Platforms like Substack & Medium offer you "reach" because they can distribute content at scale. That means less intentionality from your readers, but a higher likelihood some random person finds your work. Reach is great when you're trying to scale your work and get it in front of lots of people. There is no doubt that by virtue of SEO, higher traffic, more organization etc. that platforms like Medium will get your stuff in front of more people.
Personal blogs offer a level of complete ownership and customization. I cannot tell you how often Medium, Mailchimp, Substack etc have disappointed me in how I can monitor the traffic to my publication, or even have a custom URL for SEO purposes.
Personally, I optimize for reach > customization starting out. The benefits of more eyeballs on my work far outweighs my need to customize when building from the ground up. But that's primarily due to the fact that my content is designed for more folks to see it.
(Source: I write about video games every week @ www.pausebutton.news)
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The core trade-off is ownership vs distribution.
Platforms like Substack & Medium offer you "reach" because they can distribute content at scale. That means less intentionality from your readers, but a higher likelihood some random person finds your work. Reach is great when you're trying to scale your work and get it in front of lots of people. There is no doubt that by virtue of SEO, higher traffic, more organization etc. that platforms like Medium will get your stuff in front of more people.
Personal blogs offer a level of complete ownership and customization. I cannot tell you how often Medium, Mailchimp, Substack etc have disappointed me in how I can monitor the traffic to my publication, or even have a custom URL for SEO purposes.
Personally, I optimize for reach > customization starting out. The benefits of more eyeballs on my work far outweighs my need to customize when building from the ground up. But that's primarily due to the fact that my content is designed for more folks to see it.
(Source: I write about video games every week @ www.pausebutton.news)