3 Alternatives to traditional blog writing
By Felicia Guthrie
Blogging can be great for professionals, the everyday person, and businesses alike for various reasons, for example, blogging can help you establish yourself as a go-to expert, can increase website traffic, and more. It’s great if you want to start blogging, but what if you don’t enjoy writing or if you feel like you don’t have the skills to blog? You’re in luck because there are many alternatives to traditional blogging that you may actually love.
Here are 3 alternatives to traditional blog writing:
VIDEO BLOG (AKA VLOGGING)
A vlog is essentially a blog, only it’s in the format of a video rather than being in a written format. The length of a vlog is completely up to the creator, you can find many on YouTube that are anywhere between 5 minutes to 40 minutes. These can take a more personal approach, but it is also great for businesses that are really visual. A personal vlog is great for those wanting to focus on lifestyle content and documenting their everyday life. A highly visual business that could use vlogging would be things like someone who sells handcrafted jewellery, a personal chef, a stylist, etc. Videos can be on a range of topics which will depend on your brand or expertise. Beauty and skincare are huge markets, so many brands and experts will share tutorials, favourites, and more. Fashion experts and brands may feature styling how-tos. If you’re a food or beverage brand you can share recipes. The possibilities are endless, which makes this the perfect choice for so many brands and experts.
What’s great about vlogging is you can easily share it on other platforms. You can find video content on Facebook, Instagram (IGTV and Reels), and YouTube, among other spaces.
Just like a written blog, you would want to keep a consistent schedule, whether it is weekly or more (or less). It’s a good idea to post on the same day(s) each week so viewers and subscribers can anticipate when you will post new content.
PODCASTING
A podcast is a digital audio file that users can access through podcasting websites or apps, such as Apple Podcasts. There are podcasts on so many topics and themes, from true crime, to marketing, entrepreneurship, comedy, horror, and more. With the diversity of themes and listeners, this makes podcasting a great choice for many people who want to start sharing engaging content.
There are a few things you’ll want to think about if you’re going to start podcasting. For example, do you want to do it alone, do you want to have a co-host, and do you want to invite special guests? Each of these options will come with their own set of pros and cons and it will be up to you to decide which is best for you. Having a co-host (or even a guest), for example, will give you the opportunity to take a much-needed break from talking at points throughout each episode and it will feel like a natural and engaging discussion.
Another thing to consider is do you want your podcast to be scripted or unscripted? Again, these will each have their own pros and cons and it’ll be up to you to decide which will be best for you and the topic at hand. Not sure what’s best for you? Well, if you’re doing a podcast that is informational, you may want to script your podcast so that you don’t miss any key points. If your podcast is focused on something like lifestyle content, comedy, or commentary, you may want to have an unscripted show – but we still advise jotting down a few key points that you want to mention!
It’s important to note that most podcasts will have episodes that release on a consistent basis (think of it like TV in this way) and most podcasts are about 30 – 60 minutes in length per episode.
PHOTO-BASED BLOG
Even if you feel like you're not the strongest writer, that doesn’t mean you can’t create an engaging blog. Instead of creating a text heavy blog, try a photo-based blog instead! With this style of blogging, you can share a series of images with shorter captions to go along with them. Again, this style of blogging can be done by anyone and for virtually any category.
If you choose to go with this blogging style, there are a few things you’ll want to include. One thing you’ll want to do is look for SEO tips for your blog – this will allow your website to rank higher on the results page of a search engine, for example, you can carefully name and tag the photos you use to include keywords that may be used by those searching the topic you cover.
You’ll also want to think about layout – how do you want the images and text to look on your blog? This is important to consider because you want things to flow in a way that is natural and easy for your audience to follow.
You should also consider including a call to action. Think about what you want your audience to do next. If you want to spark a discussion, for example, you may invite readers to comment on the topic you’ve written about or something specific from your article. You can also invite others to reach out to you, invite them to join your mailing list, etc.
These types of blogs also translate really well to social media platforms like Instagram, because you can easily share the images and text from your article. You can even invite your audience on social media networks like Instagram and Facebook to visit your blog by clicking the link in your bio or post.
Now that you’ve learned a little bit more about the alternatives to traditional written blogging, we invite you to use our search function to discover more about blogging – simply type "blog” for more easy and informational guides to get you on the right track!