Blog vs Podcast: Which one is best?

In this blog post we are going to break down the pros and cons of blog vs podcast in four categories:

Cost
Level of Difficulty
Search Engine Optimization Strength
Building a Relationship with Your Audience

Spoiler: Podcast wins. 🏆

But hey, you are reading a blog post right now, right? So blogs definitely have their benefits. What we have for you in this post is a fair analysis of both blogs and podcasts for content marketing.

Ready? Let’s get started! 🚀

Blog vs Podcast: Cost

The first area we’ll look at is cost. Whether you are looking at content creation as a business, hobby, or something in between, money matters. 🤑

Blog Cost: Pros

Blogging can technically be a free, no-cost undertaking.

Sites like WordPress have price plan options where you can make your own website for free. These sites provide templates and design tools so you don’t have to know anything about coding in order to build your website. There a few downsides with going with the free option: You don’t get to use your own domain (example: your website will be elvispresley.wordpress.com instead of elvispresley.com), there’s limited storage, you can’t take part in their advertising programs, etc. 😞

Blogging can also be low-cost. For about $10-$20 per month on sites like WordPress, you can use your own domain, increase your storage, take part in the platform’s advertising program, etc. Of course, if you want to use your own domain, you’ll need to buy it. A domain can cost anywhere from $10 per year to much more expensive if you have to get in bidding war for a popular domain.

And yes, you can make ad revenue from a blog. You can use whatever program WordPress (or the website hosting site you are using) has in place. You can also pitch advertisers yourself, make a deal, and manually create ads on your blog. That can help offset any costs associated with your blog, or maybe even make you a nice little profit. ☺️

We should mention Substack in this section since it is kind of the new version of blogging. You aren’t expected to have your own a domain because everything you write is within the Substack system. You can make money from it– it is a subscription platform at its heart. In terms of cost, it takes 10% of any money your make through your subscriptions. Advertising is not supported at all by Substack because they really want you to focus on subscriptions.

Blog Cost: Cons

While blogs are generally considered a very cheap way to make content, there are is one big factor that people forget about: SEO tools. ⚒️

If you want potential readers to find your blog, then you need to pop up high on a search engine rankings for keywords. How do you figure out what those keywords are and how to outrank everyone else on the internet who has content about your topic?

You need SEO tools. There are TONS of them out there. YourTextGuru, Google’s tools, the list goes on and on. They greatly vary in cost so we can’t give you a great estimate here. But just keep this in mind as you compare Blog vs Podcast. 🧠

Podcast Cost: Pros

Yes, you can technically make a podcast for free, but it is basically not possible to create a quality one for free. 😬

The good news is that it is getting cheaper and cheaper to make podcasts.

As creating podcasts has gotten more popular, companies have created more affordable audio tools for independent creators. This includes equipment like microphones, podcast headphones, recording desks and boom arms, mixers, recorders, editing software, etc. 💻

This also includes infrastructure like hosting sites. Let’s use Ausha as a convenient example. At Ausha, for $13 per month you get unlimited storage, unlimited episodes, and unlimited downloads. Plus you get automated distribution to twenty listening platforms, a website, social media manager and AI post creator, and an email newsletter tool.

$13 per month for all that certainly rivals blog hosting sites like WordPress. 👀

Podcast Costs: Cons

There is no getting around it. Yes, you are probably going to need to buy some equipment in order to make high quality podcast episodes.

But before you decide that is a breaking point, check out our blog post, “How Much Does Starting a Podcast Cost.” Depending on your setup, you may not need a lot of equipment. 👈

Also, be sure to check out second hand options for equipment. Online marketplaces where individuals sell their stuff can be a gold mine! Or check out repair shops for refurbished options.

And finally, check out your local library! They may have a podcast recording room complete with high quality equipment that is free to reserve and use. For example, the Denver Library system has 6 different locations with free podcast studios! 😍

Blog vs Podcast: Level of Difficulty

Time is money! Yes, you want to look at cost in terms of money, but you also want to look at cost in terms of time and frustration. That’s what we cover in this section.

Blog Level of Difficulty: Pros

The technological know-how needed to start a blog is basically zero. As long as you know the basics of operating a computer, you know all the technological knowledge you need. 🖥️

Especially now that website hosts like WordPress do all the coding for you, there is nothing to worry about. A couple clicks and boom you are ready to be a blogger.

But ****scccreeeecccchhhh**** not so fast. Read this next section. ⬇️

Blog Level of Difficulty: Cons

Just because the computer part is easy doesn’t mean the actual blogging is easy. Writing is tough. It is a lot of staring at a screen. You need to know the basics when it comes to grammar and structure. There are more and more AI features available to help catch grammar and spelling mistakes, but they aren’t perfect. ✍️

There are tons of really smart people who just don’t get along well with written words. Some people have had learning or processing disorders since they were kids. Others have had concussions or other injuries that have made writing really difficult. And there are lots of us who found writing exercises in school so stressful, that we would rather anything else than write.

Even if you do like to write and you write well, there is also the problem of new content. You need to be able to think up new topics to cover for every single post. You can’t just invite people on to give their unique perspective and stories about your topic…. like you would… wait for it… on a podcast! 👇

Podcast Level of Difficulty: Pros

Podcasting can be as easy as having a great conversation with a friend. No need to worry about grammar or trying to explain things in complete sentences. You just talk. 😁

Ok, that is an oversimplification– podcasts do take preparation– but you get the point. For a lot of people, talking is easier than writing.

Often it is easier to express all the nuances of what we are saying through spoken words. That is partly because in writing there are a lot of rules about what is “correct” and what is “incorrect.” When speaking, there is more room for cultural differences. In fact, these cultural differences is part of what makes podcasting so effective for building a community of listeners (but we’ll get to that in a later section). 🌈

Podcast Level of Difficult: Cons

Yes, you are going to have to learn how to use audio recording equipment and editing software. Podcast require upfront effort. 🤓

The good news is that a lot of podcasting equipment and software today is made to be super easy to use. There are plug-and-play microphones where you just connect the USB microphone to your computer and start recording. There is also editing software where you can just edit a transcript and the program edits the corresponding audio.

Also, despite how much easier it seems to talk than write, you may be surprised once you are in front of a live microphone. To create a good episode you will want to prepare at least an timed outline of what you want to cover. Make sure you plan how you want to transition between segments because that’s when you can get way off track or just say something that doesn’t quite make sense. 🤔

But with practice, you will become a smooth podcaster, both in terms of using your equipment and in terms of how you present your content.

Blog vs Podcast: Search Engine Optimization Strength

To succeed as an online content creator, you need people to find you and your work. You need to have excellent search engine optimization (SEO). That’s what we’ll cover here.

Blog SEO Strength: Pros

Blogs are still the beating heart of an excellent SEO strategy. 🫀

They are a very controlled environment in which you can incorporate keywords and context, hopefully with a little flair.

Most importantly, blogs are easy for internet search engine robots to consume and process. They are the little guys that power search engines so it is good to keep them happy! 🤖

Blog SEO Strength: Cons

Beyond keywords, referencing is important for SEO. Referencing is when someone somewhere out in the internet refers to your content and links it. 🗺️

Your blog may get some references. You can partner with other bloggers and reference each other. If you get press coverage, the article might reference your blog.

But blog posts aren’t really disseminated across the internet naturally. You know what is… that’s right, podcasts! 🚨

Podcast SEO Strength: Pros

If you have Ausha as your podcast hosting platform, your podcast can be an search engine optimization beast. 🏋️

Each of your episodes will automatically get distributed to 20 online listening directories worldwide. Plus, with Ausha, you can distribute directly to YouTube. Ausha will transform your audio file into a video file, put it on your YouTube channel, and BOOM your episode is on one of the biggest media platforms in the world.

Ausha also makes you a podcast website that is designed especially for SEO. Make sure to create a transcript of your episode and post it on your website– a transcript can basically have the same SEO boosting power as a blog post. Same with episode notes! 😈

Finally, the social media posts that you can create and manage with Ausha act as SEO content both on the social media sites themselves (they have their own search engines) and the larger internet.

The bottom line is that you can put your podcast episode and its associated content all over the internet, driving traffic to your podcast, and driving your podcast up the ranks of search results listings. 🥇

Podcast SEO Strengths: Cons

The only time with making a podcast might not be good for SEO is if you don’t do all the features that Ausha does for its members. 😢

Let’s say you only distribute to one listening app. You don’t have a podcast website and you don’t do much social media.

Well, then you aren’t going to drive much traffic to your podcast and your podcast is not going to climb up the search results listings.

But you won’t do that, will you! 😎

Blog vs Podcast: Building a Relationship with Your Audience

The top level of marketing is when your audience builds a relationship with your brand. That’s what we’re going to talk about in this last section.

Blog Building Relationship: Pros

Honestly, there are not a ton of benefits when it comes to blogging to build a relationship with your target audience. Sure, you might be offering people information they may enjoy or even come to depend on. Of course you can try to incorporate the audience into your blog through posting and answering their questions, or similar techniques. But there is only so much written words can do. 🧑‍💻

Blog Building Relationship: Cons

The biggest downside of blogs is that it they aren’t great a creating community. Blogs can certainly have fans, but they don’t tap into the human psyche like podcasts can.

Speaking of…

Podcast Building Relationship: Pros

Podcasting is one of the best ways to build a relationship with audience members. According to a study done in France, listeners feel like podcasts are a space for ‘softness‘ and ‘optimism‘ where a brand can build or renew relationships with people. 🥰

When people listen to a podcast, they can relax. So much of marketing feels really in-your-face. A podcast makes all the difference.

If you do decide to start creating video episodes for a YouTube channel as part of your podcasting strategy, this feeling of closeness can be multiplied. People really like to see speaker’s face when they talk. But this is not absolutely necessary. Audio podcasts on their own, or podcasts placed on online radio, can really draw in listeners. 🎧

Podcast Building Relationship: Cons

The only possible downside to podcasting in terms of relationships is if you spend all your time on making your episodes and not enough time marketing them. You need an audience in order to connect with an audience. 🤝

And remember, it is better to be consistent good, than inconsistently great. So figure out what level of podcasting skills and time you have and make a sustainable schedule based on that. Overtime, you will naturally grow better, and the people who listen to your show will love you even more as they get to witness your improvement.

Winner: Podcast

Drum roll please… the winner is… podcasts! 🎉

When you look at all the factors, podcasts are the best option for content creators, especially those in digital marketing. They are great for turning your passion into a business, or reinvigorating your business to be your passion.

Thanks for reading this blog post and enjoy the podcasting journey! 🧑‍🚀🪐