Blog Vs Podcast: Which One of the Two Online Businesses Is Best To Start?

Last updated on September 21st, 2024 at 10:28 am

 

Blog Vs Podcast, all in this write-up about these two online business ideas. Blogs and podcasts are great side hustles that can turn into monthly income-generating activities for some good time.

If I can start a blog, you can also start one, and the same applies to a podcast. Both businesses are long-term investments where you don’t expect to immediately get paid but after a certain period of time.

Whether a blog or a podcast, there are lots of ways to make the most out of any of the two but with some competence. And when you want to know which one is right for you to get started you need to take time to figure it out.

Without further ado, we can get into selecting the best alternative between a blog and a podcast.

What Is A Blog?

A blog is an online library of information on a given niche consulted at any time. The information hub consists of up-to-date content about certain topics in the area of interest.

You can also become a blogger when you start writing about your personal life experience. Let’s say you love skiing, create written or video content about topics related to skiing to gather information in one place.

Pros and Cons of Blogs

Any business you want to get started with has its advantages and disadvantages, the same applies to blogs. Let’s get into the pros and cons of blogging business for a living.

Pros

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If you want to get started with search engine optimization best practices, blogging is the best way to go about it.

A blog needs to be optimized for search in search engines to get traffic for its content. Blogging business requires skills in content optimization using the appropriate search queries.

Acquiring the right skills it’s not hard at all when you put in the work to learn and apply on-page and off-page accordingly to rank businesses. Some search engine optimization best practices according to Semrush include:

• Organizing content with search intent
• Leverage primary keywords
• Write compelling title tags and Meta descriptions.
• Optimizing images
• Optimize the site’s page loading speed
• Build an internal linking structure
• Improving user experience

2. Content Creation Time

You get time to do other things since creating a blog takes little time when committed enough to work. Sure, even when it comes to posting content, for me I use about 2 to 3 hours utmost.

Despite some other online businesses where a lot of time is required, blogging is amongst those that save time the most.

3. Start-Up Capital

You don’t need a lot of money to start up a blogging business, for as low as $2.95 per month with Bluehost I started my blog. Here I paid an annual plan with a free domain name and besides nothing else was purchased.

It’s not a huge investment, when everything is done right applying search engine optimization best practices you can make money fast through affiliate marketing, ads, sponsorships, and more.

Cons

1. Stiff Competition

There’s a lot of competition in the blogging business hence you must be good at blogging best practices to succeed. And there are many high-authority websites that you have to compete with in order to get somewhere.

2. Requires Commitment

If you are the kind of person who won’t get enough time to work on your blog, it’s better to try something else not to waste time. A blog also requires time, especially in the early stages where blogging best practices must apply.

Requirements for Starting a Blogging Business

Like any other business, there are requirements needed to start up a successful blog that will attract an audience. Here’s a detailed list of the things you need to have;

1. Writing skills

You don’t have to be so talented to start a blog but creativity in writing is part of what gives you an edge to become successful.

2. Niche

The blog won’t make any meaning without a topic of interest for the audience. People need to know what the information hub is all about before consuming the content.

3. Blog name

Your blog must have a name that the audience will recall when it wants to make a reference. And it is what is used in the domain registration process to host it online.

4. Blogging platform

This is also called a content management system for publishing content for example WordPress, and Wix. Currently, I am using WordPress for my blogging business, and it is very effective.

5. Hosting Platform

A blog must be hosted online for your audience to be able to access content wherever they are around the world. Some hosting platforms that you can use are BlueHost, GoDaddy, and HostGator.

6. Keyword tool

You might be good at writing but when you don’t have the right search queries you get the most searches. Unless you have other means, keyword tools are just good at making life easier providing the right search phrases that will make the blog get optimized for search online.

Ways in Which Blogs Make Money

Blogs make money in different ways in case you want to diversify your earnings. Here is a list of ways bloggers make the most out of their blogs.

1. Advertisements

There are many companies out there waiting to pay for advertising space on your blog. It’s one of the easiest ways to make money with a blog when the effort that was put in the past starts paying a passive income.

2. Affiliate marketing

This is where you receive a commission for sales made on a product or service through your affiliate link from a company. It’s also one of the most paying ways with passive income in the blogging business.

3. Sponsorships

When your blog has enough traffic, companies will reach out for sponsored posts about their products or services. Here bloggers can charge thousands of dollars depending on their authority but still, companies will pay.

4. Online courses

Making an online course can be quite challenging when you’re just getting started, but it’s one of the best ways to make money while sharing value with others.

5. Flipping blogs

This is where you buy a blog and sell it off at a profit now or later. Some bloggers buy blogs from others to grow them and later sell them out at a higher profit.

What Is A Podcast?

A podcast is an online digital content radio or television show with episodes accessible through streaming platforms like Spotify, YouTube, and iTunes.

Like blogs, a hosting platform is one of the basic requirements for starting up a podcast. With podcasting you don’t have to do a lot of writing, it’s more audio or video content.

The host and a guest are the two parties that make up a show about a given topic of discussion. Podcasting can sometimes be live or first edited to be published on a later date as agreed by both parties.

Pros and Cons of Podcasts

Podcasting business also has pros and cons which any beginner needs to know in advance before getting started.

Pros

1. High Sponsored Ad Earnings

In terms of sponsored ads, companies pay a lot of money to podcasters compared to blogs. This is why most people nowadays are so into podcasts.

2. Potential Followers

The followers on podcasts are serious people who you can easily turn into potential leads for businesses that would want to take advantage of your large audience.

3. Networking

Networking with people becomes easier since you connect with a number of people as guests. They all come from different backgrounds rich in life experience.

Cons

1. Experience

Starting a podcast requires some experience since it’s a mix of audio and video. Yes, some audio and video recording skills are needed in the production process for quality output.

2. Earnings

In terms of earnings, podcasts are not more diversified hence you’re limited to a few income sources. But like any other online business, you must put in the work to get results at the end of the day.

3. Time

Podcasts need a lot of time in production and in growing an audience while providing the right content needed. Getting the right people to host and provide value it’s not something easy.

Requirements for Starting a Podcasting Business

Starting a podcast it’s a process and there are things you must know or put into place to get it on successfully from a business perspective.

1. Planning

Starting anything without a plan is planning to fail, you have to be clear about the podcast’s intentions and also ascertain the type of audience to target.  In an effective planning process, you must come up with a podcast topic, format, and structure.

2. Equipment

Podcasting requires equipment to use before getting started with the business, and as long as you have the basic setup equipment like a computer, microphone, headphones, and a camera you can get started. Sure, you don’t need a big space or a lot of staff around you to make podcasts.

3. Editing software

To produce quality content for your audience, most of the time editing software is required to do so but it goes at a cost. Also, take some time to learn how to use the software in the production process to cut costs in outsourcing experts.

Some popular software used in podcasting include Restream, GarageBand, Auphonic, and Adobe Audition.

4. Branding

Your podcasting business must be identified from others in the same industry in order to grow. There must be something to represent your work and the audience needs to relate with you out there accordingly.

Ways in Which Podcasts Make Money

Podcasting is a good business too, let’s look at some ways in which to make money using the platform.

1. Affiliate Marketing

Through podcasting, you can make money promoting products or services of other companies on a commission basis. This can be done by directly approaching companies or using affiliate networks like ShareAsale, Clickbank, and Amazon.

2. Sponsorships and Ads

This is among the most paying ways for podcasters since companies put in a lot of money compared to blogs. There are also various Ad networks available through which podcasters connect with advertisers for businesses for example Authentic and Midroll.

3. Services

The services will depend on the type of content that you produce on the podcast for your audience. Let’s say the podcast is about making money online, people will need mentorship on how to successfully get paid online.

4. Selling Online Courses

Many podcasters diversify incomes by creating online courses about a niche of interest for sale. This a hassle-free way to get paid since a course can be created once and can only be edited after a long period of time.

And the online course can very well be promoted using the podcast to the audience to get sales and make money.

How to Grow Podcasts and Blogs

To be successful with your podcast or blog you must put in the work to attract followers to consume the content created. This is something that takes time but it’s worth your time for the online business to grow.

Sure, it is very important to diversify traffic sources for your content to reach out to a larger audience using different strategies.

Podcasts

Let’s first look at the different ways in which to grow your podcast audience to engage with content.

• Youtube

Though most podcasts are normally in audio format, they can be turned into YouTube video content to reach out to another type of audience interested in video content.

Nowadays video content reaches out to a larger audience compared to audio content which strategic podcasters are now into.

• Writing Blog Posts

Do you know that turning podcast content into written content can change your podcasting game? There are people without time for podcasts but when they get a lot of time to read through blog posts.

Repurposing podcast content into blog posts is a great way to increase your reach and grow an audience with a strategized approach.

• Social Media

Another great way to grow podcast content for the long term is by using social media platforms. The podcast needs people to engage with its content but this can also be achieved by making good use of social media to attract an audience.

• Guest Posting

You can also take advantage of high-authority blogs to write guest posts to feature your podcast content with a call to action back to your platform. With this, you can attract quite a number of people to the podcast who can turn into potential subscribers for a lifetime.

Blogs

Like podcasts, blog content also needs scaling to be able to make the most out of it during its lifetime.

• Start a YouTube channel

One of the best ways to grow your blog is by starting up a YouTube channel where content viewers can be directed to your blog.

• Podcasting

A blog can be turned into a podcast with an interest in reaching out to another type of audience for your blog content. Here the podcast can be used to promote written blog content to subscribers.

• Guest Posting

For blogs, guest posting can also be used to promote written blog content using high-authority blogs with an interest in more content for its readers.

FAQs – Blog Vs Podcast

How Long Does It Take To Grow A Blog?

In my experience it depends, but when you put in the work early enough blogs can mature between 6 to 8 months. However, there are blogs that fail in their early stages for different reasons and those that take some longer time to grow depending on the niche.

How Long Does It Take To Grow A Podcast?

Like blogs, to grow a podcast you must put in the work to see results early enough. There are also podcast best practices that must be followed in order to get results within a few months.

Podcast Vs Blog: What Is Most Costly To Start?

Podcasting requires quite more capital to start compared to blogs. I started my blog with just $2.95 per month using BlueHost for a basic annual plan.

Closing

Podcast versus blog, both online businesses are good to start when you know what you’re doing. I mainly decided to get into blogging because it gives me a lot of time to do other things despite the hard work in the first place.

Podcasts and blogs are similar in a lot of different ways, which is why one can be used to grow the other.

Hope this can be helpful for now about podcasts Vs blogs and you can get the best out of it for your blogging or podcasting journey.