I Outranked Medium With My Own Site.
People have been blogging about the perks of blogging on Medium, so I thought I'd write a short post on what can happen if you blog on your site!
Here's Me Outranking Medium:
As you can see in the screenshot above, one of the sites my wife and I run (Teal Notes) is outranking Medium with the keyword "20 year plan". Not quite sure how long we've been ranking above Medium, but we added that article a little over 6 months ago.
I did some quick digging, and it looks like over the past 3 months, I've got the following stats:
These are pretty poor stats, since according to industry standards, I should be achieving ~37% average CTR, but when my site overall has closer to a 1.2%, I'm not going to complain too much.
What's The Point Of All This?
Whether you want to post on Medium or not is perfectly up to do. I don't think that there is a right or wrong. I personally don't plan on getting on the Medium band-wagon anytime soon (but can write about that another time).
Having said that all that, I have a feeling that some people (here and elsewhere) see Medium as a "Shiny New Object", which they then drop what they've been doing (i.e. working on their site, branding it, networking, creating content, etc). and jump onto something 'new'.
I mean, it's called "shiny new object syndrome" for a reason, lol.
The main point I was to make is that whatever you take on, whether it be your own site, Pinterest, YouTube, Medium, or something else, make sure you spend just the same amount of time and energy on the other platforms that you're working with.
If you got any questions, just ask!
Andy
P.S. Oh, and the guy who wrote the article above is also potentially looking for more content creation work (him and another former writer I don't need any more), so if you're looking for a full-time content writer who's already trained, both in SEO and AI-assisted content, gives solid work (and I would personally recommend), then let me know!
Recent Comments
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Nice job , and I feel what you are saying about "the shinny object syndrome" it is definitely real you should see all the junk that I've bought in my warrior plus account which was a complete waste of time ,but anyway congrats on your ranking and after reading your post I will stick with just building my blog because I was actually thinking about posting on medium, but why do the work posting on there when I can do the work for my own blog. Have a great night.
Hi Andy;
I love reading the different takes on writing for Medium. It really does depend on what you're looking for.
There's quite a wide range of people on the platform, and also a wide range of motivating factors.
I'm using it because I've always been a creative writer, but dealing with websites for so long has made me feel dry and bored. I let my deep-down creativity lapse, and I shouldn't have.
Medium is a great place to get back into creative writing and give myself a much needed break.
I still work on my sites in a slower, organic way, but I also write on Medium for the sheer pleasure of creating something from the soul level. It renews me to go back to the sites.
I did join the Partnership Program, but I wasn't really looking for a side hustle. If I earn it's fine, if I don't, that's fine, too.
Surprisingly, I've only been there around 3 weeks, with 12 stories published, and I've made about $25 CAD with the conversion.
I don't throw spaghetti at the wall there or crank out a bunch of mediocre stuff. It's all about being creative and releasing energy.
I've gained 95 followers organically. I don't pursue people on there, unless I'm really interested in their work.
Maybe as the following grows, the earnings will, too.
I'm starting to think that everything online is in the painful process of swinging back to being genuine and organic, which takes time. Something most people are not will to do anymore.
Everyone is flinging buckets of spaghetti at the wall and not bothering to help someone else wipe it off their face if they get in the way. That style won't be rewarded so much anymore.
Sorry, haha, got on a ramble, there.
Must get back to the sites,
Stella :-)
Definitely Stella, and I appreciate well-thought out comment you left. You can always tell the writers here by how long of a comment they leave, haha.
I really do think that it does depend on how you're using each platform. I'm still figuring out where I actually stand with using Medium (me personally, not for others obviously) - and I think the biggest reason that I've been looking at it negatively is because everyone (or most everyone here) has been talking about how to use it to push more people to your site, which isn't as easy as it seems.
However, as I'm realizing more and more, that's not the primary reason to use it. Like you, using it as a way to express yourself as a writer (in a way), and get a little (or a lot) of money in return, well, that's not bad at all. Especially if it's a way to help sort of de-stress (I've noticed that just free writing sometimes help me be more creative - some of the best writing comes when you just sit down and write from the heart, doesn't it)?
Anyways, I also need to get back to my sites, lol. Hope what I said made sense.
Enjoy your week!
Andy
I have no intention of writing any more articles on Medium and this is one example of quite a few I have seen, why Medium isn't what it is cracked up to be. Just because all the Medium writers tell you it is a great platform doesnt mean that it is.
Just as an aside Andy says that is isn't getting a great clickthrough rate and as he is ranked higher than Medium he is almost certainly getting a better clickthrough rate than Medium
Definitely Catherine - I think we each need to decide, and choose what other platforms we use and which ones we don't.
It's almost similar to like picking niches. Everyone is going to tell you that whichever niche they're in is the best, because they are 'killing' it within their respective topic. However, you really just need to find what works for you and then stick with it. If Medium works for you, then more power to you. If another platform works, then stick with that (that is, as you continue to stick to your site, lol).
Hello Andy,
It's interesting and good that your own blog post has ranked above your medium blog post; that says a lot!
I have read a few articles on the Wealthy Affiliate about Medium, it's kind of interesting. However, I thought exactly the same as you: is it just a shiny new object that takes your attention away from what you should really be doing? I think it probably is, but I could be wrong! I guess time will tell.
I have also read the conversation between Diana and yourself. If I had more time, I may experiment with Medium, but at the moment, I think it is better to focus on my primary websites.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Roy
Definitely Roy - just to clarify that's not my Medium blog post, it's someone else's.
I think, at the end of the day, the best thing we can always do is keep our primary focus on our websites.
Thank you for clarifying, Andy; I actually thought you had written the Medium post!
I always remember my Webmaster saying years ago, before websites like Facebook were popular, "Your website should be your primary focus as you never know when these social media websites will shut you down"! This was a time when we had a lot more free speech; his words were so true and still are, I believe!
Have a great day.
Roy
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I have a site (that has no AI in it at all) that got hammered by the recent Google changes. I found that if I re-lifed the post and then posted a brief version (yep, AI written) onto Medium with a backlink to the original, then it was lifting the ranking.
Medium will have to start being more selective with their content soon as more people start to post to it but for now, it can assist your blog rankings as well.
Paul