Why I Love Writing on Medium- But What you Also Need to be Doing
I’ve had a lot of fun publishing stories here on Medium, and I recommend anyone who likes writing to do it! But, while I love this platform, there are some other things you need to be doing as well.
Check them out below!
1. YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT
On my blog, I feel a bit of pressure to write the best I possibly can. Of course, on Medium, I try to write the best I can as well.
But, I can write about other topics more freely. On my blog, I have a niche. I need to stay on brand. But on Medium, I can write about posts like this one about depression or this one on lessons I’ve learned in my 20's.
It won’t hurt my SEO, like it may on my site and I can be freer about what I write about. I love it!
2. SEO IS LESS IMPORTANT
While SEO is still important on Medium, I feel a little bit less pressured to write for SEO and try to get ranked on Google.
Here on Medium, your posts get a little bit more “SEO juice” as opposed to if you posted on a normal blog.
But also, because my posts live here on Medium and people have the ability to search them, or you could get curated, I don’t feel the pressure to write only for SEO.
Pretty much, I use Medium like a lifestyle blog. I’ve always wanted to have one but with my blog, Business Women Thrive up and running, I don’t have the time or money! So this is a nice alternative.
3. YOU CAN MAKE MONEY ON MEDIUM
If you are apart of the Medium Partner Program, your stories can earn money!
It’s definitely not easy, but it is possible! You can read a ton of articles on here about success stories and how they have made money with Medium. Or, you can check out Medium's guide here which explains it all!
One of my favorite things about this platform though is the ability to make passive money just from getting people to read your posts. Because it’s a lot harder to make money blogging than with Medium!
THE MISTAKE MEDIUM WRITERS MAKE
Here’s where the problems come in though. While I do love writing on Medium, here are the problems with it.
1. YOU DON’T OWN MEDIUM
If you are using Medium as your only platform, you’re doing it wrong. Because you don’t actually own Medium.
And while it is nice to write on here and try to make an income from it, this shouldn’t be your only platform.
If Medium decides one day to shut down, or they lower the amount you get paid or anything like that. There goes your income. Poof. Gone.
So what’s the solution?
- Write on a platform you own
You need to be writing on a platform you own, like a blog. Personally, what I do is write on my blog first, then bring those posts to Medium.
Some posts, like this one, will stay on Medium and won’t go on my blog. But, all of the posts that are on my blog have slowly been posted here as well.
I’ll be writing a post soon about why I do this, but one of the main reasons is for backlinks to my blog.
When a post gets posted here, I can link it back to my blog which may bring people back to my blog instead of here. Since my blog is what I own and pay for, it can’t be taken away from me.
It is hard to get a blog up and running, but at least I own it. So I can build up a following on here, and on my blog as well. That way, you won’t lose your audience if something happens to Medium.
- Create multiple income streams
If you’re planning on going full-time just from Medium, I’ve got news for you.
It’s not likely to happen.
Making money from Medium takes a lot of reads, and those reads have to be from people who actually have a paid subscription from the Medium platform.
There are some people who do make a living on Medium. Medium reported that back in July 2019, almost 8% of active writers earned over $100.
The most earned by a writer that month was $22,639.47, and the most earned for a single story that month was $6,720.35, according to this site.
Which sounds great. But, that means that 92% of Medium writers earned less than $100.
I don’t say this to discourage you, I say this so that you don’t put all your eggs in this Medium basket. Make sure you have other avenues for making money online.
2. NOT WRITING ENOUGH
If you do want to make a good amount of money on Medium, you need to be writing a lot.
When I first opened my Medium account, I wrote about 3 stories on here (or, rather, I uploaded old blog posts) and then… kinda gave up.
I was busy with my blog and didn’t have time. When I came back to the platform, I must admit I was surprised to see I had a whopping 1 read. That’s it.
Now, I have been posting pretty much every day on Medium and am starting to see my views grow.
3. NOT SHARING YOUR STORIES
It’s one thing to write on Medium, you also have to share your stories to get them seen. When you have no followers here, you need to get your work seen by someone.
I spent about 15 minutes each night scheduling tweets onto Twitter and getting the word out about my posts. Make sure you’re bringing the eyes onto your content!
Overall, Medium is a great platform and I love writing on here. I don’t think I’ll stop! And you shouldn't either. However, make sure you’re not just making Medium your only platform or source of income!
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, don’t forget to leave a like to help other readers find my work and give me a follow if you want to see more of my work!