Should I Be a Blogger or a Vlogger? – The Right Answers If You Have This Question

Perhaps you’ve heard about this: Many bloggers and vloggers are getting richer with their work-at-home hobbies. Perhaps, you feel envious of their success. Perhaps, you feel compelled to join their league and be a blogger or vlogger yourself.

What you’ll learn here:

• Reasons for not choosing to be a blogger
• Reasons for not choosing to be a vlogger
• Overcoming the difficulties of blogging
• Overcoming the difficulties of vlogging

Do you feel confused about which one to pick, to be a blogger or a vlogger? Perhaps I can help you enlighten on the right direction to take. Perhaps this article is the answer to that nagging confusion. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Okay, enough of the perhapses, let’s get right to it. Is blogging better than vlogging? Is writing about something and letting people read them better than talking on video and just letting people watch and listen? The quickest answer that I can give is this: it mainly depends on the quality of the output that you can give.

So which one is better for you, blogging or vlogging?

Both options require a huge investment of your time and effort… because they are both serious undertakings. To help you decide which one to pick, here’s the guidance that I can give.

(Note: For the next few paragraphs, you might feel a bit discouraged, but we will do some counter-attacks on the following negative points… just sit tight and hang on.)

You must not choose to be a blogger if:

You hate writing

Since blogging is about written words, you need to do a lot of writing, and I mean, a lot of it! In order for you to be a successful blogger, you need to truly fall in love with the task of scribbling words into a word processor, or into the document window of your chosen blogging platform.

Ponder upon these words from very famous writers:

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

– Stephen King

“Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens. Most of my friends who are put on that diet have very pleasant careers.”

– Ray Bradbury

“I try to write a certain amount each day, five days a week. A rule sometimes broken is better than no rule.”

– Herman Wouk

While these 3 guys may not be known as very good bloggers, they are certainly world-renowned writers. Let me say this with great emphasis, a good blogger must be a good writer. You want to be successful in blogging right? Then do your damnedest to absorb the advice of the 3.

You need to write and read a lot to constantly supply your blog with relevant and attractive content. You will be doing these tasks most of your days. Mostly during your free time, although you may also need to do it during those hours and days where you are not exactly free and at leisure.

Writing should be treated like a husband, a wife a lover, and a concubine — that is the ultimate way to treat the chore if you truly plan to be successful at it. Yes, this is a reality in the lives of all successful bloggers. Do you hate this setting? Then maybe my friend, you’re not meant for blogging.

You’re not a natural wordsmith

Let’s face it, some people are just naturally gifted with putting ideas into words and putting them on paper. Some are just naturally-born geniuses in this aspect. That’s why they can come up with truly compelling writing pieces with little or no effort. If you’re one of these people, then a sure path to online writing success is already in front of you.

But some of us are just not gifted enough with wordings and in crafting paragraphs, that’s why many of us just resort to reading written content provided by those gifted ones.

Although they may not directly admit it, the most successful bloggers are natural wordsmiths – they have the innate skill of unleashing captivating sentences and statements that can mesmerize readers from any orientation or demographic.

Since blog posts are mostly done in quick instances and “on-the-fly,” we might say that a proficient blogger must be similar to an expert rapper — someone who can provide compelling words that flow naturally and impressively.

If you feel like you don’t have this talent, then you should consider choosing a different path other than blogging.

You have no eye for visual arts

Let me be truly honest, blogging is not just about being a good writer. You need to have another skill: basic knowledge of visual arts. It is true that a book must not be judged by its cover, but not all people agree to this. The reality is that people would look at covers first, before picking a book and considering buying it.

In blogging, the same principle applies – you can’t encourage people to read your blog if it has a really bad layout and poor navigational structure. Thankfully though, free blog templates are widely available on the internet these days. You can just pick one, and install it on your chosen blogging platform.

But it’s not as simple as that. Once you have installed a very good template, you still need to configure it properly to make it more appropriate for your audience’s tastes.

SEO experts Brian Dean (author of backlinko.com) and Neil Patel (author of ubersuggest.com) are both in agreement that a non-graphical blog won’t get too high on Google Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERP).

If you doubt the credibility of these guys, you can look them up in any search engine of your choice and see for yourself that they are in fact very knowledgeable in their chosen craft.

They are among the most successful bloggers in the history of the Internet. If they say visuals are a vital element of a successful blog, then it has to be true.

A good blogger needs to have a good artistic sense, and if you don’t have it, you can just be hailed along with the unsuccessful ones.

So you’ve understood the aforementioned points, and maybe you have this feeling like you’re not meant to be a blogger. Maybe you can just replace the letter “b” with “v.” But there are also points that you need to highly ponder on.

You must not choose to be a vlogger if:

You’re too shy to talk in front of a camera

A lot of people might find the moment of being captured on camera to be a very pleasurable experience. But when the aim of it is for showing it to a lot of people… well, it’s a different story. Here’s another reality that you might find yourself agreeing with – some people including maybe yourself, are too ashamed to have their faces videoed.

If you choose to be a vlogger, you need to be camera-friendly. You need to face the device as if it’s a person or a group of audience. If you’re too shy to overcome such an activity, let me be frank with you… you can never be a good vlogger.

You’re not good at public speaking

As a vlogger, you will be subjecting yourself to any or all of these acts: talking while making eye contact with the camera, talking while demonstrating something, talking while explaining something, talking while walking, and talking while talking to someone else.

Talking, talking, talking. That’s what you will do in high frequencies. How else can you make people be interested in your vlog channel if they don’t get to hear you explain and prove your point? In this regard, here’s one thing that you need to fully accept – an excellent vlogger is a good talker. If you’re not good at facing people and urging them to listen, you should choose not to vlog.

You can’t afford to buy vlogging equipment

Ask any successful vlogger on Youtube, and this will be one common advice that they will tell you: invest in a good camera and high-quality vlogging equipment. Sadly, achieving such stuff could be expensive. In order for viewers to take you seriously, you need to show that you are also serious about what it is that you do. You will not be taken too seriously if your video and sound quality is poor and unappealing.

If you are still incapable of buying a camera that’s good enough in capturing images and sound, then maybe you should consider setting aside your vlogging goals for future scenarios.

Please don’t think that I’m trying to discourage you, I’m just trying to make you grasp the realities of either blogging or vlogging.

But wait a minute, are those reasons that mainly focus on the negative enough to detach you from your blogging or vlogging goals? Let’s do some counterattacks on each of them.

Overcoming the difficulties of becoming a successful blogger

Blogging hindrance 1: hate for writing

If you hate writing, maybe it’s due to the common mindset that it’s hard and tedious. Yes, that’s true. But here’s the good news, a lot of software tools can really help you in making writing easier. In most word processors of today, spelling and grammar checkers are so widespread and smart that they can almost act as your own professional writing coach!

Also, there are online portals that can help squeeze out the best writer that you can be. For instance, there is Grammarly, a truly innovative tool that can help you think as you write. Many web-content creators, including yours truly are getting so much help with this really cool writing tool.

Even though the paid option of Grammarly is where the magic truly is, you can just utilize its free version — it can really make wonders in developing your writing skills as you constantly use it.

Blogging hindrance 2: not being a wordsmith

It’s true that most of the geniuses that we know are just born the way they are. But here’s something that you need to know, you don’t need to be a genius or a natural wordsmith to be a successful blogger!

In addition to the software tools I told you about, there are also lots of web resources that can help you appear as a professional writer even if you have no proper educational training! There are very affordable webinars and online courses out there that can greatly improve not only your grammatical skills but also your choice of words and writing insights!

Blogging hindrance 3: no eye for visual arts

It’s undeniable that visual arts are a vital element of any blog, but it’s also undeniable that embellishing your blog site with captivating visual elements has never been easier these days.

When you sign up for a blogging account on any platform of your choosing, easy and comprehensive step-by-step guides are provided. You can even just upload your content and allow the built-in tools to do the customizing for you!

Many professional bloggers though are not really leveraging those free tools to make the most out of their blogs, a lot of them actually make custom-built website templates. Many of them even hire professional designers just to make their sites superbly appealing.

But here’s the truth, as you will surely agree with: most site visitors are actually happy with just the basic layout and design that free templates are giving. As long as you just employ standard blog formatting, your website should look just fine to the average webpage reader.

Overcoming the difficulties of becoming a successful vlogger.

Vlogging hindrance 1: Being camera shy

Know this, the attitude of being too shy is just a state of mind. Such a trait will not bring you too far in life! If you want to be successful in vlogging or in any life endeavor, you need to regulate that attitude.

From a psychological standpoint, shyness is just there in the first few tries, once you get into the habit of videoing yourself again and again, and by showing it to your friends or anybody else within your own neighborhood, that negative trait will vanish in no time.

By conditioning your mind into doing something that can really enhance your way of living, you can have the strength to conquer that hindrance that does nothing to help you at all.

Vlogging hindrance 2: Not good at speaking

While it’s true that you need to be a good public speaker in order to be an effective vlogger, you have to bear in mind that videoing yourself is not really a public act.

Here’s another thing that you really must know: many great Youtubers have many failed attempts at vlogging because they launch a channel, delete it, launch another channel, but then deleted it as well. Why? Because they thought the truly look ugly while speaking in front of a camera.

Eventually though, they were able to convince themselves that they were not as bad-looking as they thought. Likewise, you have to consider capturing videos of yourself many times until your confidence is high enough already,

You can do it alone with nothing but your camera in the confines of your own room, or in the middle of a forest if you may! If you are incapable of speaking convincingly even in front of a camera, you can always do these 3 things: practice, practice, practice.

Vlogging hindrance 3: Not having vlogging equipment

Let me reveal a very cool piece of information to you… many Youtubers actually start that hobby of theirs with nothing but just their phones! By utilizing proper angles so that natural light can help them show their faces properly, and by choosing a quiet place where they can video themselves, and of course, by talking about interesting topics that people can easily relate to, they became sought-after vloggers without using any expensive equipment!

Now that makes either blogging or vlogging a whole lot easier, right? Before you finally choose any of the 2, Let me give you my honest opinion based on experience and first-hand information from people who both blog and vlog: It’s generally easier to vlog than to blog, that’s the plain and simple truth.

Some successful vloggers who have no blogging experience might disagree, but once you have surpassed the only difficult phase of vlogging which is the acquisition of expensive equipment, the rest should just be fairly easy.

In blogging, there are lots of things that you need to study and be a master of. Such things include proper writing styles, search-engine optimization issues, and getting through a constant scene of internet competition. In blogging, the ocean from which you will be fishing from is much, much wider compared to the sea dominated by vloggers.

“Getting your vlog to be searched and visited by people in platforms like Youtube is much easier than achieving the same in Google. “

Trust me, this is very true.

So which one is it really? Blogging or vlogging? My ultimate answer to the question is another set of questions: What is the one thing you’re really passionate about? Which among the 2 are you most capable of giving content in long terms?

If you can give yourself the most honest answers to those, you will soon realize that success in either field is not too far ahead.

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