Blogging vs Content Writing as a way of Making Money Online

Which is the better option between blogging and content writing if you want to make money online? What is the difference between blogging and content writing?

These are the common questions that arise when you have interest in writing but you don’t know which route to take. In this article, I will explain to you what blogging is in comparison to content writing when it comes to making money online.

I’ll do so by comparing the two fields on four aspects; cost of starting, skills needed, nature of income and earning potential.

Blogging and Content Writing Compared

1. Cost of Starting

Blogs cost money to start. Though there are platforms like medium, WordPress, Blogger etc that offer free blogs, they are not good if you want to start a blog that makes money.

The cost of starting a blog varies but the minimum is about $50. That is the cost of setting up a self-hosted blog.

Content writing does not cost any money to start. There are many platforms that allow writers to sign up free of charge. The only challenge may be passing the tests that a platform has.

Therefore, if you can’t afford the cost of starting a blog, content writing is the better option for you. I have seen many bloggers who started out as content writers.

Since the content written in content writing is exactly the same as that written in blogging, it is easy to switch from content writing to blogging.

Actually, bloggers outsource their content from content writers. Content writers are like bloggers who write for other people’s blogs and get paid.

Though some blogs may have personal views, those that share common knowledge can outsource articles from content writers.

Also, you can start out as a content writer so that you learn how to write proper blog posts. That way, when you start your own blog, your articles are polished.

2. Skills Needed

Even though blogging and content writing are intertwined in many areas, there are a few skills that are unique to each field.

In blogging, you need to have basic technical skills of setting up a website. You don’t have to know how to code but at least you should understand how a website operates.

A website has a name called a domain name, which is hosted on a server. When setting up a website, you need to use a content management system such as WordPress if you don’t know how to code.

Integrating a content management system with your server to set up a blog can be confusing for beginners.

Other technical website management skills such as improving website loading speed, inserting code in the header of a website, creating backups etc can be challenging.

On the other hand, content writing requires you to have basic negotiation skills. Since you will be writing blog posts for bloggers, you need to negotiate writing rates.

You also need to learn how to write pitches. Some content writing platforms don’t give you work from bloggers directly; you have to pitch for work.

The other skills such as writing and proofreading are needed both in blogging and content writing.

If you have writing skills but you are not a techie person, it is better if you start out with content writing. You can switch to blogging later on.

3. Nature of Income

There is huge difference in the nature of the income that comes from blogs compared to that from content writing. In fact, it is the nature of income that makes most content writers switch to become bloggers.

Content writing offers an active source of income. This means that you get paid immediately you are done writing an article. The amount you are paid is fixed.

The average industry rate is $30 per 1000 words. This means that if you write a 2000 word article at this rate you get paid $60 immediately.

The instant pay is attractive. But the downside is that you must always be writing for you to keep making money.

The day you stop writing or you lose a client, your income dies instantly. Since we don’t have full control over what happens to us, sometimes issues of life put us out of work.

The inconsistent income pushes many content writers into blogging.

With blogging, the income you get is passive. You don’t always have to work to earn. In fact, after creating a blog that earns you income, you can forget about it and still collect paychecks at the end of every month.

But the downside to the blogging income is that it takes time to start cashing in a substantial amount of money.

You may write in excess of one hundred articles but still be earning pennies. Compare that to a content writer who has written one hundred articles and you will see the huge difference.

This is why some content writers save money then start blogging. They make blogging to be their long-term source of income while content writing serves as the short term source of income.

4. Earning Potential

While it is easy to start making money with content writing, it is difficult to scale. There are content writers who rise to levels where they charge over $100 per 1000 words.

Such a level will require them to only write a few articles for them to make a full time income. But the downside is that rising to that level is hard.

Since there are thousands of writers, most clients prefer to stick to writers who charge the industry average of $30 per 1000 words.

While you can start making money easily with content writing, scaling the income you earn is hard.

Blogging on the other hand is hard to start making money with. But once you have mastered the basics of making money with your blog, you can easily scale your income.

Since the work you put into a blog compounds, it gets to a point where a little effort you put in produces massive results.

This is where bloggers shine. It is easier for a blogger to rise from a monthly income of $500 to $10,000 than it is for a content writer to rise from $500 per month to $10,000.

On top of blogging income being easy to scale, it is stable. Blogging income fluctuates but with small margins. Content writing income can vanish overnight.

Therefore, considering the earning potential, blogging is better than content writing.

Which is better Overall Blogging Vs Content Writing?

On a general scale, blogging is better than content writing. While some people may be suited to do content writing over blogging, blogging remains the best choice between the two.

In the industry, you will come across many bloggers who switched from content writing to blogging but almost none who switched from blogging to content writing.

The closest bloggers come to switching to content writing is if they create a blog with the aim of getting clients for their content writing career.

Therefore, if you want to decide between the two, go for blogging. If you are not sure, start with content writing then switch to blogging later on.

All the best!