I’ve started writing on Medium again. And while it’s not the main place I publish content (that’s the blog, and second comes the podcast), you might be wondering why I’m investing time in the platform and whether it’s worth your attention.
In this post, I’ll share the benefits of Medium blogging and how writing for Medium.com can grow your brand and business. I’ll also share some tips on how not to put all your eggs in one basket and make sure you don’t fully rely on a platform like Medium that you don’t control.
Let’s begin.
Medium vs a Blog
Back in 2017, I published an article titled ‘Should I write on Medium or start a blog?’ In it, I give you reasons why Medium.com might not be the best place for your content and why I believe in having your own blog instead.
Some reasons I give include the fact that it wasn’t easy to get discovered on Medium back then, it’s a third-party platform that you don’t control and it’s not sure if they will stay in the game forever.
Now, however, things are different. It’s become one of the top websites on the Internet, has 100 million monthly visitors, some renowned publications have chosen it as their main platform, its current value is $600 million and apparently it’s not going anywhere.
They’ve upped their game in every aspect and the site is now optimized so well that Google ranks the Medium posts on top of the search results, if you do a good job writing your peace with keywords in mind. Also, there are great options to monetize your content and start earning a lot over time.
So while my final verdict for Medium vs blog hasn’t changed, I do believe it’s worth having your publication there and posting content every now and then. It might take time to find your voice, see content performs best, and gain some followers. But once you do, you can even turn it into a regular income stream and use it to grow your brand.
Here are some reasons why I’m writing on Medium again:
Benefits of Writing on Medium
1. Massive readership.
Whether you’re a blogger or sell products or services, growing your audience must be one of your main business activities. That means putting yourself in front of new people, providing value and starting a relationship.
Medium has the readers, and if writing is your way of creating content, then you can benefit from publishing some pieces there. Engagement is not guaranteed, of course, but it can naturally happen naturally over time.
If you want to get traction quickly, you can share the content you publish on Medium with your existing audience, and actively promote it just like you do for your blog posts. That means optimizing it for SEO, pinning it on Pinterest, sharing it on socials, linking to it from your blog and newsletters, and anything else you usually do to get traffic to articles.
Because Medium is so well optimized, your articles there have a high chance of ranking in the search results and you can gain new readers in no time. You can also get paid for that content.
2. You can republish blog content.
You might think being a writer on Medium is too time-consuming. And it can be. It’s like having 2 blogs and being focused on 2 big projects if you decide to go all in on it. But there are smarter ways, such as content syndication which is one of the many awesome features Medium offers.
Simply head here and enter the link of an article that already exists on your blog, then import it. You’ll then have the chance to edit it but you can also leave it as it is. Medium will add a note at the end that it originally appeared elsewhere and will link to the original.
All this is safe for SEO, it doesn’t mean duplicate content. Because using their import feature automatically backdates the post to when it was originally published, and adds a canonical link to signal to search engines that your site is where this piece originally appears and it’s where the SEO juice should be going.
Without the canonical tag, though, chances are the article will rank better on Medium and you’ll lose traffic.
But even when the canonical link is present, there might be instances where Google ignores it, so you gotta watch out. It’s advised to do content syndication slowly over time on Medium and see whether it affects your blog traffic or not. If all is good, you can do more of it.
One little thing I’ll recommend is to wait a week or a few after you’ve published the original article on your site before rerepublishing it elsewhere. This way Google has the chance to crawl it and it’s sure that you posted it first.
Content syndication allows you to get traffic and attention on 2 platforms – Medium and your blog – without competing with yourself and losing anything. It’s a win-win. Of course you gotta own the content you import.
So keeping this in mind, writing on Medium doesn’t need to be time-consuming. It can be another smart way to distribute your content and get more attention to it.
3. You can create a powerful strategy.
Another thing I like about Medium is that many people have seen huge success with it and can earn a full-time income solely from posting there.
The platform is created for engagement. People are encouraged to leave comments and clap, which is similar to likes. You can also see the stats of each individual story you publish on Medium.
That allows you to create your strategy. For example, now I’m publishing on different topics there. I’m even thinking of covering topics that I’ve wanted to write about for a long time now, but which don’t make sense to be shared on the blog or won’t get enough attention there.
But good stories get views on Medium, they can even get the attention of a bigger publication that invites you to write for them. Many new doors can open to you. And the readers you attract are quality, they will probably follow you and see what else you have to say if one of your stories resonates with them.
I now share different things there and wanna see what sticks. I’m also doing some fun stuff such as repurposing content, turning some content from emails and old social media posts into Medium articles, and even publishing the transcript of a podcast episode as an article there sometimes. I’m just testing things and seeing how it goes. Based on the results, I might share more on specific topics there.
The Medium blogging strategy you create will likely be different than the one for your blog. But you can also just import existing posts there and see what sticks.
Like it is with every other project in life, if you give up soon after starting because you are discouraged, you won’t see results. You’ll never unleash the potential this platform has for your business. So I’d say give it time, just like you did for your blog or social channels.
Once you have a strategy that works and are writing on Medium regularly, you might not just earn a lot, but feel better than ever about your business and connect with individuals who truly admire your work.
Read also: 8 Ways to Improve Your SEO Strategy
4. It’s free and easy to use.
I also like the fact that Medium is free and easy to use. It’s super user-friendly, the story editor is seamless and the focus is on your valuable content. You don’t need to worry about technicalities.
There’s absolutely no investment there so adding it as a side income won’t cost you anything.
You don’t even need to go through step-by-step articles or videos on how to use Medium. You can just set up your profile, write a story, and join the Medium Partner Program. That’s their built-in monetization system. Once you get approved, you can make your existing and new stories part of it with the click of a button. Which means they become available only to paid members of the site, and you get paid for the engagement you have.
5. You can make money with Medium.
The next reason is probably why so many people join Medium, write actively, and have even moved their own blogs there – revenue.
There are great ways to earn such as from the Medium Partner Program.
There’s also their referral platform which makes you their affiliate and you can earn commissions. But they are actually removing it as of September 1st 2023 so that’s not a thing anymore. Instead, they are introducing a follower bonus, which will simply add more earnings on your stories in case the member reading it also follows you or your publication.
These are the direct monetization opportunities. The indirect ones include promoting your products or services and including affiliate links in your articles and earning commissions. You can get paying clients, which can then turn into recurring ones and spread the word about your business. This is priceless.
Read also: How to Make Money Blogging for Beginners: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Monetizing a Blog
6. Grow your brand using Medium.
The next reason why I’m back to publishing on Medium is because there are many ways it grows your business too. Aside from the actual value of the content, the audience you can gain and the revenue opportunities, you can also:
- Grow your email list by sharing your freebies in every article;
- Get traffic back to your blog – for example, at the end of a Medium article I sometimes include a list of related posts I have on my blog;
- You can refer Medium readers to your social profiles and grow your following there;
- You can grow your podcast or YouTube channel. If these are monetized, that turns into extra income.
You can also promote anything else you can think of. You build trust thanks to having your content and name appear on a powerful site like Medium, and that ultimately grows your brand in ways you can’t predict.
7. A community of writers.
Last but not least, writing on Medium is worth it because of the community of writers that exists there. It can be lonely to be a blogger, you need to get out of your platform and connect with others doing the same.
You can collaborate with guest posts. Just like bloggers do that and publish each other’s content on their websites, so can you do it with Medium publications. That gives you access to the other writers’ audiences and you can gain new followers.
You can also make friends, engage with other user’s content, and as a result get more views on your articles and earn some money.
Will you start writing on Medium?
So, that’s why I’d say writing on Medium is worth your time. I’m having fun with it and seeing where it takes me, but I’m also not putting all my eggs in one basket. The blog is my main thing and probably always will be.
The content I publish on Medium is repurposed, syndicated, or just stuff I felt like writing and thought would fit nicely there. But I consider it more of a free time activity, not one of my main business tasks.
It’s easy to get distracted and leave everything else behind to focus solely on Medium for some time, especially when you hear a few success stories of writers who make big bucks. But that can cost you in the long run. Keep doing what works, and just make Medium a small part of your strategy for a start.
Stay consistent with Medium blogging if you wanna see results, but don’t leave other things behind, especially things that are already generating revenue.
If you’re already on Medium, feel free to connect with me there. And if you decide to give writing on Medium a try, good luck. Let me know how it goes.
