Medium writers: Can you help?

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   I'm aiming to try Medium. I've seen others say things like, "It took me three months to figure out what I was doing there," so I'm trying to reduce that learning period with research. I've already learned a lot just from reading the Medium Guides, but I have a couple of questions, which I've put below.
   
   (BTW I'm not intending to abandon HP, I want to do Medium in addition, not instead.)
   
   Anyway, here's a couple of questions for which I'd be very grateful to hear responses. Thanks in advance.
   
   1. I gather that you can you publish at both HP and Medium (just need to publish HP article first and get it indexed by Google)? Any disadvantages to this?
   
   2. Am I right in thinking that just as the main objective in HP is to get your article into the niches, in Medium the aim is to get your material into the publications?

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      stuff4kidsposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      @glennstok is your man for this, I think.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe, yes. I was originally thinking Bev or Tess were perhaps the most experienced Medium writers, who tend to come on this forum.
         
         If I don't get a response, there are other avenues. I suspect that I know the answers to the questions, but always good to get some personal experiences.

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            theraggededgeposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, you can republish at Medium and set a canonical link, which means the Medium article isn't indexed by Google. Thus, the article is only viewable by Medium members (which is how you get paid)
            
            I have hundreds of articles on another site, which I am rewriting and repurposing. So if you have material elsewhere....
            
            It's not as important as it was to get your articles into publications anymore, although it's helpful. I have my own for my stuff.
            
            Tess is the one to ask really.
            
            I am there as Bev-G

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               PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Thank you for your answer, I'll probably start over there soon. But I might publish here first, wait a few days for indexing, then take it over at Medium.
               
               I stay away from politics on HP, but I may choose that as a topic for Medium.

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                  Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                  I also will try Medium some day.

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                     Moondot1822posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                     Unfortunately, we can't! Because the partner program is not available in our countries.

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                  Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                  Paul, when you take your HubPages article over to Medium, remember to insert the Canonical Link, which shows Google the original on HubPages so you don't have duplication issues.
                  
                  I discussed this in one of my tutorials published under my Medium publication: “Writer’s Unblocked Potential.”
                  
                  This is how you do that:
                  
                  • Edit your article and click “More settings” under the three dots.
                  
                  • Scroll all the way down to “Advanced Settings” and put a check mark in the box for “This story was originally published elsewhere.”
                  
                  • Then you will see a field to enter the Canonical Link. That should be the link to your original article first published elsewhere, such as on HubPages.

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                     PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks for this. I presume doing this means I don't have to wait for Google indexing.

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                        Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                        In reference to your question, Paul, as long as Google bots see the canonical link, indexing will be done accordingly. Therefore, I don’t think it matters if you wait for the original to be indexed or not. But it doesn’t hurt to wait anyway.

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                           PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                           I read both your articles, both were well-written and contained some interesting and useful info.
                           
                           Tess has mentioned elsewhere that the formatting was something she found awkward at first. I'm going to read up on it, but would be interested in your (or others') opinion?

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                              Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                              We all have different opinions, Paul. I don't find the formatting awkward on Medium, although some things are not immediately obvious.
                              
                              For example, the need to update the title under the SEO section when you change it in the article and how to enter the SEO description that Google will use in the SERPs.
                              
                              I wrote about that in one of my tutorials published on Medium.

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         Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for mentioning me Amanda. In addition to my tutorials on Medium, I also have two articles here on HubPages about Medium that can be found under my profile.
         
         I also highly recommend paying attention to Bev and Tess when dealing with questions about Medium. They both know what they are talking about.

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            PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            I will checkout your HP articles. It took me many months to figure out HP enough to begin to get a reasonable income. Anything that can help me to shorten the learning period for Medium is much appreciated.

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            theraggededgeposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Not a clue, me. I rely on Tessa.
            
            Will definitely check out your articles, Glenn.

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      OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I have been publishing on Medium for a year now.  Don't stress about doing the "right" thing because Medium is constantly changing their algorhythm.  Since there are no forums on Medium, writers have created Facebook groups to take the place of forums.  That is where I get most of my information about Medium.  What you are aiming for is "distribution."  Articles are distributed to readers who are interested in that topic.  Distribution is determined by the algorhythm.  No one understands how it works because Medium is not clear on it.  Don't bother reading articles on how to figure out the the mystery of getting your articles distributed.  No one really knows.  And don't get caught up in only publishing in the "big" publications with a lot of followers.  A publication with a large audience does not guaranteed you a lot of traffic.  A lot of people complain after finally being published in a large publication that they received little to no traffic.  I publish in a small, relatively obscure publication with less than 4,000 followers and earn 4 figures every month.  Almost all of my articles are distributed.  Write regularly about what you are most passionate about and your audience will find you.  It helps if you also comment on articles on similar topics to the ones that you write about.  That gets your name in front of people who are interested in that topic.  They may start reading your articles.  Please be aware that it is considered bad etiquette to link your own articles in your comments on other people's articles.  Use the link in my profile to email me if you have any more questions.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you for your detailed response and help offer!

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            Solarasposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for this information.  Are you writing about gardening over on Medium? Are you reposting HP articles on their site or only new articles? Isn't there some sort of fee you have to pay to get started? Thanks in advance.

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               OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Solaras, gardening doesn't do well on Medium, so I write about politics there which doesn't do well here on HP.  There is no fee to write on Medium.  If you want to read more than three articles per month, then you should buy a subscription, $5/mo or $50/yr.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I also joined a FB forum on your advice. Thanks.

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            OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Happy to help!

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      Kenna McHughposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Great discussion!

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   Miebakagh57posted 2 years ago

   All these great discussions are interesting. Something good to add to my knowledge bank.

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   I've got a Medium profile now: Paul Goodman. All followers welcome! I will follow back! Now I just need to write something! I intend to focus on politics and current affairs, maybe copy over some of my Soapboxie articles.

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      EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I see you found me. I just followed you.
      
      I really want to contribute more over there, but like you I'm not sure what to write. I feel like anything with the possibility of getting search traffic is better off on HP.
      
      Politics and current affairs get me too worked up and I would almost certainly write things I'd later regret. LOL!

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the follow.
         
         I'm going to do politics and current affairs. I avoid it for two reasons on HP.
         
         Firstly, like you, I can get wound up and end up wasting times arguing with people in the comments.
         
         Secondly, in my experience, pure opinion pieces don't generally do well on here, in terms of views and earnings. It's also harder to make them evergreen, which is essential on HP.
         
         I think I will see how it goes on Medium,

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         Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Eric, I see you are following me on Medium too. You are absolutely right that content for search traffic is better on HubPages. I have several articles on Medium that get a lot of Google traffic, and I feel bad that I don't get paid for that. I'm slowly moving those over to HubPages (deleting first and waiting for them to be deindexed).
         
         On the other hand, I noticed that subjects my followers want, do fine on Medium. We get paid for that since most followers are subscribers.
         
         Over time, you will accumulate followers that want more of the same. Then just keep writing along the same subject lines.
         
         I like a change Medium made a while back, making payments based on read time instead of claps. Most people never think about applauding anyway. But when subscribers spend the time reading, we get paid.

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            Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Then, reading at Medium and hubpages are not the same?

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               Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               That's right, Miebakagh. Readers can read anything on HubPages, but are limited to three articles per month on Medium unless they subscribe. Subscribers can read any number of articles across the entire platform.
               
               In case you're wondering, writers do not need to be subscribers.

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That is noted well. And should I cross over to Medium, I'll follow. Thanks.

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      Glenn Stokposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That's great Paul. I see you followed me on Medium. I just followed you too. Good luck with your writing there. I'm sure you'll do well.
      
      One thing to keep in mind when you get started is that evergreen articles written for organic search do better on HubPages in the long run, and content written specifically for your followers does better on Medium. That's what I discovered, but it might be different for others.

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         OldRosesposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         That has been my experience also on Medium and HP.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I will likely customize each article a little. For instance, have a keyword orientated title for HP, change it to a more attention grabbing title for Medium.
         
         I aim to publish each article on both platforms to start with and if the HP version doesn't get past Discovery, I will likely just delete it at some point.
         
         I feel that I'm a reasonably versatile and experienced writer, but it's valuable to get the experiences and tips of writers already publishing somewhere! I really appreciate it.
         
         What's your name at Medium, Caren/OldRoses, I couldn't find you there?

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