Should you start a blog or should you start a podcast?
Which medium will make you more money and which is best (given your skills)?
I started a blog in 2012 on the topic of crowdfunding and I launched a podcast on this same subject in 2015.
My blog has done millions of views and the podcast has been listened to by more than 150,000 people around the world!
Having both a blog and a podcast has given me a unique perspective on the difference between the two mediums. I want to share with you what I’ve learned so that you can feel more confident about which path to go down.
I don’t have anything to sell you in this article, so it will be my unbiased thoughts on the matter. If you do enjoy the article, I’d love it if you could take a second to subscribe to my newsletter.
Okay… let’s get started!
Blogging
Blogging reached its peak in popularity just around 2005 – 2007. The term was trending on very news website around the world. Celebrities were starting blogs about their life. Ordinary people were now able to share their opinions.
We heard about people earning six figures by doing nothing by writing online. They were gaining the attention of a massive audience of loyal readers. It seemed magical.
Then… the term blogging kind of died down. People didn’t talk about it as much. It kind of left the public mindshare.
This is right around when I started my own blog, in 2012. The important thing to note was that while interest in blogging from everyday Americans was dying down, the industry itself was alive and well.
In fact, it was going through a bit of a transformation. In 2011, The Huffington Post was sold to AOL for $315 million. TechCrunch was sold in 2010 to AOL for about $25 million. Even in 2015, ViralNova was sold for $100 million!
These online blogs were actually becoming more like online publications. They weren’t just about sharing opinions or thoughts. They were about sharing education, news, entertainment, etc.
I want to give you a clear idea of how blogs get traffic, make money, and the skills required. Let’s go a few quick bullet points and then I’ll explain a bit more after.
How blogs get traffic:
- Google search
- Social media (Facebook)
- Email marketing
- Referral traffic
The main way that educational blogs get traffic is through search engine optimization. People are typing key words into google and coming across the individual blog articles.
This is how big-name websites get traffic and smaller ones. It’s what leads to a dependable source of traffic that then allows you to focus on other things, like creating new products.
Entertainment blogs tend to see traffic from social sharing websites like Facebook and Twitter. If they’re news related, they might also see some traffic from Google.
As I go through in a video, blogging is just the front. There is a whole back end to a successful blog that causes the owners to earn six and seven figures from the work.
How blogs make money:
- Banner ads, sponsored posts.
- Digital products (courses, books, membership, etc)
- Services (coaching, consulting, services)
- Affiliate marketing (recommending products and services)
Large publications, like Mashable or Buzzfeed, tend to make money from advertisements and sponsored content. This is because they have so much traffic at their disposable. It just makes sense.
Smaller blogs can also pull in decent revenues with sponsored posts and advertisements, though they’ll be more likely to make the bulk of their funds from digital products like courses. They’ll also make a decent sum from services.
I’ve found that the majority of bloggers out there are not full-time bloggers. They’re usually freelancers and writing for other people’s blogs, along with their own.
In order to become a full-time blogger, you’ll need to build up multiple income streams, which also includes affiliate marketing.
The skills required:
- Blog post writing (especially headline crafting)
- Copywriting to sell products
- Email marketing
- SEO optimization
- Social media marketing
- Guest posting/outreach
To start a successful blog, you must be willing to write a lot. You have to be willing to learn how to craft good blog posts and, most importantly, title them effectively.
I’ve written over 800 blog posts. Think about that for a second.
You also need to learn a bit about copywriting, which is a different style of writing than informational-style articles. Copywriting is designed to get people to buy things.
Aside from the writing, you’ll also need to discover how to get traffic to your articles, through email marketing, SEO, social media marketing, etc. A lot of bloggers will also engage in guest post writing.
It sounds like a lot, but one good blog posts can pay dividends well into the future. I have articles that continue to get traffic, even though I wrote them more than 4 years ago.
Overall, blogging is extremely different from podcasting in a number of ways. I’m going to go through some of these differences and give you an idea of what it’s like to run a podcast, along with how you’ll be able to earn money.
Podcasting
Podcasting also saw a big surge in interest around 2005, but that quickly died down when the actual listening device wasn’t very practical for mass consumption. People had to plug in their Apple device in order to download new shows. Also, many of the shows were very amateurish.
Recently, we’ve seen a resurgence in podcasting, with some shows making six and seven figures regularly. Other podcasts, like Serial, have certainly garnered mainstream attention.
Podcasting has been regular growing at 10 – 20% with consumption steadily increasing. Many notable celebrities have taken to podcasting and it’s clearly going to be a major competitor to radio in the future.
If you’re going to start a podcast, you’re gonna want to know how shows get attention, make money, and what skills are required to produce a good one! I’ll go through these points and explain more down below.
How Podcasts Get Downloads
- iTunes marketplace SEO
- Related shows
- Email marketing
- Blogs
- Social media
A majority of the downloads for my show and others come from the iTunes marketplace. These are subscribers of my show, people who have found me via the podcast app, or listeners who have discovered my show from the “related shows” section on other podcasts.
I also will see spikes in downloads when I announce a new podcast through my email list, on social media, or on my blog.
Many podcasters out there also have blogs where they publish the podcast. These aren’t blogs in the traditional sense of the word, but moreso websites they use to keep an archive of their shows. They could also publish their show on YouTube.
How Podcasts Make Money
- Sponsorships
- Digital products (courses, books)
- Services
- Merchandise and swag
A lot of educational podcasts are used as lead generation sources for the host. The host will then have a backend business which is where the real monetization happens.
Since podcasts have a higher CPM (cost per 1,000 downloads) than blogs, a lot of hosts can also make decent money with sponsorship income.
Lastly, entertainment podcasts will offer swag, merchandise, and other goodies to bring more revenue into the company. Similar to blogs, podcasts have multiple revenue sources.
The Skills Required
- Audio editing
- Speaking
- Building rapport with guests
- Marketing your episodes
- Getting good guests
Unlike with blogging, the bulk of your content is likely going to be provided either by your guests or though your interaction with guests. This means you need to get good at asking the right questions, leading the interview, and bringing out their personality.
If you cross-post the podcast on your blog, you will have to do a little bit of writing, but people will mainly be tuning in for the podcast via the iTunes podcast app and listening while they’re doing other things, like commuting to work.
When I first started podcasting, I had to work on a lot of things like my tone of voice, authenticity, and overall excitement around certain topics. A certain number of people will tune into your show for what you promise, like education, but they’ll be far more likely to stick around when you’re also emotionally engaging.
Which should you go with?
I would evaluate what you’re already good at and where you want to go with your career. Do you want to become a better speaker? Do you want to become a full-time writer?
It’s up to you!
I started podcasting because I knew that I want to get out there more. I wanted to start the process of exposing the world to my ideas. I wanted to get better at public speaking. I wanted to have “a personality” that people could connect with.
I knew that I was good at writing, but I didn’t ONLY want to be a writer. I also wanted to be a powerful speaker. I wanted to have followers that would listen to what I had to say.
Whenever I heard famous writers in person, I always thought it was a bit of a let down. They were kinda boring. They weren’t as interesting as their books. That’s because speaking wasn’t their craft. Writing was.
I never wanted to be like that. I wanted people to come away feeling like, “wow!”
It’s 100% up to you. I have a great introduction to blogging here if you’d like to learn more. This video goes through some of the secrets that bloggers don’t share with you when you’re getting tarted.
I also have a book out there on Podcasting which will quickly get you started so that you can start publishing new show episodes and rack up downloads!
I wish you a lot of success in your endeavors. If you enjoyed this article, then take a sec to subscribe.
