If you’re running your own blog but aren’t getting the traffic you want, you might start to wonder if a publisher like Medium.com is a good alternative to publishing content on your site.
It might seem like an overwhelming question considering the many options out there, but the answer might be “yes.”
Let’s face it, SEO is hard work and sometimes there are easier ways of getting the results you are looking for.
Medium.com receives more than 200 million monthly visits, making it stand out from other publishing platforms.
Instead of doing all the hard work of promoting your website and getting eyeballs to it, your work is instantly seen.
Publishing your articles on Medium has many benefits, one of which is the opportunity for your article to get a significantly wider reach.
Even though you have thousands of followers on social media and get many monthly visitors on your website, publishing valuable content with limited coverage just doesn’t cut it.
If you’re not publishing content on Medium, you’re probably missing out on an advantage that your competitors are already leveraging.
Your content will have a much larger audience on Medium than your own website.
If you want to give your content marketing campaign a fighting chance against your competitors, consider publishing on Medium rather than your own website.
Introduce Your Audience
You probably have already amassed a decent social media presence; use this opportunity to introduce your audience to Medium. In a way, you’re no longer starting from scratch.
Create a Medium profile and link it to your social networking accounts. The platform automatically determines the relevant users and connects them to you.
One Way to Unveil Your Brand
Medium is one of the few places online where big-time publishers look for prospects. It works as a publishing platform that helps attract the attention of potential publishers. As long as your brilliant content is published on Medium, there’s always an opportunity for recognition and fame.
Content Syndication
Use your existing website content to establish a presence on Medium. It’s designed to allow you to import content to be re-published for a broader audience on the platform.
Although it feels like your site is penalized for duplicate content, the truth is that it’s all about content syndication.
Another nifty feature is the ability to customize the content to keep it fresh and engaging. Yes, Medium has the tools to help you with that.
Build a New Following
Facebook and Twitter are the first platforms to link to your Medium account, but there’s more to it than just importing your audience. The platform helps you build a new set of Facebook and Twitter followers.
Don’t forget to include links to your website and social networking profiles on the footer of your content.
Create a Publication
Additionally, you have the option of starting your own publication on Medium.
This will provide both more exposure for your content and an opportunity to broaden your network.
Although publishing your content on Medium might not result in immediate new followers, it will expose your publication to a larger audience. Consider it as a stepping stone to widen your influence on your target audience.
Not Always About SEO
While it’s great to have your bragging rights that your website is at the top of google, sales is what’s really important.
Medium offers a lightweight means of achieving your content goals if you don’t want to focus on gaining traffic sources or use the blog as an acquisition channel.
Not every content you create is geared towards search engine optimization and sometimes (if we’re honest with ourselves) it’s also not the right strategy for your company.
So, if the objective is a more personal article with minimal marketing potential, then publishing it on Medium makes perfect sense.
See How Your Content Performs
Even with little emphasis on SEO, content published on Medium should have direction. You’re using a specific approach in writing your content, but it’s not producing the desired results.
Medium offers the capability of scrutinizing your content – essentially telling you if it’s working or not. You get to check out all the metadata on each post, from how many people viewed it to how long someone would spend reading it.
Enjoyable Content Creation
It’s a pleasure drafting articles on Medium. The entire platform is convenient to use and clean looking. There’s no clutter, a welcome sight for a content creator or writer who gets easily distracted.
The interface supports an unhindered writing flow – the auto-save feature means there’s no risk of losing your work in case of a power outage. The platform looks great across multiple devices, i.e., smartphone, desktop, laptop screen, or tablet computer, from the reader’s perspective.
Final Arguments
Most people are too worried about driving traffic to their website, not realizing that there’s another way to establish a presence online.
What you need is for people to discover (and engage) your content in a proven and renowned platform.
This is what the idea of native content is all about. Publishing on Medium means your content is under a platform where there’s already an existing readership.
The downside to using your site to publish new content is that it’s at the mercy of Google’s algorithm changes. A more “effective” way of reaching your audience is when readers love your content to the point that they’ll look for it in platforms they already trust. So, don’t waste any more time – publish your content on Medium.
Joel Mark Harris graduated from the Langara School of Journalism in 2007. Joel is an award-winning journalist, novelist, screenwriter and producer.
He has ghostwritten numerous books in all types of genres including true life crime, business, memoir, and self help. With over 1,000 blog posts to his name, he has helped hundreds of business owners scale their business and increase their visibility. You can email him at info@ghostwritersandco.com