Why I Left Medium to Build My Own Website
After six years of writing on platforms like Medium, I'm finally ditching them to build my own corner of the internet. Here's why.
For the past six years, I’ve been writing on Medium, on and off. I’ve flirted with other platforms too (Substack, X, you name it). But none of them ever felt right. It never felt like I was in control. At the end of the day, you realize these platforms are just trying to monetize you, even when you’re the one supplying the content for their marketplace. And honestly, that’s some serious bullshit.
I landed on three reasons why I’m finally ditching those giants to build my own corner of the internet.
Medium’s SEO and Engagement is Awful#
From my own little foxhole, my Medium stats have been in a nosedive compared to a few years ago. All the great writers I used to follow have packed up and left, which completely changed how I even use the platform anymore. I know, I know. That could just be my personal bias. So, I did some digging (and by that, I mean I grilled Gemini).
The data backs it up:
- There’s a ton of chatter about Medium’s black-box algorithm, which seems to decide on a whim whether Google should even see your article.
- The platform’s bounce rate is around 70%. Is that just our collective short attention span, or is it Gresham’s Law in action, where the bad content drives out the good?
Either way, the shitty SEO and engagement are what sent me looking for an exit in the first place.
Owning My Own Shit#
This weekend, I went down the rabbit hole of alternatives. I seriously considered Substack and Ghost. But it all came back to the same problem: you’re just another user they’re trying to monetize, on both the supply and the demand side. I can’t imagine building something I want to run for the next 10 or 20 years with that kind of dependency hanging over my head.
Substack is too restrictive; the layouts are cookie-cutter and you can’t really make it your own. And while Ghost is more flexible, it locks you into a monthly subscription just to keep the lights on. It all just felt… off. It was time to own my own shit.
Cuz It’s Cool#
Honestly I got inspired by some friends who run their own killer personal websites. They write about personal growth and all sorts of deep topics. It’s the kind of content that doesn’t get pushed by social media algorithms and shit. When you find it, you just know it’s authentic and genuinely thought-provoking. I want to be one of them: one of the cool kids who’s comfortable sharing the real, internal stuff.
Plus, I have to admit, the process of actually building this site has been fun as hell. It’s been so rewarding to (re)learn skills I’d either forgotten or never mastered. Figuring out DNS, wrestling with layouts, finding a host… it was all part of this super cool, aura-farming experience (or at least, that’s how I see it, haha).
What’s Next?#
I’m going to try and make writing here a real habit. There’s still a lot to figure out, like whether I should write in English or Mandarin, but this will be the place where I let my ideas bounce around.
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. You won’t find a comment section here, but if you ever want to share your thoughts on a piece, just take a screenshot and shoot me a DM. I’d feel super blessed to hear from you.