Are you attempting to choose a suitable platform for your blog or website? You could be making comparisons of Medium Vs. WordPress for obvious reasons without realizing the two are fundamentally different. One isn’t better than the other but they are simply different. You even have options of using both successfully at precisely the same time.
In this article, we are providing you a better understanding of the fundamental differences which exist to ensure you make a proper choice and choose a platform suitable for your needs.
WordPress Vs. Medium
WordPress – if you want a full-scale system of content management WordPress is the option you must be choosing. A tool such as a content management system can make it easy for you actually to manage a website without even requiring the knowledge of the how-to code.
You can use WordPress for creating a blog because that’s where the roots of WordPress are. Furthermore, it will be convenient for you to easily add forums, an e-commerce store or even a regular aged static website.
Do not be under the impression that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are similar because both are different. WordPress.org is the place where the actual WordPress software is hosted.
Medium — if you’re looking for a platform for “stories” this is where you should be heading. Isn’t it a fancy name for a blog platform? However, the “story” branding has some real effects in the way Medium has structured its site as well as the audience it attracts.
Higher numbers of people looking for actual content and ideas can be found here rather than Tumblr which resembles something like a GIF fest.
If you want to create your content on this platform you must initially sign-up for an account with Medium before you start publishing with the help of the user-friendly editor they provide. You may find it convenient to note you don’t need to create your website. However, it also means that you are not the owner of anything because you are using Medium‘s platform for creating the content.
Four Reasons To Select WordPress Over Medium
We will begin with the advantages offered by WordPress over Medium because it will make it easier to highlight the advantages of Medium in the next section.
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You are the owner of your website with WordPress
Recollect the technical jargon about domain names and hosting we mentioned some time ago?
Here is the importance of technical mumbo-jumbo.
When you chose to set up WordPress on your hosting you are the 100% owner of your website and any or all content that you publish.
This ensures:
Your account cannot be closed and you cannot be booted off the platform unless you violate the terms and conditions specified.
You have the freedom to make any changes to your website whenever you choose.
You have 100% ownership over your data and content. Medium makes it easy for you to export your posts but your content remains on Medium‘s server when you write on the platform.
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Adding new features and changing the looks of your site is easy with WordPress
With WordPress, you are the owner of your website and can, therefore, benefit from the massive ecosystem of plug-ins and themes WordPress offers.
Plug-ins — they can make it easy for you to add more functionality to your blog without the need to educate yourself about codes. You can add contact forms, social media share buttons, forums, and let your imagination run wild.
BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, there are a lot of plugins when it comes to optimizing your site for SEO. Enough so that no other CMS should be used for the amount of time it can take them compared to using plugins.
Themes — changing the looks of your blog becomes easy with themes especially when you don’t need to learn any codes.
These two extensions when combined provide you comprehensive control over the looks of your website as well as functions without ever learning the codes giving you a level of personalization that cannot be matched by Medium.
People wondering why Slack moved their blog to WordPress from Medium, in 2018 should no longer wonder about it anymore.
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Fearing restrictions on your content — WordPress won’t do it
Restrictions might be a small consideration on WordPress because the content restrictions on Medium are not onerous. However, it is a fact that restrictions exist on the type of content that can be created on Medium.
Are users likely to confront the restrictions at any time? Whether they do or not is another matter but the fact that they are absent on WordPress but exist on Medium should concern users. Users running afoul of the restrictions can find themselves without their Medium account because it would be closed.
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Making money however you want is possible with WordPress
Do you aspire to monetize your content to benefit from financial gains? If so, you are recommended to choose WordPress rather than Medium.
Medium certainly has a partner program which allows people to benefit financially from their content. However, they are miserly and a reason why many large publishers are moving away from this platform.
Medium only has a single set method while WordPress allows you to:
- Accept sponsorships.
- Use affiliate programs.
- Run ads.
- Do anything you want to generate revenue.
Therefore as Medium pivots away we will continue fixing the Internet for real.
Three reasons for choosing Medium over WordPress
Being fair to both platforms we must provide some benefits which are offered by Medium Over WordPress.
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Simplicity is the byword for Medium
Medium is a better option for you if you are not concerned about the ownership of the site as long as you have additional features to monetize it cannot be denied that the ease of setting up and running a blog on Medium will attract you towards the platform. Many large companies are utilizing Medium as a platform because it prevents them from worrying about another platform when the matter relates to the management.
You can use your login on social media sites to practically begin writing your initial post in under a minute. Medium also has a great mobile app which ensures reading articles throughout the site for visitors is a fantastic experience.
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Benefits of a built-in audience and traffic await Medium’s bloggers
A built-in audience and traffic await bloggers on Medium where a large group of readers visits this platform specifically for the content posted by other people. If you have quality content you can reach people visiting the platform from your blog on Medium.
If you create your website on WordPress you will eventually have to build an audience for yourselves. This may pose some challenges unless you already have people that are interested in your work. This indicates that you need to overcome the challenge of expanding an audience for your website because your starting point begins at zero.
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A social component exists on Medium
Unlike WordPress which does not have a social component, Medium provides you the benefit of social media as a part of the built-in audience. You will have access to the facility on WordPress as well but will be left with the challenge of building your community.
Users of Medium have options to comment on your articles, like them, share them, Etc.
The ease of following other Medium accounts will be available to you. The Facebook like notification system integrated into Medium keeps members upgraded with all the latest comments and content.
Medium Vs. WordPress: Which option should you choose?
Your goals will ultimately determine your choice.
If your hobby is to create content and get the same viewed by many Medium is a great option if you are content with the following facts:
- You do not have full ownership of your site and the content to building it on someone else’s brand.
- Do not have control over how your site looks or functions for the better part.
- No options are available to monetize your site however you want.
- Are prepared to accept content restrictions especially when you want to push the boundaries with your content.
On most occasions investing a little effort and money for setting up your WordPress site will be a better long-term decision if you are serious about creating your brand.
Why choose between Medium and WordPress when you can have both?
Want to enjoy the best of both worlds?
You can create a WordPress website for yourself even as you safely syndicate your content on Medium to access the built-in audience. The import tool on Medium makes it easy for you to bring your content to the Medium platform.
The tool can automatically add a rel = canonical to the version imported from Medium to keep you away from any penalties for duplicate content from Google. You can check out a step-by-step tutorial on syndicating your blog content to Medium.
Finally, even if you have decided two already team up with WordPress which we believe a lot of our readers are doing you still have the option of safely using Medium as an alternative platform for your content.
If you enjoyed this article you will certainly love the WordPress hosting platform offered by inmotionhosting (Disclaimer: Affiliate Link). The hosting provider will give you facilities to turbocharge your website and receive 24 x 7 support from the experienced WordPress team with them. They also have a Google cloud-powered infrastructure focusing on auto-scaling, security and performance. Take a look at the difference offered by inmotion hosting by checking out their plans.
If you want to migrate your Medium to WordPress, feel free to contact us TODAY.
Jay
I've worked for WooRank, SEOptimer, and working on a cool SEO audit tool called SiteGuru.co. Now I have build Linkilo and SEO RANK SERP WordPress theme. I've been in the SEO industry for more than 5 years, learning from the ground up. I've worked on many startups, but also have my own affiliate sites.
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