WordPress and Medium are platforms that are well-known among people. Most people use them for blogging and sharing experiences. If you are ambitious enough, you can even start making money online with the help of these platforms.

But which one is better to make money online? And how can you use the platform to your advantage? Are you going to step in the world of blogs or websites and you do not know which one to choose?

Let’s Present The Players

Medium

Medium is a platform specially designed for blogs. It is owned by “A Medium Corporation” and was launched in August 2012. Its CEO is Evan Williams, which is the co-founder of Blogger.com and Twitter. Medium was firstly designed to allow publishers to write texts longer than the ones on Twitter. This means texts longer than 140 characters (now, the limit is 280 characters).

Medium is a platform that nowadays shares stories. You can see it as a blog which hosts other blogs, building a huge audience. Every blogger attracts its audience so the people might continue surfing the platform and discovering new blog posts. And one of them might be yours.

Medium is a collection of experiences and stories, some written by professionals, some by amateurs. To start publishing on Medium, all you need is to sign up for an account and let your imagination go wild. You will have templates to choose from, so you do not need to bother with creating a website. Keep in mind that all you post is on Medium platform, so it is owned by it.

WordPress

WordPress is a little bit different. It is a content management system and it is built with technologies such as PHP and MySQL. Whether users use it mainly for blogging, you can also build a forum or an online store on WordPress.

But, what is WordPress about? It is basically a tool that helps you create a website without any knowledge on how to code.

How To Start A Blog?

How To Start A Blog On Medium?

Well, it is quite easy. All you need to do is to sign up for an account and start writing.

Medium Sign Up Page

The Medium Editor is user-friendly enough to help you manage your drafts and edit them, inserting photos or videos.

Medium Editor Page

Some might say that Medium Editor is better and more accessible than the editor WordPress has. Well, this was true one year ago. Because in 2018 WordPress launched the WordPress Gutenberg editor which made it more similar to the one Medium has.

Of course, all you need is to write your story and publish it.

How To Start A Blog On WordPress

Because WordPress offers you wider possibilities, the process of creating an account takes a little bit more time. You must answer some questions to set your primary goals.

WordPress Sign Up Page

Then, you need to give your website an address, also called a domain name. The domain name is the address typed by people in their browser to access your site.

WordPress Sign Up Page

You can use WordPress for free, but if you decide you want more functionalities, you can pay for a WordPress membership. The next thing you need to do is to start customizing your blog and choosing a theme and plugins for it. And then start writing your first posts.

First Page of WordPress after you have created your website

Why Should You Choose Medium?

You Do Not Need To Stress About The Audience

Like we highlighted before, Medium is a blog platform where both professionals and amateurs write lots of posts every day. This means that every blogger has its own audience. And if you write good quality posts, you can attract more readers who were not there for your posts.

You can build and constantly enlarge your audience and make known your vision. The disadvantage of WordPress is that you start with zero audiences. You need to build your community of readers by yourself.

No Problems With The Management Of Your Blog

Take into consideration that all your posts are on Medium servers, so they own them. If you do not have any problem with this, then Medium is the way. It is so user-friendly that you will navigate so smoothly through functionalities.

They have also created a mobile app, so you can write also when you are travelling. You do not have to stress about the domain or complex interfaces for your website. Medium has some templates you can choose from for your posts. The editor is quite simple to use, and you can also insert photos and videos.

The Social Part

Medium has a social part incorporated in its blog platform. As a user who has read a very inspiring article, you can clap them. Claps are the equivalent of likes. You can also leave comments or share the post. You can recommend an article or follow the writers’ account.

What is very nice at Medium is that they have built a notification system which works pretty much like Facebook’s. You can easily be updated with the latest posts of your favorite bloggers.

Why Should You Choose WordPress?

You Own Your Website

The major difference between Medium and WordPress is that the latest does not own the content you publish. But why is this aspect so important? If you 100% own your website, no one can close it. Unless you are violating the policy, no one can close your account and forbid you to further use the platform.

Post Page on WordPress

Another advantage is that you can choose from multiple themes and plugins and you can personalize your website however you want to. And whether on Medium the export option is available, if you posted on Medium, is on Medium servers.

It Is Easier To Add New Features

The downside of Medium is that it has only a few templates to choose from. Also, WordPress has a lot more features that help you format your post. You can choose from various fonts, font colors and background colors.

You can also choose from various themes and plugins. There are a lot of themes that help you change your site interface. Also, there are a lot of plugins which help you add different functionalities to your site, like forums or share buttons.

You Do Not Have Any Restrictions On The Content

Being your own website with its own domain and content, you are the full owner of it. You do not have any restrictions on what photos to post or what words to use. It is you who owns the content, so you have full power over it.

This is different from Medium where the policy makes some restrictions. And if there is a member who does not pay attention, he can end up with his account closed and posts deleted.

Extract from Medium Policy

How You Can Make Money Out Of It?

Medium

Do You remember those 5$ you pay monthly for subscription on Medium? Well, those go to the writers whose posts you have read. Medium has an interesting policy of sharing the money. How much a blogger gets depends on the number of articles you read on Medium in one month.

Because all those 5$ dollars users pay every month will be shared among the posts they have read. This is why it is so important to have a big audience who reads your posts. The quality of your posts will increase your income.

How Can You Create A High-Quality Post On Medium?

If you have some previous experience writing articles or stories, it will be easy for you to adapt. But if not, you should take into consideration some advice to create a high-quality post on Medium and attract followers:

• you should identify the audience target and adapt the storytelling accordingly
• Do your research about the topic you are going to present. Make your content unique by presenting new points of view
• If your present data or some statistics about a certain topic, improve your credibility by citing and linking the sources. You can also present your experience or mention the opinions of other industry experts
• If your goal is to urge people to make a change, include also calls to action and more sources for further research
• Always check and proofread your draft to avoid grammar or spelling mistakes
• Create short paragraphs (between 1 and 4 sentences)
• Use bold or italic to emphasize ideas
• Use subheadings and structure your article to be easy to read

WordPress

Even though Medium has a Partner Program that gives the readers the opportunity to monetize their content, their income depends on the number of readers engaged. It also depends on the number of claps received or the time a reader spent reading your article. Well, WordPress does not have any restrictions regarding monetizing your content.

Because Medium does not pay so much, a lot of bloggers are starting their own blog or just start using a different platform. So, WordPress lets you run ads. It lets you accept sponsorships. You can even create a crowdfunding platform using the tools they offer you.

You can think about any idea of monetizing your content and you can apply it. The advantage of WordPress is that you are the full owner of your website and its content, so you can choose whatever method of monetizing floats your boat.

Which Is The Best Option?

Well, the right answer is it depends. It depends on what you want and what your values are. If you do not want to bother with the management of your blog, you should choose Medium. It comes with other advantages like an already built audience.

You can also a limited number of templates to choose from, so you will not spend time thinking about designs. Because of the buttons that aim at engaging more and more readers you can easily increase your audience. You have buttons like share or recommend or clap.

But, if you want to be the full owner of your website, you should definitely choose WordPress. It comes with more complex functionalities. If you like to work on the interface of your website, WordPress offers you a lot of templates you can customize without having any coding knowledge.

It is easier to add new features and plugins. And, the most important aspect is that you can monetize your content however you want. Even though it might be harder than on Medium, you can use all the tools for earning money online. On the contrary, on Medium you depend on the number of appreciations your article gets.

Why Not Both?

Well, if you have not decided yet, why not use both? You can promote your blog by posting short but attractive blog posts on Medium. You can engage your readers so that they will follow you and your blog. At the same time, you can take advantage of the Medium export option and post the article on your own personal blog.

Every platform has its advantages as well as its disadvantages. But it’s up to you to balance all the information and make a choice. The registration on both platforms is quite easy, so you can use them both if you have time and dedication.