Why You Should Start Writing On Medium, Instead Of Making A Website
A lesson learned the hard way.
Back in 2020 I had the grand idea to start a blog about country music. I quickly scoured the web for the best way to get a blog up and running. I even asked some business-minded friends and acquaintances.
Pretty much every search was resulting in some form of; “write on Medium.” Of course, I’m a contrarian though, and decided to ignore all search results and advice, and instead, start a website anyway.
I had some cash stacked in my account, and I was ready to commit. I set up a Bluehost account, and went at it, designing a beautiful(ly mediocre) website of my very own. I got it all set up, and dropped $200 on a domain name and features (I hate myself). I was ready to have my very own domain, my very own brand, and didn’t need the help of a lowly social platform.
I was ripe with inspiration, and wrote about three articles in the first day! I then realized I had no engagement…at all. It never occurred to me that I actually needed someone to search for my page, and then give enough of a shit to keep coming back. I wasn’t going to get racked in the search results by having a brand new website with no engagement. I was hit with the shockwaves of an immense reality check.
After I realized I was way in over my head, I cringed, and pretty much just tried to forget the whole ordeal entirely. My wallet is still smoking from how badly it was burned. I genuinely was done with the idea of a blog entirely. “If I can’t have my own site, then there’s no point.” I thought to myself, with insufferable levels of stubbornness and naivety.
After this complete and utter failure, I abandoned writing altogether for a while, out of sheer frustration. I focused on my photography for most of 2021, but then the winter came.
I was primarily focused on photographing birds of prey, and when Winter came, all the ospreys moved south, the hawks became less frequent, and eagles are too rare here to consistently find. I was starting to get that creative bug again, but didn’t have any photographic inspiration, so I started thinking about writing again.
I remembered Medium’s existence. I still didn't love the idea of not having my “own site” but I was kinda out of options. Instead of pondering on it forever and deciding against it, I made an account for each niche I wanted to fill; poetry, country music, and another for miscellaneous stuff.
Once I had spent a little while on the site, I quickly realized this was counter-intuitive, and switched over to this account, full-time. With the way Medium works, there is no need to stay super in-line with one niche, you’re free to branch out, without getting stung.
After making this full-time switch, I began to look into publications. I found some music ones that I liked; The Riff, Plethora Of Pop, and InTune. I began posting a couple stories on The Riff, and quickly picked up on some different things I needed to do in editing (thanks to Kevin Alexander), and really began to figure out the site.
I was immediately getting views. There weren't many, but there were a hell of a lot more than my awful website ever got.
I also quickly began to make friends from the publications. David Acaster, Terry Barr, Kevin Alexander, Pierce McIntyre, If Ever You’re Listening, and Krystal Mossbarger were some of the first to read my earlier (not so great) stuff while I was still honing in on how to write on here. They (and others) were all extremely welcoming to me, and made me feel like a part of a community.
This is what makes Medium so much better than a full-blown personal website. From the jump, you can gather people who genuinely are interested in your stories, if you have something interesting to say. On a personal site, it may take months, even years, to find just a handful of readers.
I love the friends I’ve made here on Medium in just a couple months time, and I have now done much more than I ever could have with a website in a fraction the time.
I cannot stress enough; DO NOT START A WEBSITE FOR YOUR BLOG UNLESS YOU ALREADY HAVE A FOLLOWING! I wish I hadn’t ignored that so blatantly when the signs were telling me not to do it. Medium is a perfectly good place to start a blog. It’s pretty much your own site anyway, you get much better SEO placement, and you can make money after hitting just 100 followers.
So if you’re a stubborn contrarian like me, and you find this on Google; please take this as a sign to just give Medium a shot, and not waste money, and time on a website yet.
Thank you for reading! I don’t normally do meta stuff like this about writing, but I just wanted to throw this out there, and try and save someone from my mistake.
If you want to see more of what I normally post, check one of these out:
