As I was preparing to restart my WordPress blog, I wondered what syndication options I could have for new posts. I synced my blog with Twitter and Facebook a few years ago, but I stopped updating Twitter and Facebook for a while. I learned about Medium a few years ago and I always thought I would try out the platform one day. And, today is the day.
Cross-posting from WordPress to Medium
Once I decided to try Medium, a few thoughts crossed my mind.
- Is posting duplicate articles on both WP and Medium allowed?
The key difference of Medium from Twitter and Facebook as a syndication channel is that it is a full-fledged platform dedicated to online publication. When I used Twitter and Facebook, they served mostly as a notification system: notifying my followers about a new post and the link to it. At Medium, on the other hand, the norm seems to be posting the entire article on the platform. This may create a SEO problem. From googling, some people recommend publishing on Medium a few days later than your original post is out on WordPress. Others recommend repurposing the article specifically targeting the Medium audience. For now, I will rather publish an almost identical post on Medium and see what happens. Still, I will selectively send articles to Medium. Not all short notes need to go to Medium. -
Who is already doing it?
There seem to be quite a number of people using Medium as a syndication platform for their WordPress blog. One example (biznology), another example (Sarah Cooper), another (Jared Stein). It is hard to find the list of all WordPress bloggers who send their posts to Medium, but many people seem to be using Medium as a content distribution platform for sure. Maybe I will be able to meet some people doing the same thing there once I start using Medium. -
Is there a WordPress plugin?
In fact, there is a seemingly official WordPress plugin from Medium. I had to go through a few steps before getting it working like putting in the access token, but overall the process was very straightforward. I will see if it works by publishing this post. If you are reading this article on Medium, it means the plugin worked at least for me.
A reason for this post: Testing the water
One reason of this inaugural post is to see how many people actually visit my WordPress blog through Medium. Right now, both my blog and Medium account are in a clean slate. This blog is (almost) blank and my Medium account is literally blank. Using Google Analytics, perhaps I can check where people are coming from. Once I get to have some sizable statistics, I will write about it.
The metrics that I am interested in right now are as follows:
- Side-by-side comparison in the number of viewers
- How many people visit this WordPress blog from Medium
Please leave a comment (only on Medium) about what you are interested in. I will try to incorporate those requests when I get to write about it.
Also published on Medium.