ad networks that you can join to monetize in this way. For example: Google AdSense, Media vine, Ezoic, Ad thrive etc.
• Affiliate marketing – You can place affiliate links in your blog posts and make a commission whenever someone makes a purchase through your link.
• Sponsored posts – Brands or companies pay you to create a post all about their products or services that they offer.
• Selling physical or digital products – You can also monetize your blog through selling physical or digital products on it.
• Selling services – Another way to monetize a blog is through offering your services, such as coaching, consulting, website developing, branding services, graphic design etc.

 Here are the ways to monetize a YouTube channel: 

• Display ads – You can monetize your YouTube channel through display ads as well, but the difference is that Google AdSense is the only option here.
• Affiliate marketing – Similar to a blog, you can monetize through affiliate links by placing them in your description box.
• Sponsored videos – Brands will pay you to include their product in your videos, usually at the beginning part of the video for 2-3 minutes depending on the contract you agree on.
• Selling physical or digital products – You can drive people from your YouTube channel to your products or maybe even showcase them in your videos.
• Selling services – You can also mention the services that you offer in your videos, but you will usually need another platform like a blog where you showcase your services in detail.

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1. Which One Has Lower Competition for Your Niche?

In our niche, SEO, there are a lot of decent videos, but for certain long tail keywords there are not quite as many articles. YouTube vs Blogging Compared

Therefore, we have decided to focus more on articles for our content marketing strategy.

If you are looking to figure out which one has lower competition in your niche, we recommend doing some basic keyword research to identify keywords that you can create content around.

2. Does the Topic Benefit from Video? YouTube vs Blogging Compared

Some niches are better served via video because they benefit from visuals. In other cases, text may be equally good or better at portraying a particular message.

3. Which Platform Is Better Suited to Your Monetization Strategy?

One of the reasons we like blogging is that you can go back and change the text if you need to.

For example, there might be a situation where you realize some content provides a great opportunity to promote an affiliate offer you just discovered.

If this content was in article format, you could simply go back and add some links in the text.

If on the other hand this content was in video format, it’d be much harder or impossible to go back and change your video to mention the new affiliate offer.

Another monetization benefit that blogging on your own website provides is that you can select which ad networks you’d like to monetize your traffic with. On YouTube you are forced to use Google AdSense.

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4. The Pros and Cons of Creating Content on Other People’s Platforms

Cons

When posting content on a platform like YouTube, you don’t have full control over the platform and how it distributes your video. YouTube vs Blogging Compared

Additionally, having all of your followers as subscribers on your channel, rather than on controllable assets like email, can be risky.

Just think about what Facebook did to organic reach in 2015 and its new changes in 2018. Before the 2015 changes, you could reach a large portion of your audience organically by simply posting to your Facebook page.

….YouTube vs Blogging Compared : Which One is More Profitable?….

After the 2015 algorithm update, it became significantly harder to reach your own audience without paying for ads.

Pros

While it is nice to own the asset you are publishing on, here are some of the benefits to publishing content on websites that you do not own:

• In most cases it will be easier to rank on search engines due to the high authority of the domain.
• High authority platforms have more trust with people than those that are lesser known.

These are two of the main reasons that we currently blog on Medium.

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5. Do You Have Experience Managing a Website?

While keyword research and on-page SEO are helpful to know for both blogging and YouTube-ing, managing a website still requires some technical knowledge. YouTube vs Blogging Compared

If you are not good with technical SEO, you might find it easier to publish most of your content on platforms like Medium and YouTube.

6. Do You Want to Outsource or Hire People? YouTube vs Blogging Compared

While it is possible to outsource YouTube videos, outsourcing article writing is generally easier and cheaper.

Related: How to make a YouTube video: 16 tips for beginners

You can hire writers and editors at a relatively affordable cost on freelancing websites like Legiit.

On the flip side, it is generally more personable for you to speak with your own audience via video recordings. This can be particularly helpful if you are looking to build a personal brand.

7. Equipment and Editing

While professional video equipment is not required when creating content for YouTube, it can be helpful.

Also, editing and post production usually require some basic knowledge, something that is not required with articles.

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8. Which One Comes More Naturally to You: YouTube vs Blogging Compared

While it is possible to get better at something that you may not naturally be good at, it is easier to do what you are already good at.

If you consider yourself a good writer, go with blogging. On the other hand, if you love being in front of the camera, YouTube is probably a better option for you.

We recommend that you start by giving both blogging and YouTube-ing a try to see which one comes more naturally to you and which ones ends up driving more results.

Just make sure to make at least 10 articles and 10 videos in order to more accurately judge which one is working better for you.

9. Where Does Your Target Audience Hang Out?

When comparing blogging vs Youtube, you want to consider where the people in your niche hang out.

For example, if you are in the fashion niche, Instagram and YouTube are probably popular platforms for your audience.

If on other hand, you are in the SEO niche, Instagram is not the greatest platform to be on. Most SEOs are looking for content on Google, YouTube, and Facebook.

That being said, you don’t always need to follow the status quo with your platform selection. It may be a good idea to try creating content on an underutilized platform due to the low competition.

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10. Are You Looking to Run Ads?

While Google search ads generally cost more than other forms of online advertising, in our opinion, YouTube ads are currently underpriced.

This makes it easy to utilize them when growing your YouTube channel. That being said, you may have trouble with other ad platforms if you use YouTube.

For example, you can’t run Facebook remarketing ads to your YouTube audience.

11. How Fast Do You Want to Get Traffic? YouTube vs Blogging Compared

Blogging is generally slower than YouTube, but it can still get you traffic relatively fast if the authority of your domain is high.

You can rank on YouTube pretty much immediately if there is low competition for your keywords and you meet the criteria of their algorithm.

12. Are You Willing to Use “Clickbait”

While using clickbait is not a requirement for blogging or YouTube, it is more commonly utilized on YouTube.

With both, you should take time to craft your titles and thumbnails to get a better click though rates and rankings.

Blog Vs Vlog Income

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The income you make on either your blog or your YouTube channel can vary greatly depending on the monetization strategies you apply.

If we’re talking strictly about display ads, the RPM (or Rate Per Mile = Rate per 1000 sessions) is much lower on Google AdSense in comparison to a higher end network such as Media vine.

Your RPM will vary depending on your niche, the country where most of your audience is, how long they watch your video or read your blog post for etc.

It is hard to pinpoint an absolute average number for every blog or channel out there since every niche is so different. But a $5 RPM for Google AdSense is very common, while for Media vine it is much more likely for you to see a $20-$30 RPM.

What does this mean for your Monthly Income?

Let’s say one month you get 50,000 pageviews on your blog monetized with Media vine. And you get 50,000 views on your YouTube channel monetized with Google AdSense.

Here’s how much you would make from each:

• 50,000 blog pageviews → 50 x $30 RPM = $1,500
• 50,000 YouTube views → 50 x $5 RPM = $250

As you can see there is quite a big difference between the two when it comes to the income you can make strictly from display ads.

However, both a blog and a YouTube channel can be highly profitable, especially if you don’t rely simply on displaying ads.

If you use the other monetizing strategies above, you will likely see a very good income from either of these.

Should I Start A Blog Or A YouTube Channel In 2022?

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One of the best decisions you can take in this case is to start both a blog and a YouTube channel. This will give you maximum exposure on both platforms and it will help you grow on both at the same time.

You can also link from your blog to your YouTube channel and vice versa to drive more traffic to each one of those.

 

  Conclusion: YouTube vs Blogging Compared

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While you should focus on doing both in most cases, blogging and YouTube have their pros and cons.

Let us know your thoughts on this topic in the comments below or by joining our Facebook group at this link.  YouTube vs Blogging Compared: Which One is More Profitable?

Related: 

• How To Become a YouTube Affiliate and Make Money Online