Is Medium Worth It? Pros and Cons In 2024
Have you thought about writing on Medium? Are you wondering “Is Medium worth it to write for?” It depends on what you want from writing on Medium in 2024 and beyond.
It’s been over 8 years since I’ve written here but I’ve often read and commented on other posts on this platform in those 8+ years.
There have been many changes to the platform over the years and some are great and some not so great. One thing for sure, it has become more competitive with more people joining here.
I do love the new layouts with their ease of use and the new referral program offered. It can be another great way to make some money on the platform.
Did you know some writers have earned up to $30K per month? I can assure you I am not one of them.
The Pros of Writing on Medium
Expand Your Network
By writing on this massive platform (almost 1 million paid members and millions more of unpaid ones) you can expand your network outside of your own blog platform.
It’s a great way to network with other bloggers in your niche and meet many new ones.
Is Medium Worth It? It Helps You To Practice Your Writing
By writing on Medium you will get to practice more of your writing and play with your writing style.
My blogging buddy @RyanBiddulph once told me to write 300 words a day and expand it up to 1,000. He was right.
It made a big difference for me in my blog writing.
No Technical Difficulties to Overcome
Medium makes it easy to write on. You don’t have to deal with plugin failures or WordPress updates.
It’s very easy to write, add images and links. (Just be sure to publish so it saves your work.)
No need to outsource any technical help on the Medium network. That is something I have to do with my self-hosted websites.
Many of the technicalities that come up there can take up hours upon hours of time. None of that here though.
If You Main Site Goes Down — You Have Medium
If you blog website goes down, or your traffic gets hammered in another Google algorithm update, you can always use Medium. (As long as it’s not taken down, etc.)
It’s a nice back —up plan for blogging and making some money.
SEO Juice
As my blog website traffic took a turn from the latest Google algorithm change, my Medium traffic shot way up. Medium gave my content a big boost.
Is Medium becoming like Reddit and Quora to search? I will be testing that theory in the coming weeks.
Is Medium Worth It To Make Money?
Yes, you can make money writing on Medium. They claim some writers have made up to $11,000 for one post.
However today you cannot use AI to generate an income on this platform.
Of course, they must have many readers to drive up the pricing.
But, even if you make enough to pay for your membership ($5.00 per month) the other benefits may outweigh the cons of Medium.
I oftentimes make just enough to cover the membership fee. And sometimes I don’t even reach that amount. So if you are in it for the money only you may want to rethink that strategy.
Monitoring With SEMrush
I was excited to find out you can use SEMrush to monitor your keywords on Medium.
That’s a great way to use SEO for your Medium stories if you subscribe to SEMrush for your blog or website. It may help you to make that money you want to generate from writing on Medium.
I’ve only recently discovered this by accident.
The Cons of Writing on Medium
No-Follow Backlinks
If you are looking to generate backlinks for your blog, Medium is not for you.
You will have to think more about networking and practice writing here.
Is Medium Worth It When Writing on Rented Land?
Yes, writing here is not like writing on your property. You are building up the rented land.
So think about what your goals are before starting to write here.
If you love to network with others and make new connections in your blogging niche then I recommend it for you.
It’s a great way to expand that network of yours!
No Control of Content
What if Medium disappeared tomorrow? What if you were censored on Medium?
So you really have no control of content unless it is on your own self-hosted property.
No Videos
The platform does not have a video option. Maybe they will in the future.
But video SEO is growing strong today. A well-optimized YouTube video can do wonders for a blog post.
That’s my wish for Medium — one to offer video formatting in the future.
Is Medium Worth It For You?
If you want to network with others and meet more bloggers, Medium may be the worth it for you. There is even an email subscription service now you can offer to readers on this platform.
There are many different people and niches on here on the Medium blogging platform.
Not everyone thinks alike so you will find those that you can align with or have discussions with. I think that’s an added bonus of writing on medium.
