Page 260 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

Those who are less inclined to use Medium as their first or only blog include the
following arguments:

» No control: You don’t own it or have control over your blog on Medium. Just
like Facebook or Twitter, the platform administrators have control over what
happens. Rules can change.

» No Google credit: Medium gets credit for organic search ratings because
Google recognizes the content coming from Medium, not your site. This
doesn’t add anything to your domain’s authority.

» Friction: Users are asked to subscribe, which puts some friction between you
and the reader. This can hamper the building of your own list although you
can use external links back to your website blog.

Making a choice

Some of the key determinants as to whether it’s a good idea to set up your blog on
Medium relate to whether content marketing is a big part of your marketing strat-
egy and whether you have time to devote to two blogs. Getting your content seen
and read is usually a vital business factor. But only you can decide the number of
resources you want to deploy on blogging and that the conditions are right for
you. Here are some choices to consider:

» Setting up your first blog on your website: Are you just launching your
business or blog online? Do you have the resources needed to create and
launch a website? If so, you may want to first test blog content by creating
your own website. If you aren’t clear about what content resonates with your
audience, you’ll want to learn that first.
» Setting up your first blog on Medium: Do you already know the type of
content your audience likes, and you’re looking for a way to get wider
distribution? Or, do you have minimal resources and can’t or don’t want to
set up a complete blogging platform from scratch? Medium provides the
structure for users to quickly get up and running.
» Setting up a second blog on Medium: There is no prohibition against
repurposing content from your own blog site on Medium so you can use
the knowledge you gain on your own site content to populate your Medium
site. This means that you believe that the time and resources you devote
to a second blog with a built-in audience will benefit your business and help
it grow.

244 PART 3 Reaching Your Audience via Mainstream Social Platforms