Should You Start a Blog or a YouTube Channel (Beginner’s Guide)
Do you have trouble deciding between starting a blog and a YouTube channel?
Blogging and video blogging are effective methods of reaching your target demographic and building trust in your company. Our users frequently ask us which they should launch first: a blog or a YouTube channel.
Here, we’ll break out why we think you should begin with a blog instead of a YouTube channel, and why.
Which Is Better: Blogging or YouTube?
In short, you should create a blog first, and then, if necessary, a YouTube channel.
Given the breadth of information presented here, a table of contents has been provided for your convenience:
Exactly What Is a Blog?
The Critical Role of Blogging in the Modern World
Whether to Create a Blog or a YouTube Channel
The Basics of Blogging
Changing Your Blog’s Appearance by Choosing a Theme
Putting Together Your Initial Blog Post
How Plugins Can Help Your Blog Expand and Develop
Making Money With Your WordPress Site
Exactly What Is a Blog?
A blog is a website that displays material in reverse chronological order, with the most recent postings displaying first. Blog postings are a fantastic medium via which you may impart your wisdom upon your readers, so boosting your reputation and drawing in more site visits.
Consider beginning a blog if you are interested in conducting business online or expanding your current consumer base through improved communication.
Blogs are online diaries often written and edited by a single person or a small group of people who convey information in an informal tone. However, nowadays there is a plethora of corporate blogs that generate a lot of informative and thought-provoking content.
The comments section of a blog post is where readers can share their thoughts on the topic at hand or ask the author questions.
Since its inception in 1993, blogging has evolved into an indispensable promotional tool for many companies. Is there still a need for it in this day and age of social media and YouTube?
The Critical Role of Blogging in the Modern World
Over 600 million of the current 1.9 billion webpages are weblogs. That indicates that weblogs account for one-third of all content online.
Because of its many advantages, blogging has quickly become an integral part of any successful marketing strategy. A blog can be used to advertise anything from an idea to a brand to a story to a product.
Some of the most compelling arguments in favor of beginning a blog may be found here.
1. More people will visit your site if you have a blog.
A company’s website usually only has a handful of “sticky” pages. It’s common practice to divide a website into several sections, such as a homepage, product/service landing pages, and a about/contact page.
Especially if your website’s industry has been operating for a while and there are dozens of others, search engines may discount yours as unimportant.
A blog can help you post more content, which, in turn, can help you attract more visitors.
You should start with a blog instead of a YouTube channel because viewers of your videos will go to YouTube rather than your website. While your site is entirely under your control, Google owns YouTube and stands to gain from it.
2. Having a blog will increase your credibility and brand awareness.
Having a blog may do wonders for your company’s reputation. Having a bespoke logo allows you to brand additional areas of your online presence, including search results, social media profiles, and more.
The value of your digital assets will skyrocket once people recognize and trust your brand.
If you add a blog, you can promote yourself as an industry expert by providing new content on a regular basis.
You’ll gain the trust of your users and other businesses in your field if you regularly post new material.
3. You can increase your number of leads and sales with the help of a blog.
Seventy percent or more of today’s visitors to your website won’t return. This is due to the sheer volume of material available online.
If you want more leads, subscribers, and social media followers from your website, you should start a blog.
Tools like OptinMonster are useful for increasing one’s social media following and email subscriber base. In addition, push notifications allow you to communicate with your blog’s visitors in an effort to entice them to return to your site.
4. To attract a sizable and interested readership, start a blog.
Having a conversation on a website that doesn’t update very often is difficult. Why not incorporate a blog onto your site so visitors can leave comments and share your content on various social media platforms?
This is a great tool for attracting customers and expanding your business’s reach.
In the long run, this will lead to more sales and word-of-mouth advertising because visitors will feel more connected to your business.
5. Using a blog, you may inform clients and spread the word.
Use your blog to show readers how they can put your wares to work in a variety of situations. You can then demonstrate product features, inform users of benefits, and compare your product to the competition.
They are also ideal for publicizing company updates, product launches, and sales events.
A blog post is a great way to spread the word about an upcoming event, like a Black Friday discount. And then use a floating header or footer banner to advertise that blog article all around your website.
6. With a blog, you may expand your company’s potential customer base and revenue streams.
Having a blog can open up numerous doors to new ways of making money online. For instance, Google AdSense allows you to insert advertisements directly into your blog entries.
You may also utilize your blog to offer premium content with plugins like MemberPress or Easy Digital Downloads, or you can advertise affiliate items and generate money with affiliate marketing.
7. You can use the content you create for your blog in other forms of marketing.
By maintaining a blog on your site, you may repurpose your written content for use in other promotional mediums, like YouTube videos.
When making videos for YouTube, for instance, we often refer to our textual WPBeginner tutorials as a resource. Our video editors will appreciate the time and effort savings. Visitors can then select between reading the guide or watching the accompanying YouTube videos that we’ve included inside the instructional.
Not persuaded yet? Our essay on the advantages of blogging can provide you with more motivation to begin writing your own.
Whether to Create a Blog or a YouTube Channel
You may now see why we advocate starting with a blog and expanding to a YouTube channel only if the latter becomes necessary.
Let’s review the key points briefly. When you create a blog, you’re essentially building your own personal website. People interested in your goods and services will be drawn to your website by the material you produce for it.
However, Google will always retain ownership of the YouTube platform. People who find your material through a web search will visit YouTube and not your own.
Making YouTube videos, for example, is facilitated by having already made blog postings. Creating a screenplay is the first stage in making a video. You’ve already done a lot of the legwork by creating content for your site.
Making films on YouTube also necessitates spending money on things like a camera, lights, and video editing software, as well as investing time into learning how to use it.
Last but not least, your blog is an ideal spot for people to view your films on YouTube. Incorporating YouTube videos into a blog post is simple, and it gives readers the option of either watching the video or reading the piece. A fantastic user experience, really.
The Basics of Blogging
We understand that the idea of establishing a blog can be somewhat intimidating, especially if you are not the “geeky” kind. Believe it or not, you do have company.
If you wish to establish a blog, WordPress is the most often suggested blogging platform.
WordPress itself is free, but setting up a self-hosted blog will cost you. A domain name and web hosting service must first be selected and registered.
You might also hire a designer to create your site and buy pricey plugins to expand its functionality. The final price tag is totally reliant on your wants and demands.
The good news is that a fully functional WordPress site can be created for about $100. Bluehost, a recommended host by WordPress itself, has decided to give our customers a free domain name and discounts of more than 60% on web hosting.
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Our breakdown of the true expenses associated with developing a WordPress site has all the information and choices you need.
Better still, if you join Bluehost through our link, they’ll set up WordPress for you at no extra cost, so you can begin constructing your blog right away.
The ‘Log in to WordPress’ button will appear once you’ve logged into your Bluehost account.
Log into WordPress through Bluehost’s Dashboard
After that, you may begin working on your first blog post by configuring WordPress, selecting a theme, and installing plugins.
In this comprehensive introduction for new users of WordPress, we explain how to set up a blog from scratch. Below, we’ll outline the primary procedures.
The final product will be a blog that you can be proud of showing off to your readers.
Changing Your Blog’s Appearance by Choosing a Theme
Among the many fun and rewarding aspects of developing a WordPress site is giving it a unique appearance and feel.
WordPress’s robust templating engine allows you to alter your site’s theme to suit your needs with relative ease.
WordPress hosts tens of thousands of themes, both free and for sale. Pick the one that most closely resembles the final product you envision for your website.
Theme Statistics with WordPress
The Appearance » Themes tab is where you’ll want to go to search for a theme. It’ll display all the pre-installed WordPress themes available to you.
The ‘Add New’ button up top will take you to a directory of further available free themes.
Theme update
SeedProd, Thrive Themes, Astra, Elegant Themes, and many more are just some of the reputable WordPress theme shops you can visit if you’re looking for a premium or paid WordPress theme.
However, because there are so many available WordPress themes, it can be challenging for newcomers to settle on one.
Minimalist layouts with lots of white space are highly suggested. This gives you a lot of leeway to modify the theme to your liking.
See our theme-selection tutorial and roundup of the top free WordPress blog themes for additional information.
Putting Together Your Initial Blog Post
After settling on a WordPress layout, you can get started on your first post. To create a new post with WordPress, navigate to the dashboard and select the Posts » Add New menu option.
In the next screen, you’ll find the text editor where you may create your first blog entry.
Putting Together Your Initial Blog Post
WordPress’s block-based editor facilitates the development of aesthetically pleasing compositions for blog entries.
Check out our WordPress block editor guide if you’re unfamiliar with the interface.
When you’re finished writing, your blog post will be available to the public once you click the Publish button in the upper right corner of the screen.
Start a Blog and Publish Your First Post
There are a number of different tabs on the posts screen, such as Categories and Tags. These can be used to create logical divisions within your blog content. We have a fantastic article explaining the distinction between categories and tags; make sure to check it out.
Read our article on creating a new post in WordPress (with video) to learn how to make full use of the post screen.
In addition, we provide the following tools to assist you come up with topics for future blog posts:
Ideas for 103 engaging blog posts.
Here are seventy-three examples of successful blog posts.
Here are 12 guidelines for creating engaging blog posts.
Many established bloggers use keyword analysis to consciously select their posts’ subjects. The improved visibility in search engine results means more visitors for them.
On WPBeginner, we show you, step by step, how to conduct keyword research, just as we do.
How Plugins Can Help Your Blog Expand and Develop
A contact page, galleries, sliders, and an email list are all standard features that should be added to a website once the initial blog post has been published. Plugins are required to add these supplementary functions.
WordPress plugins function much like mobile application add-ons. They make it possible to expand WordPress’ capabilities with no coding required.
The WordPress.org plugin database features more than 60,000 individual plugins, all of which are freely downloadable. In addition, there are premium WordPress plugins available for purchase from independent developers.
WordPress add-ons
The security, privacy, and anonymity of your WordPress website depend on the plugins you choose to employ.
We’ve compiled a list of the best blog expansion plugins available.
Your anonymous website can benefit from increased traffic from search engines by using All in One SEO, the greatest WordPress SEO plugin available.
Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, you can design any kind of web page with the help of SeedProd, a robust WordPress page builder.
If you use WordPress and want to know more about your audience and how they interact with your site, go no further than MonsterInsights, the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.
To maximize the number of visitors who become email subscribers and paying customers, use OptinMonster, a piece of conversion optimization software.
The WPForms plugin simplifies the process of making web-based forms and is often regarded as the top contact form solution for WordPress.
That’s only the beginning. Managing and expanding your WordPress blog is a breeze with the help of the tools we’ve compiled for you here.
Making Money With Your WordPress Site
Over 43% of all websites are run by WordPress, making it the most popular publishing platform in the world. You can make money from a blog just like many other bloggers have.
As a result, we compiled this comprehensive guide on helping you monetize your WordPress blog and start making money online.
This is a complete instruction on how to work from home legally using blogging and WordPress, which sets it apart from other publications on the topic.
It takes effort and resources to initiate many of these strategies. If you put in the time and effort, you will succeed.
Some of the most important methods we discuss are as follows:
Exhibiting Ads by Google Adsense
Paid promotion
Associate advertising
Providing information only to paying customers
Putting Up Digital Goods For Sale
Online retailing of tangible goods
This guide should have given you some insight into why a blog is a better choice than a YouTube channel as a first step. Also, we have compiled a list of the top YouTube video gallery plugins for WordPress, and you may want to find out how to make an email newsletter the right way.
