There is a debate on whether running YouTube is better than blogging especially from individuals who want to make money online. It’s always important to know which one is better before committing yourself to it.
I have done the two and here are my findings:
- Which is easy to start
Starting a YouTube channel is free, you only need internet and a laptop. But to start a blog, you’ll spend at least $50.In this case, YouTube is better than blogging.
- Growth
Growth is very important and sustaining the growth is paramount. YouTube channel might take even 1 month to gain thousands of subscribers due to a viral video you posted, but when it comes to blogging, you’ll wait for more than 6 months to start realizing organic traffic. The growth of a YouTube channel is faster than that of a blog. But when it comes to sustaining the growth, it’s harder for YouTube than for a blog. In YouTube, you have to post videos on regular basis in order to get new views. Even subscribers will only visit your channel when you post new videos. But for a blog, sustaining traffic is easier—you only post articles with specific keywords which will be searched forever. Since most of traffic in a blog is obtained from Google and social media, it’s easy to get new readers with old content.
- Income
Assuming that a blog and a YouTube channel rely on AdSense alone, the income for a blog might be higher than for YouTube. In YouTube, it’s only the views (CPM) that count but in blogging, CPC and CPM count. In blogging, publishers are paid 68% of the income generated from their blogs while in YouTube, publishers earn 55% only.
In blogging, the income sources are many as compared to YouTube. A blogger can earn from the following sources.
- AdSense
- AdSense alternatives
- Affiliate marketing
- Selling your own products
- Selling eBooks
- Selling courses
- Sponsored articles
- Direct banners
- Products reviews
In blogging, even if your AdSense account is banned, you’ll not lack options. But in YouTube, most people who lose their accounts end up closing their channels because they don’t have many options.
When it comes to generating income, blogging is better than YouTube.
- Competition and views
YouTube viewers are fewer than for blogs. Normally, views in YouTube come from subscribers. The competition for the few who visit YouTube is usually stiff as there are many channels which produce similar content. In blogging, the number of readers are in billions. Even if blogs are many, traffic is also a lot. The good thing about blogging is that someone can visit one blog and still visit yours because each of the bloggers has different views over a certain topic.
I always prefer blogging because of traffic from Twitter, Facebook, Google, Ask, Yahoo, WhatsApp and several other sources. For YouTube, the sources are limited.
- Cost of running a YouTube channel vs a blog
One advantage of YouTube is that the cost of running a channel is zero, meaning that all the money you earn is regarded as profit. In blogging, you will incur web hosting costs and other costs. Web hosting costs are determined by resources a website consumes.
- Ownership
I always prefer blogging because I own them, nobody will claim ownership in future. But for YouTube, Google can claim your channel anytime in future—you partially own it.
For me, I prefer blogging to YouTube because of income and ownership. When I own run a blog, I know it’s mine and can make as much money as possible.
Starting a blog cost $50 only at bluehost.Web hosting costs $2.95 per month, domain registration is free. To get a new domain name,click on this link and visit Bluehost
It will take less than 6 months to start making money through your new blog.
