The future belongs to those of us who make the right choices for ourselves. Here’s some info to help content creators decide the best way to express themselves and get their work before an appreciative – and maybe even paying – audience:
by Lindsay Harris Friel
If you want to gain authority in your field, sell products, or influence others, then producing engaging, helpful content is a great way to drive traffic to your website. What’s the best way to present that content? Blogs and podcasts are the two biggest methods. Which one is going to be best for you? Let’s take a closer look at blogging vs. podcasting. We’ll figure out out what best uses your abilities, and engages your target market.
Why Choose Blogging?
The most popular choice for creating and putting out content is to start a blog. It’s not hard to see why.
All you need is internet access, and some writing skill. Web site editors are as easy to use as tweeting or posting on Facebook. The bar for entry is pretty low.
However, it can be difficult to keep people’s attention, once you’ve gotten it. Short, frequent social media posts seem to have conquered users. A Kennesaw State University study showed that frequent social media users have shorter attention spans. If you’re marketing your products, services and skills to people who spend a lot of time online, be aware that short posts have the most impact.
Podcasting Barriers to Entry
Like blogging, you don’t have to get permission to share your thoughts via a podcast. But, you have to make a bit more effort than simply typing thoughts into sentences. You need to record your audio, edit it so it makes sense, upload it to a media host, and then publish it online.
At its most basic level, podcasting can be nearly as simple as making a phone call. Most people have smartphones with decent voice recorders included. It’s very easy to record an episode and upload it to a free account on somewhere like Soundcloud. This is limited, but realistic. Even so, there are more steps between the initial idea and the published content….