How To Set Up Custom Domain For Your Medium Publication? A Step-by-Step Guide

Medium.com recently release some new features to empower writers to set up a custom domain for their Medium publications and profiles. We thought why not write an article for Medium writers; "How to add a custom domain to your Medium publication or profile?" What are some requirments for you to get a custom domain. This article will introduce everything you need to know about getting a custom domain on Medium. We also discussed the pros and cons of having a custom domain on Medium.

With this new feature, now you can host content with your custom domain and Medium.com is giving you an opportunity to monetize your blog through a premium readership. This is a win-win-win for you, the reader, and the Medium company. There are no ads on Medium so it is quite good. According to research, there are over 700,000 Medium members. A Medium member is a person who pays $5/month to Medium.

Pre-requisite to set up a custom domain on Medium:

Following are the two things you need to do in order to set up a custom domain on Medium:

1. You need to have a domain name: There are a lot of websites where you can get a custom domain. It will charge you $10 to $15 a year to retain the ownership of a custom domain.
2. You need to be a Medium member: Yes, you have to be a Medium member in order to connect a custom domain with your Medium publication and profile. They allow one custom domain/Medium profile so if you are an owner of multiple publications then you can choose to just have a custom domain of one Medium publication.

If you don't have the money to fund your Medium membership, here I have shown three ways to fund your Medium membership by earning $5/month.

You can either watch the video and set up your custom domain or continue reading the article where I have shown you the process in a simple way.

How to attach a custom domain with a Medium publication?

If you want to attach a custom domain with a Medium publication, you must be the owner of that publication. Neither an Editor nor a writer has this option available so it is only the owner who could change a Medium publication.

Follow the following step-by-step method to connect a custom domain with a Medium publication:

1. Go to your Medium home page. Click on your profile and in the drop-down menu click on "publication"
2. Now, there will be a list of Publication, click the publication that you want to add a custom domain.
3. Go to settings and scroll down till the end.
4. There will be an option with "Custom domain" click on it.
5. Now, you have to enter your domain name without 'https' and add the A record and IP address in the DNS of your domain.
6. Boom!, click next and you are good to go.
7. Wait for few hours and your custom domain will show up.

Simple. Easy process to connect your custom domain with Medium. The good thing is you can also connect a custom domain with a Medium profile in the very same way.

Pros and cons of having a custom domain on Medium publication:

The biggest pro of having a custom domain on your Medium publication is branding. Your blog is your brand. Now, Medium goes a step ahead and letting people became a brand on Medium. The good thing about having a brand name is that it is rememberable. Like there is a publication on Medium with a custom domain called PSILOVE, I type the URL of this publication without going to Medium, why? because it has a custom domain.

Another big pro of having a custom domain on Medium is that you can tap into some of the premium business models on the Internet. People pay a fixed $ to Medium in order to read and you can make money through this business model.

Cons of having a custom domain: One of the possible disadvantages of having a custom domain on Medium is the loss of SEO value. Medium.com has the highest domain authority. When you connect a custom domain with Medium publication, its domain authority goes to zero and it will take you some time to getting ranked on Google.

Now, keeping the pros and cons In mind I think it is your decision to go for a custom domain or not.

Why didn't I have a custom domain on my main Medium publication?

My Medium publication with over 1,000 followers Menlo Blogging and It is still has a Medium domain. I am not planning to ever go for a custom domain for this publication. The only reason is the SEO. Most of my Medium member views are coming from the search engine so if I ever go for a custom domain, this will be a very bad decision for search engine optimization.

You can also read the very same article on Medium here: How To Attach A Custom Domain With Medium? A Beginner Guide