What is the Difference Between a Blog and a Vlog?

A blog and a vlog are both personal mixed with information that serves the audience, but their many differences will affect which route someone takes.

People consume loads of content every year. So it gets continuously simple for people to get informed and stay entertained, whether they be readers, watchers, or listeners. 

Most bloggers also present images and videos alongside their written content. Successful content depends on the audience. Some people are readers, and some people are watchers.

Equipment

Blogging is more affordable than vlogging. Blogs take very little startup funding to start. It would be ideal to have internet access and a computer to type, review, and post blog content. 

To produce a vlog, someone would need a computer and additional equipment or a good-quality phone.

A good-quality camera is a must for filming regular vlogs, but many phones nowadays come equipped with a good camera. 

As a result, videos are made better with good lighting, and the best videos have good audio. 

A good microphone may be more important than a good camera because people are more likely to click away if the audio is terrible than a poor-quality video.

Making good videos also requires a lot of editing, so video editing software is a necessity. Unfortunately, all this equipment is costly. 

Vlogging is also very time-consuming. Writing a script, recording, editing, and posting videos take time. 

Vlogging usually involves more than one person, but one can do it alone if they’re willing. 

Editing for an Audience

The lives of bloggers and vloggers matter to their audiences, but they have to edit accordingly. Personal life is seldom the only topic of conversation. 

Bloggers and vloggers alike have to work at sharing just enough personal experience to keep it relatable.

Editing text for a blog is simple enough. Bloggers do their research, type up their story, edit, and post. Then, they pay attention to the reactions they get and work to improve engagement. 

It is easier for most to engage with video than words on a screen. Personality shines through in both, but tuning in to a vlog takes less effort for viewers.

Editing videos takes a lot more time than editing blog entries. For example, editing a blog could take a few hours, whereas editing a vlog could take a day or more. 

It’s best to do all the filming up front, so one doesn’t get neck-deep in editing only to find they have to get back behind the camera.

Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is necessary for driving traffic to blogs and vlogs. However, SEO for blogs is more simple than SEO for videos. 

Search engines operate according to typed words, so there is plenty of text for search engines to work off of in a blog.

 Video creators have to pay close attention to the words they put in their titles and descriptions. They can also include summaries or transcripts of their videos to optimize SEO.

Blogs and vlogs can increase engagement with call-to-actions if they aren’t asking viewers to leave the platform. 

This statement is especially true with video content. However, if the purpose of the content is to drive traffic to another website, blogs are the better choice.

Monetization

Blogs and vlogs use multiple methods of monetization. Popular ways of monetization are advertisements, affiliated links, selling merchandise, and sponsorship. The methods bloggers and vloggers use depend on the content and the popularity of the content creator.

Ads are particularly standard for both, but vloggers usually make more with advertisements than bloggers. Affiliation is also widespread, though it is more lucrative for bloggers. 

Vloggers sell more of their own products in their videos than bloggers, like clothing and digital products.

Sponsorship is not an option for beginners. Sponsors are more willing to support the content if it already has a viewership. 

Sponsorship is popular among vloggers, but bloggers can use this method as well.

Popularity

Video content is more popular than blogs in general and will likely get more views than a blog. 

Younger audiences especially take more kindly to video than written words. 

Bloggers have an advantage as well because they can post video content alongside their written content. Vloggers can’t do that.

Video creators have another advantage when it comes to quantity. There are thousands upon thousands of blogs online right now, but there aren’t nearly as many quality videos. 

Some prefer reading to watching videos, and creators should still consider blogging for this reason.

What the audience has at their disposal is also important. Streaming video does require a strong internet connection, and not everyone has this. 

On the other hand, Written content doesn’t take as much time to load and is easier to scan, especially if the content has a good layout.

Creators must consider their niche as well as their audience. Audiences tune into blogs and vlogs, but some niches perform better as videos, and some perform better as blogs.

Types of Blogs

 Aspiring bloggers have a few different choices. They can write a:

• Personal blog. Bloggers share their personal experiences and thoughts with their audience.
• Niche blog. Niche bloggers can still talk about their personal lives, but they focus on delivering content about one specific topic. They might have a few niches, but they are usually sub-niches of their identified niche.
• Business blog. Businesses operate blogs to promote and market a company and its products or services.
• Affiliate blog. Affiliated bloggers publish how-to guides and reviews to gain their audience’s trust. They make the bulk of their money by connecting their audiences with product creators and service providers.

Types of Vlogs

Some vloggers do similar things as bloggers but with the help of videos. 

Most niche blogs could work well as vlogs, but some use video to format their content because a blog wouldn’t be suitable (like presenting audible content). 

Among the most popular vlogs are the:

• Lifestyle vlog. Like a personal blog, the lifestyle vlog is for those who want to showcase their lifestyle.
• Product review vlog. These vlogs feature how-to guides and reviews of products and their performance.
• Gaming vlog. These vlogs are for gamers to share their gaming experiences.
• Health and fitness vlog. These vlogs give tips and tricks on being healthy.
• Fashion vlog. 
• Music vlog. These vlogs are ideal for artists who want to share their music.
• Education vlog. These vlogs get lots of views because people watch them over, trying to get the information they want.
• Comedy vlog. These vlogs are designed to make people laugh with comedy shows and pranks.

Platforms

There are lots of platforms for bloggers and vloggers. Some popular blogging platforms in addition to WordPress.org and WordPress.com are:

• Wix
• Squarespace
• Weebly
• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Medium
• Constant Contact

Some popular vlogging platforms in addition to YouTube are:

• Vimeo
• DailyMotion
• Twitch
• Flickr
• Facebook
• Instagram

Conclusion

Creating blogs and vlogs both take research, effort, and consistency to be successful. Bloggers and vloggers have to find a way to get traffic to their platforms, learning to wade through the waters of social media to get viewers. 

Creators need to do their research and choose something they will follow through on to start right away.