Should I Put My Blog Posts on Medium?

Medium, if you don't know, is an open, easy-to-use platform where anyone can create an account to start writing and to share that writing with the world. Awesome, well known people like Barack Obama and Gary Vaynerchuk have used the platform to publish content, as well as plenty of not-so-awesome, not-so-well known folks. One strategy that many writers and marketers employ is publishing content first on their blog or website and then publishing it again on Medium a bit later with a link back to the original piece (or no link sometimes). Medium has incredible reach, and allows bloggers and writers to upload their own, previous published content with no consequences. So, I wonder, should I put my blog posts on Medium?

I Have More Than 500 Published Posts On This Blog

With more than 500 posts over the course of four or five years, it would seem like I shouldn't need the reach or any additional help. Anyone who has been writing that much for that long ought to have plenty of followers and ought to have quite a niche built out for them.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

All the blogging was in a whole lot of fits and starts, and is also an archive of several different blogs, since many of the posts were from my freelancing blog and my two business blogs as well as anything that I decided to write for personal purposes. There's not a whole lot of cohesion to the content or to the process of writing all of the 500 posts. I somehow just happened to write all of it over the span of a few years.

However, many of these posts are just getting dusty. They were great, on point blog posts when I wrote them and they got a lot of traffic when they were originally on the business blog. But, the posts aren't doing much for me now. Yes, I do need to go back and update the information, make sure the links still work, pick a new photo and clean up the SEO portion of it. It's very possible the fact that I haven't done all that yet is hurting. With all this in mind, post my content on Medium may be a good thing to do with old content.

I'm Hesitant Because of the Decentralization

I'm concerned about doing this because I don't own Medium, and therefore I give up control of my content when I put in on Medium. If Medium shuts down, then all that content is gone. If Medium decides it's great, then they'll feature the post and promote it. If not, then they aren't going to do anything to help my content reach the people I want it to reach. If a post does really well on Medium, then I can't guarantee that those people will associate the work with me and the brand that I'm trying to build. It may increase my audience for a day, but I won't know for sure how many of those people will stick around and will read my next post or be interested in anything else that I might have to offer. At least when you promote and share your content on social media, you have a little bit more control then on platforms like Medium and LinkedIn.

Overall, it might be worth trying Medium with a couple of posts, just to see how it works and to see if I like it. Everyone talks about how great the platform is and the potential and exposure it gives people. As I said in a previous blog post, I just need to start talking and stop worrying about all sorts of little things that don't matter in the long run.

I Want to Talk About All the Things

When most beginners start blogging, all them blogging and social media gurus tell you that you gotta pick something. Nobody likes jacks- and janes-of-all-trades, so you need to pick something and specialize in it and build a community around that one topic you picked. It's easier that way. It's easier to attract a community. It's easier to position and present yourself. Besides, you can't be everything to everybody and you can't possibly do everything anyway. All those gurus forget to mention HOW HARD it is to pick. People are complicated and often have a variety of interests and passions, sometimes competing interests and passions. Other people just don't know what their passions are, or aren't sure among several different choices so they don't want to commit to one topic. Although clarity comes from engagement, not thought, as the great Marie Forleo says, at times it can take quite a bit of "engagement" for folks to figure out which passions and interests to spend their time on.

Therefore, I'm Going to Do All the Things

I'm just going to do all the things cause I want to do all the things and I'm going to be my own blogging and social media guru and make it work. I'm going to make it work because I think it's awesome and I think just about everything is awesome (except cockroaches, as they are not awesome). There's probably going to be a lot of app marketing, inbound marketing and content marketing in here as well because I know a lot about that stuff and I do it for a living so it's kind of hard not to have it seep into the rest of my life. After all, I have plenty of categories in my sidebar, which illustrate that I certainly love all the things and have already made previous attempts at doing all the things, even though I wouldn't have called any of those posts or categories attempts when I first created them. Never mind some of the stuff that I wrote about previously. Some of it I will iterate and bring it back and others I will not.

I'm Also Probably Going to Promote Apps Here as Well

I know! It makes me such a shrill to promote products or whatever on the blog or on the sidebar. But, first of all, it's part of my job. I love my job and I do love the apps that we create. Our apps cover all sorts of topics, and some of those topics I'm probably never going to talk about in depth on this blog. For example, our latest app is Inside Drones, which is about hobby drones, quadcopters, and how they're used in various industries. It features drones news and only drones news. so it won't ever have celebrity news or sports news or even topics more closely related like gadgets or tech news. I'm probably never ever going to talk about drones in a blog post. But, people are doing some pretty awesome things with drones, like this Drones Racing Championship that's happening next month. That just sounds darn cool. How do you not promote that and talk about that?

On a side note, I need to create my reading list for this website. I like to all sorts of books and I have plenty of favorites and recommendations, spanning all sorts of topics. You know what, if I like it I'm gonna promote it. Plain and simple. Marie Forleo does that with some of the guests she has on her show, and I've certainly bought the books and other products from some of her guests. One of my particular favorites is Sally Hogshead. Her research and ideas on fascination is just amazing.

46 Article Ideas You Can Use for Your Blog Right Now

Maintaining a blog or online publication isn't easy, and one of the toughest aspects of maintenance is coming up with things to write about! Even if you're preparing an editorial calendar for the next month, or even the next few months, the ideas aren't always flowing. If you need a little help, or if you need something to write about right now, then consider one of the 46 article ideas below. Surely, you can find something here that's compelling to do and to share with your audience.

1. Live blog what's happening at a conference, event, or trade show.
2. Attended a webinar, conference, event or trade show recently? Share what you’ve learned.
3. Instead of recapping the conference or webinar, review it! What would you have wished to learn? What could they have done better?
4. Did you just hold your own event? Do a recap.
5. Will you be holding an event? Do a post about it and why people should come.
6. Do a roundup of niche-related news articles that your readers may have missed.
7. Write a follow-up to one of your most popular blog posts.
8. Respond to comments made on a previous blog post.
9. Write a counterpoint to a post from another blog.
10. Agree with a post from another blog.
11. Ask another niche blogger to do guest post.
12. Ask another niche blogger if you can reprint one of his/her posts. Make sure to write your own introduction and give credit to the blogger.
13. Look at what your competitors are blogging about, and write your own post on something they’ve done.
14. Take a current event and show what your niche can learn from it.
15. Take a seemingly unrelated current event and show what it means to your industry.
16. Find a recent news article on your industry and add your own angle.
17. Compare your niche to something from pop culture, like a TV show or a new dance craze.
18. Counter a prevailing niche trend or perspective.
19. Affirm a prevailing niche trend or perspective.
20. Bust a myth or two about your niche/product/service.
21. Confirm a rumor or fact about your niche/product/service.
22. Make a prediction on an emerging trend, or on something else happening in your niche.
23. Define some niche lingo or key terms.
24. Are there any new research findings or statistics related to your niche? Write a post on why that new something is important.
25. Present the history or some little known facts about your niche.
26. Outline a solution to a big niche problem.
27. Or, just rant about that problem. That’s okay too.
28. Ask several niche leaders about an issue related to your niche. Post the responses.
29. Create a beginner’s post to your niche (think of it as a very quick 101!)
30. Conduct some research on something related to your niche and share your findings.
31. Create a “recipe of success” for your niche.
32. Create a “5 Pillars” or a “10 Commandments” for your niche.
33. Answer a frequently asked question related to your niche.
34. Make a list of the 10 best other niche blogs or news sites.
35. Make a list of the biggest lessons you’ve learned in your niche.
36. Compile a list of the best apps for your niche.
37. Make a list of your favorite quotes related to your niche.
38. Make a pros/cons list of something in your niche.
39. Review a book related to your niche.
40. Ask your readers what they’d like you to write about.
41. Write about the best idea(s) suggested.
42. Conduct a poll.
43. Post the results to that poll.
44. If there’s a movie about or involving your niche, write about what it gets right or wrong.
45. Ask for reader submissions (can be posts, pics, or vids).
46. Share the best ones!

4 Things to Think About When Starting a Blog or Online Publication

Starting your own blog, online publication, or online magazine may be easier and cheaper than ever, but that doesn't mean the venture is a simple or smooth road. There is plenty to think about when getting started, with everything from the name and the design to what you're going to write about every day, every week, or even three or four times per day. To help you get started and to build a successful and awesome blog or magazine, here are four things to think about long and hard

Topic

This is one of the easiest, yet hardest, things to think about. Sure, you might know that you want to do a tech blog or a magazine covering the local nightlife scene, but you might have to narrow yourself more than that. There are TONS of tech blogs out there, and there might already be one or two magazines covering the local nightlife scene. How are you going to compete if you plan to write about the same topic?

When thinking about your topic, you want to think about your competitors and what they are covering. You can't just cover what they cover, as your competitors (some of whom may have been online for a long time) will have an edge over you. You have to know that you are doing something different, whether that's covering a more specific niche, or offering different perspective, or writing longer, more thought-provoking articles.

Audience

Anyone and everyone doesn't count as an audience, at least not today, when there are too many things competing for everyone's attention. To have a little more edge when competing for that attention, you need to think about who your target audience is. If you're doing that local nightlife magazine, for example, then your audience would probably be middle-class twenty-somethings in your area who are probably also interested in drinking, fashion, events, and other aspects of nightlife. Knowing your audience makes it easier to come up with article ideas that would interest your target audience (obviously, this is much easier to do when your audience is narrower than everyone and anyone).

Blog/Article Ideas

Of course, this is something that you're going to think about constantly, but before launching and writing that first article, you'll want to come up with several blog and article ideas to get you started. This way, you don't have to deal with writer's block right away and you'll have something to keep you going right after you launch. Or, what you could do is come up with the ideas, and then write all those articles before the launch so you can focus on promotion and generating buzz. After all, you're not launching much if you write one article, and then take two weeks to come up with a few more ideas and to get the next article out.

Goals

Of course, if you don't have any goals for your new blog or online publication, then there's really no reason to be doing it in the first place. Hopefully, you have a few things that you want to accomplish with your content, whether that's filling a niche that hasn't been filled, or to do better than your competitors, or to share great content about great things, or all of the above. Data-based goals are also good, such as shooting for certain number of subscribers, visitors, and social media followers. When you have your goals in mind, or when you're taking the time to come up with a few goals, make sure to write them down and put them where you'll see them everyday. This tactic increases your chances of reaching those goals while reminding you of what you want to accomplish.

Those aren't the only four things to think about when starting a blog or online publication, but they certainly are four big things to think. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, so plan at least these four things when starting out.

3 Ways Not to Do Business Blogging, and How to Do It Right

There's a lot of great advice on how to do business blogging well, why it should be done, and what great business blogging can accomplish. There's also a lot of advice on the biggest and most common business blogging mistakes. However, there's not a whole lot that puts the two together, that actually shows you how to fix those mistakes and to go from blogging horribly to blogging well. Here are three wrong ways to do business blogging, and how to do it right:

Writing Articles that are Too Short

Search engines LOVE content that is of quality and is of value to the reader. Although it's possible, most of the time it is very difficult to accomplish both in a short post. Yet, many businesses still publish 200, 300-word posts regularly and expect that to be enough to provide value and benefit to the reader. Sometimes, it can, depending on the subject matter. However, most of the time, it doesn't because there isn't enough there to engage the reader and to provide enough information about the subject matter to ensure that the reader will come away with something valuable and beneficial.

The Fix: Shoot for 600-800 words. It allows you to go more in-depth on a topic and to be more comprehensive. This benchmark is also what Google recommends for blog posts, so that's another thing to keep in mind.

Publishing Inconsistently or Infrequently

Granted, our business blogging service case study involves publishing twice a month, but it also took two whole years to get the results that we did. Part of the reason why we got the results that we did was because we stuck to that schedule for two years, offering a sense of security and reliability to our audience, while writing content that is comprehensive and of value to our audience.

In business blogging, you need to publish frequently and to publish consistently. The schedule can't change from three times a week, to three times a month, to once a week, and then once a day. To your audience, that's not reliable. It's also not reliable for you to publish once a month or every other month and to do that consistently. That's not enough to retain an audience, as it's not enough to keep people coming back. You could be writing great posts, but if you're not writing these great posts consistently and frequently, then those great posts aren't going to get you anywhere.

And while we're talking about this, don't EVER post the "Sorry we haven't blogged in a while" post. No one cares, especially if you're only blogging to get something up because you haven't blogged in a while. When you publish an article, make sure that you have something to say.

The Fix: Find a schedule and stick to it. As stated, if twice a month is all you can do, then do that. If you can write more often, then do that consistently, as you'll see results and a return on your effort much, much sooner.

Writing Only About Yourself

Some businesses think that because it's their business blog, that it needs to be all about them, mentioning the company in every blog post and writing specifically about the company and/or its products and services. This is the wrong way of thinking, and this should be done on the rarest of occasions. Your business blog is the one place on your website that's for your potential customers. You need to make it that way, and writing about yourself doesn't accomplish that.

The Fix: A good way to change direction on this is to write down all the questions that customers typically ask, and all the questions that customers have ever asked. Then, write a post answering each question. This is a great way to start building a business blog that offers value and benefit to your audience and your potential customers.

Related Links:

5 Business Blogging Best Practices

How to Make Your Blog Article Titles More Search Engine Friendly

Blogging for Your Business: How Long Should a Post Be?