Blogging vs YouTube: What Should You Start in 2024?

Blogging or YouTube, find out which calls out to you. Let this be your guide to your long-term passive income stream!

by Editorial Team • 28 October 2024

Did you know that Blogging or YouTubing can make you as much as $100k/year? Well, that’s how lucrative these careers are. As tempting as it might seem, it’s tough to choose both as a long-term career.

So, what is your calling? How do you see yourself engaging with the millions of audiences out there?

We know how tough it can be for beginners. That’s why take this article as a pathfinder and reach out to your destination!

Key Takeaways

  • Generally, YouTubers make more money than bloggers.
  • Both professions can be tough but with proper planning, you can shine radiantly.
  • It’s completely possible to run a successful blog and popular YouTube channel at the same time.

Top 6 Factors to Review Before Starting Your Blogging or YouTube Career!

Look, the equation is quite straightforward. Do what you love and you won’t feel like you’re driving yourself into a corner! Even with that, your confusion and hesitation is justified. 

Now, why should you choose one over the other? Well, we have summed up the most riveting factors that will define your future!

youtube vs blogging factors to consider

Skills & Expertise

Nowadays, the skills required to enter into an unknown market have significantly reduced. Don’t believe my words? Well, take the Dorik website builder, for an example. If you’re eager to blog, then you can start by creating a blog website with it within minutes.

However, what you’ll need is the expertise to maintain and nurture a blog

Skills Required to Blog

First of all, you need to have decent prominence over English to write your content, Then, you’ll require in-depth SEO understanding to optimize your content. 

Plus, you’ll need to know how to manage your site with a CMS (Content Management System). Otherwise, you’ll be in big trouble while managing your content plan.

Google also pushes tons of updates, and reforms that can put your blog at risk. That’s why you need to have the passion to pull through the hard times.

Skills Required for YouTube

The same thing applies to YouTube content creation but in a different way. You’ll need to have great research skills, video making & editing skills, marketing, presenting, and a basic knowledge of YouTube’s algorithm.

Moreover, you’ll require a solid understanding of YouTube's Fair Usage policy, copyright policy, optimal content upload timing, content dashboard analysis, and much more. 

Which one are you most familiar with? Where do you see yourself being the very best version of yourself? 

Ask yourself those questions and surely you’ll find the correct path to follow.

Your Target Audience

Once you learn about your target audience and their behavior, you’ll be able to optimize your content more profoundly. Now, how can you know about your target audience before starting a blog or opening a YouTube channel?

target audience for blogs or youtube channel

You can try checking out online forums and social media groups about your niche. Check a handful of people and study them. Some websites might have data on different blog’s analytics and demographic statistics. Leverage those to pinpoint a target audience. 

Suppose you’re starting a travel blog. You can easily study similar blogs’ audiences to know which type of people are regularly visiting the sites. Plus, go over the targeted searches and Google Analytics to know precisely.

On the other hand, to kickstart your YouTube career, there’s no denying that a young audience is the heart of the platform. According to Statista, the majority user base on YouTube is between 25 to 35 years old. And with YouTube Analytics, you can scientifically identify the exact target demographic.

Hence, researching what kind of audience your niche will attract can be valuable insight while starting both of the careers.

Your Rivals & Competitions 

Competitive analysis is a vital step while entering into a market, especially when it’s a volatile career in content creation. When you are blind to your competitors, you’ll never notice the room for improvement.

Just by researching your direct competitors, you’ll be able to know their content pattern, content upload frequency, target demographic, and growth trends. Furthermore, it can help you to understand the gap in your research, analytics, and monetization opportunities!

We bet you never thought about that, right? That’s why studying your rivals can help you to grow in more ways than you can think!

Your Goals

No goal comes without setbacks or obstacles. For bloggers, writer’s block can be tough to overcome. As for YouTubers, it’s hard to be in front of the camera all the time! 

So, never jump into a career that does not align with your goal. 

If you are really passionate about starting your blog, then you need to research the niche ideas. There are tons of niches for you to choose from. However, if you want to optimize monetization, then lifestyle, traveling, finance, and food are definitely the all-time classics.

For the YouTube-driven minds, you need to focus on having a proper theme and setup to showcase. Because even the beginners have stepped up their game by a significant margin. So, without having a content plan or roadmap, you’re not gonna gain much traction.

Set a predefined goal, organize your thoughts, make a solid plan, and then try your luck! As you know, fortune favors the bold.

Cost of Your Passion

No great achievement comes without a price. Especially when it’s your career we’re talking about. Whichever road you choose to walk in, the financial burden will be there.

Let’s take blogging to understand the cost a bit. You definitely need to spend some money to create a website first. Then, you may think of adding a few premium plugins, blogging CMS, or extensions to enhance the blog’s performance & monetization.

If you choose a budget-friendly option like Dorik with built-in SEO tools, it can save a huge amount of money down the road. That’s because it offers a dedicated CMS and unlimited hosting with each premium plan.

Moving forward, you might need to hire some writers or editors to manage your content. Overall, blogging is not something that can’t be done without having a budget. 

However, compared to YouTubing, blogging costs can be ignored. A normal DSLR camera can cost you in the neighborhood of $300. That’s definitely not cheap. Then, you’ll require proper lighting, editing gear, and supporting software.

All of those can be a barrier to start your YouTube career. But if you want to start slow, you can definitely find ways to reduce the costs.

Earning Possibility

Generally speaking, YouTube can lead to more revenue streams compared to blogging. But we all know it’s not so plain or linear at all times. Sometimes, blogging can give you passive income like crazy.

Do you know about affiliate programs and referrals? Well, with those, you can easily make a decent amount of revenue without breaking a sweat. Whenever someone uses your link to purchase something that you’re affiliated with, you’ll get a commission. 

You can earn with Dorik like that as well!

Moreover, you can sell many digital products, offer consultancy services, create a membership subscription, and so on!

With YouTube, you can pick up the pace with your viewers quite fast. If one of your videos goes viral, your earnings will go through the roof. 

Then, you can open channel memberships, affiliate marketing, sponsorships, and whatnot. However, if you become consistent, your channel can take a huge blow.

So, both have some pros & cons attached. You just need to weigh the good and the bad and decide.

What are the Pros and Cons of Blogging & YouTube?

Instead of constantly thinking about which way to go, it’s always best to just do a pros-cons analysis! So, here’s all the information you need, confined in a nice little table:

YouTube:

Advantages Disadvantages
Quick & easy method to limelight Requires editing & recording skills
Best for personal branding A bit costly compared to blogging
Easy to collaborate with brands & content creators YouTube strikes can end your career in one instant

Blogging:

Advantages Disadvantages
More freedom and ownership Requires technical knowledge about Website SEO
Cost-effective and great returns in the long run Less revenue-earning opportunities
Lets you be more flexible and off-the-camera Widespread fame is scarce

While this table is a window of what both careers look like, by no means is it a holy script. You never know what fortune has planned for you.

Related Read: YouTube Channel Name Ideas

Care to know more about both careers? Let’s take a final look!

Why Should You Start a Blog?

If you ask about our personal opinion, then we highly suggest starting a blog first. Why is that? A blog is a centralized and personal medium to capitalize on what you love and how you want to move forward. It’s not dependent on another entity or organization.

You just need passion, a good content framework, and a killer domain! Yes, the results will not be groundbreaking in the early months. However, after 6 months, you’ll be able to see the visible changes! 

On average, a blog running for more than 6 months consistently, can bring home an earning of $100 to $1,000/month. According to Orbit Media, blogs that have consistent output between 2 to 6 posts per week, tend to perform the best

Furthermore, once your blog takes off, you’ll hardly need to manage it like in the early days. It’ll almost be like you’re just earning passively which leaves you the room for diving deep into SEO consultancy, workshops, and more!

Think you’re ready to start blogging? Well, here’s how you can easily start a blog in 6 simple steps:

  • Choose a CMS platform like Dorik to create a blog website.
  • Pick the right niche that calls out to you.
  • Select a name that resonates with your passion.
  • Walk through the CMS to optimize the website for SEO.
  • Research and write an impressive first blog.
  • Publish blogs regularly and promote them proudly.

We reccomend you choose the type of blog that best suits your skill and passion.

Why Should You Start a YouTube Channel?

YouTube is definitely the coolest for many young souls right now. And we also agree that being a successful YouTuber has a different vibe to it. Even if you start from scratch, the YouTube algorithm can shoot up your channel with its engaging script.

Plus, you already have tons of users who might have an interest in your niche. That is the sole reason why YouTubers can earn up to millions per year!

Already believing it’s time to open up that channel? Take a look at how to get started with YouTube before you take the leap:

  • Go to YouTube and sign in to your preferred Google account.
  • Press the profile icon and select Create a channel.
  • Create your channel name and profile picture.
  • Upload your first original video!

However, you’ll always have to keep in mind that you’ll be in the spotlight. Moreover, you need to understand that long videos tend to get more YouTube views.

The ideal length of a YouTube video is between 5 to 15 minutes, according to Piktochart. So, with YouTube, you need to be extra careful!

Can You Do Both Blogging and YouTube Together?

You can definitely juggle both of them without having to lose it all. The key is to start your blog first. Blogs take more time to get recognized and monetized. You’ll first need to take your blog to a certain level to create content on the blog posts.

As YouTube has fewer entry barriers, if you can do it right, you’ll get hit in no time. Make a feasible plan, set your creator mentality, and jump in front of the camera. The first few takes can be daunting but slowly enough, you’ll get there!

What makes more money blogging or YouTube?

Generally, YouTube can make you more money than blogging as videos attract more advertisements. A YouTuber can earn $60,000/year on average while a blogger can earn around $45,000/year.

Is blogging outdated?

No, blogging has not yet gone out of style. In fact, after the introduction of generative AI, blogging has seen a sudden spike in 2024.

What kind of YouTube channel makes the most money?

Usually, finance-related blogs make the most money as they draw more CPM on advertisements.

Can YouTube be used for blogging?

Yes, you can definitely use your YouTube videos to start your blogs. However, you need to make sure the written format caters to the audience who like to read more.

Do Shorts on YouTube make money?

Yes, YouTube has started monetization on Shorts as well. So, you’ll be able to create some revenue similar to long-form content.

Bottom Line

Starting a blog or YouTube channel is not something that you can’t achieve. In 2024, we’ll say both are thriving magnificently. You need to understand your passion, your love for what you want to do and that’s all you need. 

Everything else like planning, managing, and creating your own style of content will follow along!

If you decided to start blogging, you can try Dorik with a free trial and explore its awesome blogging features. We can guarantee that you won't regret it.


Editorial Team
AUTHOR

With diverse backgrounds and expertise, the Dorik editorial team is committed to producing high-quality, informative, and engaging content for our readers. Whether you're a long-time reader or a new visitor, we hope you find our content valuable and informative.

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