I’ve been debating for a really long time if I should join Medium. I’ve decided to finally go ahead and do it. I promise that I am not a traitor to WordPress!
The thing about Medium is that is allows a much greater opportunity to get paid for your writing, but it also severely limits the amount of viewers who can see your content. However, most of what I will be posting on Medium will be reposts from my current blog.
Again, that doesn’t mean that I am abandoning this blog or WordPress community at all. I will be using both. However, I do want to express some frustrations I’ve had with WordPress in the past 1-2 years.
My blog views completely spiked during the lockdown, as slowly trickled down as things gradually returned to normal. Thank God the pandemic is over — but it’s been very frustrating watching my views go down every day, receiving less interaction, and so forth.
But the frustration comes from more than the viewers. The WordPress community has unfortunately become watered down by spam content. I struggle to keep up with my favorite bloggers because much of the noise is drowned out by bots and spammers.
And lastly, I’m frustrated with WordPress’s monetization program. I make about $1-$2 a month on ads, and they do not allow you to cash out until you reach $100. On top of that, there’s the fee for the premium plan. The plus side is that it provides great exposure — but that exposure is decreasing as time goes by.
My apologies for the little rant. I don’t want to sound like I’m trash-talking WordPress, I’m really not, I’m just expressing these frustrations — maybe if enough of us express it, they will do something about it. But until then, I’m going to see how Medium works out for me. I’m not assuming to make a living from blogging, but some spare change is all I’m hoping for. I’m also curious to see if I can find a strong sense of community there.
This is actually a huge deal for me. I’ve known about Medium for a very long time, and for so long did not agree with their system (paying to view posts, only allowed five views per month.) I also felt like joining it would be a betrayal to the WordPress community. But now I realize that my frustrations with this platform is perfectly valid and there is no harm in trying something new. Maybe I’ll love it, maybe I’ll hate it, there’s only one way to know.
So, if you have any experience with Medium, please be free to share!
And for those who are thriving on WordPress, what is your secret? How do you still feel a sense of community with the ever-growing spammers along with the dropout of so many other bloggers and viewers?
Crystal Aura Gaze 
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