Morning guys,
Feeling pleased today as it’s a Saturday and yet I’m still up at 644am – about to start this blog.
I’ve actually been sorting out several videos I’m planning to record:
As well as launching a Facebook ad to drive traffic to a playlist I have and well…
Blogging Versus Vlogging (since I’m doing both)…
So I wanted to write about it and I guess I should start with this who are unacquainted:
Table of Contents
What Does Blog Stand For (and what is it)?
Funny thing is – is that I actually thought “this is something I should include” and then I was like ‘I don’t know wtf blog even stands for myself’.
Lol – so as I’ve figured out – a blog is a ‘web log’. Or rather it’s short for a weblog.
But as I delved deeper (i.e read a couple more links) – there’s a bunch of other content in relation to it as well that fleshes it out further still –
‘A Hierarchy of text, images, media objects, and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser’ – this is a definition from Harvard
Then you’ve got the Merriam-Webster definition of a blog which is:
‘A regular feature appearing as part of an online publication that typically relates to a particular topic and consists of articles and personal commentary by one or more authors
There are many many definitions of this – but I think you get the idea –
A blog is an opportunity for typically a single author to write consistently about a subject – often an area of subject matter expertise.
Types Of Blogs
Now that we’re clear on the definition of blogs – there are of course a whole range of blogs you can find online from Fashion, Food, Travel, Music, and Fitness…but we need to take it a step back again still.
As we need to think more broadly –
You’ve got personal blogs (which mine is – it’s evidently about me lol), business blogs, affiliate blogs, niche blogs as well as news blogs.
They’re probably the most common types of blogs.
Business is for example like Forbes. The affiliate would be like one of our (dying) sites – USCombatSports and then Niche would be something like PearlLemonProperties – which is about the property niche. And then you’ve got news blogs like the BBC.
How Are A Website And A Blog Different Then
It’s probably worth slipping in this distinction because there IS a difference between a website and a blog.
An example is that I’m soon going to set up a personal training website for my sister. This is going to be a website – simply because it’s static – i.e there aren’t going to be any moving parts to it most likely for a couple of months at least.
However – if she were anything like The Running School – where I go and get my running coaching – she might also consider writing a blog down the line (i.e exactly what I’m doing).
Businesses will very often have a website to showcase their services with little scope for interaction – and they will often start blogging to grow their audience and therefore their business.
What Type Of Blog Is Yours Then Deepak?
That’s the interesting part – because I don’t know that my writing comes underneath any of these categories.
It’s definitely personal as I talk mostly about my own journey (make that exclusively).
But any business coach will look at the content and say ‘this has nothing to do with my day job running an SEO agency.
And that’s very much the case – there isn’t TOO much on here about my job.
That’s where this definition comes in:
Journal Blogging
This is where what I do comes in – journal blogging.
This is a blog often written in date order, about the thoughts of the publisher as they occur to him/her.
What’s crazy about this – is that if you actually journal – then it’s very easy to turn your journal into a blog.
As that’s fundamentally all I’m doing.
I.e deciding what it is I feel like writing about each morning when I wake up.
And in the discussion of ‘blogging Versus vlogging’ – I think (to a degree) the definition is slightly wrong.
Vlogging is pretty much exactly the same as blogging – but doing the same thing via video.
However – vlogging is probably more comparable to journaling because it’s much more related to the stream-of-consciousness style of writing which I’ve written about.
And that’s the exciting part about blogging OR vlogging that I think opens up a whole new world for you
Journaling and Blogging For Mental Health
So what’s amazing about the process of writing each day (and I’ve been doing this for only 30 days in a row now) – is the positive impact it’s having on my mental health.
I write about the things that are on my mind, I write about the things that are important to me – and the only difference between this and keeping a private journal is you click ‘publish’.
So in the conversation of ‘blogging versus vlogging’ – there’s a mental health aspect to writing that’s much more powerful than vlogging alone.
Even though all of this content ultimately gets published on my blog – it still feels like a very private conversation I’m having with myself.
And I’ve seen myself become calmer, more balanced in my response to things – and overall just a happier human being
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The Compound Power Of Journaling And Keeping A Diary
That’s the powerful part about journaling – is that now I am keeping a dear diary approach – the pace at which I’m producing content is keeping steady – and I’m churning out at least, 1,250 words a day.
I don’t want to put too firm a number on it as it creates pressure that distracts from the actual enjoyment of the process – which needs to be central to the discipline of producing regular content in whatever format you choose.
How To Produce Blog Content On A Daily Basis
My process – as I promised I’d share (and I may do a longer and more detailed blog on this) – is as follows:
- I wake up each morning and see where my mind takes me in terms of things I find interesting
- I fire up Ahrefs and start searching for that specific keyword in ‘Keyword Explorer’ to identify a closely related keyword that has:
- A keyword density of <10 out of 100 (i.e it apparently very easy to rank for) that has a global search volume of at least 100+
- I then run that same keyword search on Google using Keywords Everywhere – and identify closely related keywords to potentially also include in the content
- I include only the things that I’m interested in writing about
- Once I’ve got all of this in a document – I then look at the content the top-ranked articles are writing about – and then I keep this in mind to ensure my content is better
- All the while it’s important I retain my actual voice and not make it sound like it’s an informative blog that doesn’t have any sense of personal voice in it…because I find it annoying lol
Great..so what about vlogging?
This is ultimately the video version of a blog. It’s videos produced on a regular basis which pretty much follow the same format as the written word.
It can literally be all of the above –
I.e you can have a niche vlog, a daily vlog, and of course, it can also function as a journal or diary style of content where you’re sharing your thoughts as well as what you get up to with an audience.
What Types Of Vloggers Are There?
I guess one angle that hasn’t been covered in the blog section that probably applies to both – is the frequency of content produced.
You’ve got those who want to vlog/blog once a week, those who wish to do weekends, etc.
Then there are of course some mediums that lend themselves to vlogging in a way that doesn’t with blogging (and vice-versa).
E.g if we’re talking comedy vlogs versus comedy blogs then it’s a whole different ball game – the written medium versus the video medium I mean.
The same can be said for gaming blogs Versus gaming vlogs – they’re totally different formats also
Then we’ll turn our heads to a particular space where Vlogs have dominance –
Live Streaming
Well – this is an area where blogging cannot compete with the video format.
Live streaming is absolutely huge – and if it’s something you wish to incorporate into your content production mix then well…
Liveblogging doesn’t EXACTLY have quite the same draw.
So I’d say this is a space where there’s a distinct separation
Which Is Better Than – Blogging Or Vlogging?
That’s really difficult to answer – because on the basis of views/readership – you could argue that I’m terrible at both lol.
Blogging as a format has been around probably for hundreds of years – well before the internet – and it won’t go anywhere either.
The video format is on the rise hugely at the moment – so in terms of market growth – vlogging is better.
In terms of market penetration – blogging has more of a global reach.
It comes down to a matter of preference I presume.
What format is it that you prefer – I’d simply go with that.
Blogging Versus Vlogging Money
Blogging vs vlogging is worthy of consideration if your decision is going to be made upon which can drive the most money for you.
On balance there are more growth opportunities on video because relative to blogging – it’s still an incredibly young format – which means there are lots of opportunities for growth on the platform still.
However, there are ways of doing incredibly well in both formats.
The bigger problem for both formats is determining distribution.
I.e how will you get your message heard?
People all around the world are producing thousands (or hundreds of thousands of blog content and video content on a daily basis) – so minus strategy (that about sums up my 2020 content production strategy – non-existent)..
It’s going to be difficult to get your message heard.
Of course, it also depends upon what your intentions are –
For example – as part of the Pearl Lemon blog it’s specifically being written with the intent to help us win more SEO clients.
With the several affiliate websites I have, it’s to make money in specific niches.
With THIS blog – it’s the super-long term.
I mean it’s my journey I’m taking with me where it’s commercial intent is a bonus to just the joy of producing content.
Of course, I want to do both altogether – but I’d urge you to consider both as you think about your journey.
There is a timelessness to blogs that you don’t necessarily get with vlogs I’d argue also – but that will change I expect.
My Blogging And Vlogging Approach For 2021
Well, I’m doing both daily as often as I can at the moment.
And I’ll talk briefly about the journal blogging that I’m conducting.
I want to stick with this until March 31st so I have around 90 days of content written – with at least 60 days of it being led by keyword research so I can assess its commercial impact over the rest of the year.
Vlogging is something I’m determined to do daily with the intent being much the same.
Although my commercial drive/strategy with it isn’t (yet) as sophisticated as my blogging, I assume it’ll follow
Final Thoughts
This blog took absolutely forever to write lol (I did take a 60-minute break in between).
But I suppose that’s the Saturday effect perhaps.
Anyway, I think the choice of platform is really (assuming you’re producing content yourself) a question of enjoyment.
If it’s outsourced and a more ‘corporate decision’ – well…
Written content is way easier to produce than video content.
Which is probably why Pearl Lemon has way more written content than it does videos….
And 90% of the video content has been recorded by me anyway :p
That’s a wrap!
