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How to Reach Larger Audiences with Medium
Learn about Medium.com Growth Strategy Tips, Tricks & Best Practices
J.Jae Hermann
April 22, 2024
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What is Medium?
Medium.com is a publishing platform where people can read essays and articles. Anyone can share their perspectives and expertise, even without having a mailing list or following.
Medium is an excellent place to write and share your content, especially if you're a beginner and don't have a website.
Writing on Medium is free and open to seasoned or beginner freelance writers or bloggers. You can read up to three articles or essays monthly at no cost. However, a $5/month ($50 annual) subscription gives you full access to the platform to read as much as you want.
What's so special about Medium?
There are 100 million active users on Medium monthly. Within two years, Medium increased its subscriber base by 75%, making it a great place to syndicate or repurpose your existing content (i.e., your blog posts) to reach a much larger audience than you could on your own.
Over the years, I've had several Medium profiles and experienced firsthand how sharing content on the platform helps brand awareness, lead generation, and increased followers.
The following are a few things I've learned about Medium (in no particular order):
Pros:
Huge readership.
Easy to set up and use.
You retain ownership of your content.
You can promote affiliate links in your content.
You can import and export your subscriber list.
You can cross-promote content from your blog.
You can also add "tips" to your content to earn income.
You can join Medium's Partner Program and earn income with your content.
You can easily create a "publication" without worrying about technical stuff.
It can give you access to popular Medium-based publications with larger audiences.
Cons:
Competition for attention is fierce.
You must be a member to create a publication.
It can undermine your website or blog SEO efforts.
Posting 3-4 times (or more) on the platform is recommended to stand out.
Unless you're a member, you can only read up to three articles/month.
There needs to be more compensation transparency because how "claps" translate into income is unclear.
Only the top writers (under 1%) earn serious income (~$5-$30K monthly). Around 94% of writers make under $100 a month.
💡Want to be successful on Medium? Follow the following tips:
Always add a hero image.
Add keywords to your bio.
Add your website URL in your bio.
Add alt-image descriptions to all images.
Follow relevant publications and their editors.
Put your content behind the paywall to earn income.
Add a "tip jar" to your account via Buy Me A Coffee or Kofi.
Don't use the Medium story importer or WordPress plugin.
Join Medium support groups to network with other writers and bloggers.
Aim to dominate up to three topics by choosing ones with low numbers.
Add a link to your Medium profile to your email signature and newsletter.
Take out any mention of "supporting" your blog when cross-promoting your blog posts.
When syndicating (cross-promoting) your content, link to the originating post in the footer.
End your posts with a CTA (e.g., an offer or promotion, follow on social, leave a comment, etc.).
Engage with other writers and bloggers in your niche (and niche adjacent to your business or project).
Publish on weekdays, specifically Tuesdays and Thursdays, between 6:00 AM and 9:00 AM Pacific Time (PT).
Always add a headline and subtitle (include why readers should care and what they'll gain from reading your article).
To avoid pissing off the Medium police, you must cite the source of images and graphics as a caption if you don't own them.
Claim your unique username. (e.g., https://medium.com/@info_28531/the-little-black-dress-a-timeless-fashion-icon-of-easy-elegance-c6fec6f7a60d).
Disclose affiliate links and, when applicable, add affiliate links to image captions, especially if you use Canva to create a graphic.
Here are some additional resources:
How to Get Started with Medium: Hubspot
How to Get Started with a Medium Publication
Are you on Medium? I'd love to hear about your experience writing on the platform. Want 1:1 help to get started on Medium? Get in touch with me.
Thanks for reading. I'll see you here next Monday.
~Jae
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