Content marketing is becoming increasingly crucial as leading brands continue to move away from traditional marketing strategies. Digital marketing experts today prefer engaging their target clients through relevant, top-notch content that solves problems and provides clear solutions.
One of the main ways for businesses to do that is blogging.
A business that has a blog can establish itself as a thought leader in its industry and stand out from the competition. By publishing quality content consistently, your company can attract the right prospects and easily convert them into long-lasting customers.
But before you do that…
You need to pick a blogging platform to publish your content and manage it. And for that, there are two popular options: WordPress and Medium.
In this article, you’ll learn what are the differences between WordPress and Medium and a comparison to each other. By the end of this, you’ll be able to pick a blogging platform to host your blog and grow your company.
So, let’s dive in!
What Is WordPress?
WordPress (WordPress.com) is one of the most popular open-source CMS platforms today, used by many large brands globally. It’s completely free to use for anyone looking to start a website to promote their brand or sell their products and services.
Considering all the features it has to offer, WordPress is one of your best options when it comes to content creation and ease of use. It allows you to publish different types of content and obtain great results down the line.
Why You Should Use WordPress vs Medium
1- Full Customization
Due to its open-source nature, WordPress is all about customization and great design. It comes with many features that enable you to create a site structure that best fits your marketing plan with tons of customization options.
With this CMS:
You’ll be able to customize your web page designs to fit your business style and branding. For example, you’ll have the option to use your logo with fonts and colors that best showcase your desired visual identity.
Also:
You can install themes and page builders to create awesome design styles to represent your brand. Your options here are limitless with thousands of template options to pick from in the WordPress Theme library.
Most importantly…
WordPress has a huge library of theme and plugins available for free to all of its users. Which anyone can use to improve their site features and extend its functionality.
2- Improved Marketing
When it comes to digital marketing, WordPress is the ultimate no-brainer.
This content management system is primarily built to publish content and maximize your SEO rankings without a lot of effort on your part. WordPress provides many built-in features that will help you drive more traffic to your site and keep your audience connected to your brand.
To give you an example:
The team behind WordPress has always implemented an SEO-focused approach throughout the development process.
So, with little on-page SEO knowledge on your part, you can publish SEO-friendly articles that are fit to edge out the competition in the SERPs.
Also:
This CMS takes into account some of the most essential ranking factors in SEO. It’s built to load fast, provide an excellent user experience, and ensure top security to you and all of your visitors.
Above all…
The plugins library on WordPress offers a wide variety of marketing plugins to enhance your growth. For example, you can easily create opt-in forms in a few minutes and use them to grow your email subscribers list.
3- Better Monetization Options
This is one of the main reasons why top brands go with WordPress when comparing the difference versus Medium and never look back. Because the sales strategy and process are one of the most important parts of any business plan.
WordPress allows site owners to make money off their websites and blogs using all types of monetization methods. Whether it’s creating direct sales pages, displaying paid ads, promoting affiliate offers, etc.
For example:
You can show Google Ads anywhere on your website and earn money whenever someone visits your blogs or clicks on a relevant offer.
Or…
You may become an affiliate with an affiliate program and promote it on your blog.
One of the most popular examples of this is the Amazon Associates Program, where marketers create content around specific products and use that to convert organic visitors.
You also have the option to offer your services or products on different pages of your site and get paid directly through a secure payment gateway.
What is Medium?
Medium is a free content publishing space that has over 60 million monthly active users. It was created to help bloggers, journalists, and brands write and publish their own work with relevant audiences.
Medium allows you to share ideas with your target customers even if you’re just getting started. It’s one of the best places to connect new prospects to your brand and quickly establish yourself as an authority. You can create a medium account here.
Why Use Medium: It Can Be a Good Alternative
1- Budget-Friendliness
As a content creator, it costs 0$ to create an account on Medium and start writing about your favorite topics. You don’t need to pay for a domain name, a hosting service, or a premium theme to showcase your expertise and build an audience.
2- Ease of Use
When deciding between Medium vs WordPress, the one thing writers love the most about Medium is the ease of use and how beginner-friendly it is to new bloggers. It’s an awesome choice for non-tech savvy users to spread their ideas and boost their brands.
For starters:
Unlike other blogging options, you don’t have to build anything before you’re ready to type in your first words on the screen. All you need is a verified account, a topic idea, and some inspiration to turn your thoughts into an outstanding content piece.
Moreover…
The content import feature is great for anyone looking to recycle their best content on Medium and attract more curious readers. With a few clicks, you can repost any article on the web and have it live on the platform under your company name.
As if that’s not enough:
The text editor tool is super clean and well-organized to enhance your creativity. It includes all the necessary tools and features you might need to produce an article that is sure to awe your readers.
3- Wider Reach
On top of it being a leader in blogging, Medium offers an active social platform with millions of daily users. It gathers enthusiastic readers with various levels of experience and diverse knowledge into one place.
Here’s the thing:
If you start a blog on your own, you’re going to have a hard time attracting your first few readers since your brand has no recognition. You’ll create loads of articles for search engines and then wait for months before anyone can hear your thoughts.
Your inspiring piece of content will get the recognition it deserves much quickly when published on Medium. Especially when it offers exclusive tips and relevant advice.
If your content is good enough to get to the top, it will be recommended to relevant readers throughout the platform. And that can instantly generate thousands of interested prospects for your brand. If these areas are important, you may want to go with Medium.
WordPress vs. Medium: The Choice Is Yours After Comparing…
Now that you know what each option has to offer in terms of pros and cons, it’s time for you to make a choice between WordPress or Medium.
From a branding and ownership point of view:
WordPress is the clear winner because of the customization and monetization options it offers. It’s also a better choice for SEO and building an audience that you have full control over. You’ll never have to worry about losing your followers or losing money to an outside party.
On the other hand:
Medium is a great place to connect with a wider audience and grow your brand’s reach. And the fact that it’s free and easy to implement makes it hard for top brands to ignore it.
Why not integrate both WordPress and Medium into your marketing plan?
You can make sure to work both to reach your marketing objectives. Use Medium to attract new prospects when getting started, but always keep your main business blog on WordPress as Medium has limited expandability, plugins and features to add functionality to your blog.
Need Help Launching a WordPress Blog for Your Business?
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Learn more about how our WordPress experts can help by checking out our WordPress Web Design services. We can even help you with your self-hosted and custom domain to get started building your online presence. Don’t hesitate to contact us so we can discuss your project needs.
About the Author: Bill Dolan
