Hey, what's up, John Sonmez from simpleprogrammer.com.
Today, we’re going to talk about screencasting versus blogging.
I got this email from Ajden and he says, “Hi, John.
First of all, love your advice on how to market yourself as a software developer,” if you
already know what he’s talking about.
He’s talking about my course right here, How to Market Yourself as a Software Developer.
He says, “I'm an independent consultant and soon to be published PluralSight author
as yourself and since I started blogging more frequently and produce screencast, I have
noticed clients aren’t coming to me instead of me chasing after them.”
That’s what I’ve been telling you guys, right?
See?
He followed—he took the course.
He followed my advice.
He has people chasing him.
He’s a rock star.
He’s got client groupies.
That’s great.
He says here, “What are your thoughts on screencast versus blogging?
One of the reasons I like screencast is that I feel like I can show off my skills easier.
Whereas, blogging about coding/solutions only addresses other developers.”
True.
“I just recently set a goal where I should produce one screencast each week, but I'm
struggling with getting up my subscribers count.
Do you have any tips on how to reach a broader audience quicker or is the answer if you’re
consistent they will come?”
That is the answer or the big answer.
“Do you have any thoughts on how technical screencast should be right now?
It’s me live coding and evaluating frontend frameworks.
Not so sexy.
Anyway, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject and if you do a video on the
matter, feel free to link to my blog and/or YouTube channel.
Keep up the awesome work with Simple Programmer.”
So I will give you his blog which—I'm just going to give you the address.
It’s www—you probably don’t need www anymore.
We’re in like 2016 now.
It’s towfeek.se.
You can check that out there and then his YouTube.
We can throw a link in there here I you want to check out his YouTube.
It’s AGDTO234.
Anyway, blogging versus screencasting.
I think personally that screencasting is better and I’ll tell you why.
There’s a couple of reasons why.
It has to do more with barrier of entry.
That’s the first thing, right?
Anyone can write a blog and create a blog.
Not anyone can look suave in front of a video camera and do a video, I’ll tell you that
right now.
It’s not just standing in front of a video camera it’s also just doing the whole screencasting.
Putting your voice, right?
Writing is just one aspect.
It’s just write it and it’s anonymous to some degree.
It’s not as gutsy, but if you use your voice, if you’re screencasting, then you are taking
one step higher and it requires more work.
You have to know a little bit more and maybe you have to know how to edit audio files and
get that uploaded and make a Podcast, let’s say.
If you’re going to screencast, you’ve got to be able to record your screen and be
able to do something while you’re talking, and there’s more production steps to it.
If you’re doing YouTube videos in front of a camera, you got to figure out some things
there, right?
It’s more complicated.
It has a higher level barrier of entry so less people are going to do it, so it’s
going to be easier to get exposure there.
Whereas, blogs, there are so many blogs, so much on Internet today that’s it’s hard
to gain traction.
That’s why I focus so much on specializing.
If you’re going to do a blog, definitely sign up for my blogging course.
It’s totally free but it tells you how to specialize and how to have a successful blog.
That’s hard.
Now, on the screencasting side, especially when you think about it, programmers want
to see how to do things.
Right?
The audience that you’re looking at, they are searching on YouTube specifically for
tutorials, so you’re going to find them more on there.
That’s one thing, right?
Doing the screencasting.
A lot of people prefer to learn that way.
The other thing I would say is that versus blogging versus screencasting is say blogging,
it’s your voice but it’s the written word, which there’s some power in the written
word, for sure, but when you are doing a podcast, for example, or you’re doing a screencast,
you are connecting with the audience more so because they’re hearing you and they’re
going to connect with you.
You’re going to build a bigger connection.
Some people that might follow your blog and follow your writing for a while, they’re
going to feel like they sort of know you, but I get people all the time that I talk
to now that are like, “Oh, it’s weird because I feel like I know you because I watch
your YouTube videos,” and they’re like, “But I realize I don’t really know you,
but I feel like you’re my friend.”
That’s the kind of thing that you want, right, because that’s good.
That’s going to create the good connection and you’re going to build up a good audience.
So many of you that watch this channel or watch YouTube videos and those of you that
are listening to the podcast you know that there’s a deeper connection or you feel
like you know a person more.
That’s why I say that screencasting is probably the better on that side.
Now, with that said, obviously, more traffic, more people are using blogs and going through
the website.
I’d recommend both, but if I had to choose one today—now, 5 years ago, I would have
chosen—well, I guess I would still choose screencasting because then there will be no
one out there doing it.
You’d have like the—you’d be in on the ground floor.
Even today, it’s still the ground floor for YouTube.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine.
It may become the first at some point, but it is definitely the second biggest search
engine.
When people search on Google, they are going to find YouTube videos as well while they’re
searching.
Again, I'm investing a lot in this platform obviously, right?
I'm not even doing a screencast.
I’m just doing silly videos where I just stand in front of the camera, but I'm investing
because I believe that this platform is probably the best one for the future.
I would hedge my bets.
I would try to be on multiple channels, multiple mediums as much as possible.
As far as reaching the audience, I still think that the best strategy is to be prolific,
to produce a lot.
I found in blogging and everything I’ve done right, the Pluralsight courses being
prolific is almost a guaranteed way to success.
Consistent and prolific.
If you can pull that off and you can do it for a long enough time, you’re going to
get traction because the world is really big and the more stuff you have out there, the
more like that people are going to find you.
You’re going to find someone that connects with you in that.
I'm telling you buddy you’re going to find someone that thinks that your screencasts
are sexy and they’re going to subscribe to your channel.
They’re going to buy your stuff.
Anyway, if you like this video, subscribe to the channel.
Take care