Medium is a popular online publishing platform with a reputation for high-quality content and an engaged community. It’s a platform for writers to share their ideas, opinions, stories, and views.
The Medium platform is a good option for content creators and businesses looking to reach a wider audience or monetize their writing effort.
In this post, let’s take a closer look at if and how Medium can help you achieve your business goals.
Medium’s Features and Tools
Medium’s features and tools can be a valuable asset for content creators and businesses looking to build a following or monetize their content.
Writing Tools and Options
One of the key benefits of using Medium as a platform for building and running a content business or using content to drive business goals is its user-friendly design and formatting options.
Medium’s editor is simple and easy to use, making it effortless for creators to produce high-quality content that is engaging and easy to read. Medium’s editor also includes necessary formatting options, such as headings, lists, images, and videos, that can help content writers to structure and enhance their articles.
Built-in Analytics
Another crucial feature of Medium is its built-in analytics and engagement metrics. These features empower content creators to track the performance of the articles and understand the audience.
Medium’s analytics can provide insight into
- how many people are reading an article
- how long they’re spending on the article
- how many people are sharing the article
This information can help content creators understand which articles and topics are resonating with their audience, and which formats are most successful.
Building a Community
Medium also has several community features that can enhance engagement and build an audience. For example, readers can recommend and share articles. Readers can leave comments and start discussions. This feature can help content creators to form relationships with their readers, and to create a sense of community around their content.
Creating and Joining Publications
Medium also has a publication feature that allows content creators to create their own publications, which can be a valuable asset for an established content creator building a brand and establishing oneself as a thought leader in a specific niche.
Writers can also join other publications. So, this feature can help new writers tap into the audience of established and popular publications.
Branding Tools
Medium allows you to create a personal or business profile, including a bio, picture, and links to other social media profiles. So you can build your brand and promote your content across multiple platforms.
Medium also lets you host your content on a custom domain, so you can maintain your brand. However, keep in mind that Medium only supports one custom domain name per account. So, if you want to have multiple brands or publications needing multiple custom domains, you will need to sign up for multiple accounts. This could be a limiting factor for many businesses with multiple brands.
Monetization Options
Medium offers a variety of monetization options for content creators and businesses looking to earn money from their content.
The main way to monetize content on Medium is through the Medium Partner Program. Medium charges a monthly fee of $5 for membership to the readers. The Medium Partner Program is a revenue-sharing program that allows content creators to earn a share of money from readers’ membership fees.
To join the Medium Partner Program, content creators need to apply and get accepted. Once accepted, they can earn money from their content by enabling the ‘meter my story’ button on their articles. The money earned from reader memberships is split 50-50 between Medium and the content creators, after deducting the payment processing fee of 2.9%+$0.30. The money paid to individual creators is calculated based on the reading time of their articles. So, if a reader spent 10% of their reading time on your articles, you will be paid 10% of the membership fee which is 23 cents.
Another way to monetize writing on Medium is through affiliate marketing. Medium allows content creators to include affiliate links in the article, so this can be a good option to increase earnings.
Is Medium Suitable for New Creators?
For building a content business, Medium is an attractive option for new creators looking to grow their reach and monetize their content.
One of the main benefits of Medium for new creators is its built-in audience and discoverability features. Medium has over 100 million readers. Showing up on Medium’s homepage, and topic pages, and being selected by curators can help new creators reach a wider audience, and drive traffic to their content.
Medium’s user-friendly design and formatting options also make it easy for new creators to produce high-quality content fast. So, creators can focus on writing without having to spend time setting up the back end and learning the technical side of tools.
Medium’s community features, such as the ability to share, recommend, and comment on articles, can also foster engagement and help new creators build a loyal audience.
Additionally, Medium’s publication feature allows creators to join popular publications, which can be a valuable asset for new creators to tap into the audience of these publications and drive traffic to their articles.
Medium has very high domain authority in Google. So, the chances of ranking in Google search results are higher if new content creators publish on Google as compared to if they publish the same on their own website. This can drive a lot of traffic from Google.
Another benefit of Medium for new creators is its monetization options. While new writers wait to be accepted in the partner program, they can make money from affiliate marketing.
An additional benefit for new creators is the ability to use Medium’s analytics and engagement metrics. These data points allow content creators to track the performance of their articles and understand their audience. The learning can then be applied to improve the content and enhance the reading experience of the readers.
While Medium can be a good option for new creators, it’s important to keep in mind that Medium’s monetization model may not be suitable for all content businesses and creators.
New creators will need to have a minimum of 100 followers before they are accepted into the partner program which is the main option to make money on Medium. Getting to 100 followers might take some time depending on the Niche, frequency and quality of writing, and effort put into promoting the content.
Also, the Medium partner program is not available in all countries. So, if you are in a restricted country, you will not be able to benefit from the partner program.
Medium also takes a 50% share of the membership fee in addition to a 2.9% payment processing charge, which is quite high compared to other platforms.
Additionally, Medium’s algorithm and curation tend to favour established writers given the visibility and reach they already have. This can prove to be a limitation for new creators looking to grow their reach.
However, with the right strategy and approach, Medium can be a great platform for new creators to produce engaging content, build an audience, and monetize their content. Medium’s features and tools can really help new creators understand their audience, create great content, and use monetization opportunities. With a consistent publishing schedule and a focus on creating high-quality content, new creators can leverage Medium’s built-in audience and discoverability to build and run a successful content business.
Is Medium Suitable for Established Creators?
For established creators and brands looking to expand their reach and monetize their content, Medium can be a useful platform.
One of the main benefits of Medium for established creators is its built-in audience of 100 million readers and discoverability features. So, established businesses can expand their audience.
Medium’s user-friendly design and formatting options also make it easy for creators to produce high-quality content fast.
Medium’s community features, such as the ability to share, recommend, and comment on articles, can also foster engagement and help established creators build a loyal following.
Additionally, Medium’s publication feature allows creators to create their own publications, which can be an excellent asset for established creators to enhance their brand and build themselves as thought leader in their niche.
An additional benefit of Medium for established creators is the option to use a custom domain. This means that established creators can use their own domain name and maintain their brand.
Establish businesses can also republish their content on Medium. This option can be used to promote their content on Medium, which can help to build their brand and make it possible for them to tap into the built-in audience of Medium while keeping control of their website.
However, established creators and brands should keep in mind that Medium’s monetization model may not be suitable for all content businesses and creators. For example, Medium’s policy may not allow a monetization option such as sponsored posts which can limit earning potential. Also, content creators who are primarily looking to rely on Medium’s partner program to monetize will likely find the 50% revenue share heavy.
Established creators might also feel limited by the analytics and formatting options provided by Medium’s platform.
Medium articles can drive significant traffic from Google since Medium has a very high domain authority and trust from Google. However, Google will not show all results from Medium, so the content will need to compete against other Medium articles. This can be a disadvantage if a creator has an already established high-authority website.
Overall, by using the right strategy, Medium can be a valuable platform for established creators and businesses looking to expand their reach and monetize their content.
Final Words
Medium is a solid platform for building a content business. With its built-in audience and discoverability features, easy-to-use design and formatting options, availability of analytics and engagement metrics, sense of community, and monetization options, Medium can help content creators and businesses grow their reach, build a loyal following, and monetize their content.
For new creators, Medium can be a great platform to build a following, produce engaging content, and monetize their content. With a consistent publishing schedule and a focus on creating high-quality content, new creators can leverage Medium’s built-in audience and discoverability features to grow their reach, and increase their chances of monetizing their content.
For established creators and brands also Medium can be a valuable platform to expand their reach and monetize their content. Medium’s publication feature, custom domain option, republishing feature, analytics, engagement metrics, and community features can help established creators to develop their brand, establish themselves as thought leaders in their specific niche and earn money from their content.
However, it’s crucial to consider both the pros and cons of using Medium as a platform for building a content business. Medium’s monetization model may not be suitable for all content businesses and creators, and its algorithm and curation can be a limitation for creators looking to grow their reach.
To achieve success on Medium, it’s important for you to have a solid strategy in place, create consistent and high-quality content, engage with your audience, use the right features and tools, and build your brand.
