Are you a beginner trying to decide between starting a blog or a YouTube channel to grow your brand or business online? You‘re not alone. Many content creators struggle with this decision.
Blogging and video are both highly effective ways to share your expertise, build trust with your audience, and even make money online. But they each come with unique benefits and challenges.
As a WordPress expert who has built a successful blogging business, here‘s my advice on how to decide which one to start with.
Why You Should Start with a Blog First
For most beginners, I recommend starting with a blog first before expanding to YouTube. Here are 4 key reasons why:
1. Blogging Has a Lower Barrier to Entry
One of the biggest advantages of blogging is how quick, easy, and affordable it is to get started compared to video.
To launch a blog, all you really need is:
- A domain name (~$10/year)
- WordPress hosting (~$3 to $30/month)
- A WordPress theme (free or ~$50 one-time)
You can set up a fully functioning WordPress blog in less than an hour, even with zero technical experience. See my step-by-step guide to starting a blog for beginners.
With blogging, you don‘t need any special equipment or software either. You can write your posts in a simple word processor and publish them from any computer with an internet connection.
In comparison, starting a YouTube channel requires a bigger upfront investment of time and money into planning, production, and editing.
While you can shoot decent videos with a smartphone, most successful YouTubers use a higher-quality camera, microphone, lighting kit, and editing software. All this gear adds up:
| Equipment | Approx. Cost |
|---|---|
| HD digital camera | $500 – $1000+ |
| Tripod | $50 – $100 |
| Lighting kit | $100 – $500 |
| Microphone | $50 – $300 |
| Editing software | $0 – $300 |
Not only is this equipment expensive, but it also takes time to learn how to use it all properly to create professional videos. Filming, editing, and uploading videos requires more technical skill than writing a blog post.
Because of the lower barrier to entry, you can start producing blog content faster and more frequently than videos. Blogs are better for beginners to start gaining traction quickly.
2. Blogging Drives Traffic Directly to Your Website
Another huge benefit of blogging is that it attracts organic search engine traffic directly to your own website.
Every new blog post you publish creates a new page that can rank in Google search results for relevant keywords. Over time, your blog will start pulling in more and more free, targeted traffic.
When someone discovers your content via Google search, they land on your website, not a social platform. This gives you the opportunity to engage them further with your branding, navigation menus, email opt-in forms, related posts, and calls-to-action.
With a YouTube channel, the dynamic is different. When someone finds your video via YouTube search or suggested videos, they stay on YouTube to watch it. You can add links to your site in the video description, but only a small fraction of viewers will actually click through.
YouTube‘s main goal is to keep people on YouTube watching more videos so they can show them more ads. They don‘t want to send traffic away to your website. In fact, YouTube has made external links even less visible over the years.
A blog allows you to attract your target audience and generate leads directly from your own platform. Your blog content will continue to drive highly-relevant organic traffic to your site for months and years after publishing.
3. It‘s Easier to Repurpose Blog Content into Videos
Once you have a blog up and running, you can easily repurpose your blog content into other formats like video to expand your reach.
For example, let‘s say you write an in-depth blog post on "How to Make Sourdough Bread at Home." You can then create a video demonstrating that same recipe and process and post it on YouTube.
Since you already outlined the key steps in the blog post, you basically have the video script done. You‘re just presenting the same content in a different format to reach visual learners.
It‘s much easier to go from a 1500-word blog post to a 5-minute video than vice versa. Trying to turn a short YouTube video into a comprehensive, SEO-optimized blog post that ranks in Google would require significant extra research and writing.
By starting with blog content first, you can keep your options open to repurpose it into videos, podcasts, infographics, and more down the road. You‘ll get more mileage out of each piece of content you create.
4. You Own Your Blog and Have More Control
When you run a self-hosted WordPress blog, you are in full control of your platform. You own your domain, content, data, and audience. You can design your site however you want, organize your content however you want, and monetize it however you want.
With a YouTube channel, you have to play by YouTube‘s rules and have much less control. Some key limitations of building your brand on YouTube include:
- If you violate YouTube‘s policies, your video could get demonetized or your channel shut down (even accidentally)
- You are at the mercy of YouTube‘s algorithm changes for your reach and income
- You don‘t have full control of the ads shown on your videos
- You don‘t have your viewers‘ email addresses to follow up with them
- YouTube takes a 45% cut of ad revenue from your channel
This is why it‘s risky to put all your eggs in the YouTube basket, or any single social platform. They can change the rules on you any time.
But with a WordPress blog, you are in the driver‘s seat. You can produce and distribute your content however you see fit. You can engage your audience more deeply. And you can pursue any monetization opportunity you want – affiliate marketing, sponsored content, digital products, online courses, membership communities – not just video ads.
A blog is an asset that you fully own and control. When people read your blog, they are spending time in your own branded space, not on an unrelated platform like YouTube.
When to Start a YouTube Channel
To be clear, I‘m not saying YouTube isn‘t worth pursuing or that you have to choose between a blog and a YouTube channel. Video is an incredibly powerful medium and YouTube is the world‘s second-largest search engine next to Google.
According to YouTube, they have over 2 billion monthly users watching over 1 billion hours of video every single day. That‘s an enormous potential audience you can get in front of with a YouTube channel.
But trying to grow a brand new YouTube channel with zero existing audience is hard. Only 3.1% of YouTube channels ever reach 10,000 subscribers, and the competition is only getting fiercer.
That‘s why I recommend starting a blog first and using it to build your authority and audience in your niche. Publish SEO-optimized blog content consistently and start ranking in Google to attract your first loyal fans to your website.
Then once your blog is getting some traction, launch a YouTube channel to complement it. Here‘s how a blog and YouTube channel work well together:
- Embed relevant YouTube videos into your blog posts so readers can choose to watch or read
- Use your popular blog posts as idea starters for videos
- Promote your videos to your blog audience and email list to get crucial early views and subscribers
- Mention your blog in every video and add a link in the description to cross-pollinate your audiences
- Interact with your YouTube commenters and invite them to check out your blog for more
A blog and a YouTube channel are not mutually exclusive. The blog content feeds the YouTube channel and vice versa. The two platforms combine to expand your total reach and impact.
But by establishing your blog first, you will gain traction faster and avoid building your brand on rented land. Your blog will be the sturdy foundation supporting all your other content platforms.
How to Get Your Blog Up and Running Fast
Hopefully, you can see why starting with a blog is the smart choice for most beginners. Now let‘s break down the steps to get your new WordPress blog launched quickly.
Get a domain name and web hosting. I recommend Bluehost which is affordable and WordPress-friendly.
Install the free WordPress software. Most hosts like Bluehost have a quick install option to make this a snap.
Choose a WordPress theme to control your blog‘s visual design. Pick a simple, fast-loading theme to start. You can always customize it more later.
Install essential WordPress plugins for added functionality. At a minimum, use plugins for security, SEO, performance, and backup.
Create a content strategy and publishing schedule. Come up with a list of blog post ideas and commit to a regular posting frequency, such as once per week.
Write and publish your first post. Aim to make it at least 1,000 words long, focused on one topic, and genuinely useful to your target readers.
Keep publishing new posts consistently to build momentum. Stay focused on creating the best content you can to serve your audience.
For more help with this process from start to finish, see my free WordPress Blog Setup Guide for Beginners.
Common Questions About Starting a Blog vs YouTube Channel
Let me address a few common questions creators have when weighing the blog vs YouTube decision:
What if I don‘t like to write?
I get it, writing doesn‘t come naturally to everyone. But you don‘t have to be a brilliant wordsmith to start a successful blog. The key is to write in a conversational, engaging style like you‘re explaining the topic to a friend. Use short paragraphs, subheadings, lists, and images to break up the text.
You can also explore other content formats like embeddable podcasts, infographics, and curated content to mix it up. And you can invite others to guest post on your blog to fill your early editorial calendar.
How long does it take for a new blog to get traffic?
This depends on many factors like your niche, competition, posting frequency, and promotion efforts. But in general, most blogs take at least 6-12 months of consistent publishing (2-4 posts/week) before they start seeing significant organic traffic from search engines.
That may sound like a long time, but it‘s important to take a long-term approach. The traffic you build from blogging is highly targeted and consistent, unlike fleeting social media spikes. Your blog posts will continue to attract search traffic and build your authority for years to come.
Can I start a blog and a YouTube channel at the same time?
Technically yes, but I wouldn‘t recommend it if you‘re a complete beginner. Each platform has a learning curve and requires significant ongoing time and effort to succeed. It‘s better to focus on one to start and expand to the other after building some momentum.
Once you‘re putting out blog content regularly and getting some traffic and subscribers, then you can add YouTube into the mix with less risk of burnout or letting your quality slip. You can even involve your blog audience in your YouTube launch for extra motivation.
Start Sharing Your Message with the World
In the blogging vs vlogging debate, blogging has some key advantages that make it ideal for beginners. By starting a blog first, you will:
- Build your own platform that you 100% own and control
- Create a growing library of content that attracts organic traffic
- Establish your topical authority and expertise in your space
- Have the flexibility to repurpose your blog content in other ways
Then once your blog is humming along nicely, you can launch a YouTube channel with confidence to expand your reach and impact even further.
Remember, your voice and ideas are worthy of being shared. Whether through blogging, video, or podcasting, the key is to get started and stay consistent.
The world needs to hear your unique message, so don‘t let perfectionism or procrastination hold you back. Start that blog now and enjoy the exciting journey ahead!
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