content creation

Personal website, Medium, Substack, how to choose the best strategy.

The greatest challenge for a creator is being spread too thin. The internet era has brought a wealth of tools and platforms for publishing, many of which are free, making it difficult to commit to just one.

Floppy disks by Teekay Rezeau-Merah — Photo by Fredy Jacob

As a long-time fan of blogging, I returned to the practice in 2020, choosing WordPress for its ease of use and affordability, especially if you skip the fancy plugins.

WordPress was intuitive and allowed me to rebuy my own domain. My domain, moreteekay.com, is a brand I created 14 years ago on Tumblr (do people still use Tumblr btw?).

Moreteekay is an ecosystem, a collection of tools and content types that I use to express my creativity, share important messages, and inspire change in any way I can.

It encompasses my blog but also links to my Medium page, my newsletter, and my LinkedIn page, as well as my audio show and parts of my photography portfolio.

As I work my up the acting realm, moreteekay will also include my filmography in the not-so-distant future, God willing.

Attention is the new currency

To capture attention in a sea of online noise and compete with media behemoths, creators must have a compelling story and a unique voice.

Making a name for yourself on Google without spending money is nearly impossible nowadays. You’re competing with companies that spend millions of dollars every year.

Focus is the key here.

My new strategy is completely different.

For a few months, I made the mistake of publishing the same pieces on my blog, Medium, and newsletter simultaneously. The issue with this strategy was that some of my followers subscribed to all three platforms and were overwhelmed with the same content three times a week. Not ideal (sorry, guys).

Those times are over.

From here on out, my usual how-tos, health tips, environmental solutions, and personal stories will remain on Medium.

My newsletter, on the other end, will exclusively feature my Vanlife stories. Comment below if you want an invite.

Lastly, my WordPress blog will serve as the hub, the glue holding everything together. It will feature the most important updates and links to my writing, socials, podcast, IMDb page, and more.

I mainly took this decision because building a native community on WordPress is quite challenging, while it’s far more feasible on Medium and Substack.

What is your distribution strategy?

Thanks for reading.

Peace!

Tee.

2023 is the year I decided to take writing seriously again.

Not just whenever inspiration strikes, but consistently.

My goal is simple: publish multiple stories every week until December 31st.

So far, I’ve published 31 stories, and February isn’t even over. I also have more than 120 drafts waiting in my notes, which gives me enough ideas to keep going for quite some time.

Why make this commitment publicly?

Because writing has always been one of the most meaningful ways for me to share ideas. Whether I’m writing about minimalism, van life, health, travel or the environment, I want my work to leave people with more than just another story. I want every article to offer a new perspective, ask a better question or encourage someone to rethink the way they live.

I’ve also made a conscious decision to focus on evergreen content.

The internet is full of articles built around today’s headlines and tomorrow’s forgotten trends. I’d rather write essays that someone can discover years from now and still find useful.

That’s the kind of work I want to create.

Some of these articles are inspired by my own experiences, but I never want them to stop there. My goal is to use those experiences to explore broader ideas about consumerism, intentional living, exploration, health and the choices we make every day.

This challenge isn’t about publishing as much as possible.

It’s about building a habit.

Writing consistently forces me to think more clearly, communicate better and continuously improve my craft. Whether one person reads an article or one thousand, every piece is another step toward becoming a better writer.

If you’d like to follow the journey, you can find my latest essays on Medium. I hope some of them make you see the world a little differently.

Thanks for reading.

Teekay.

Teekay Rezeau-Merah

Essays, photography & ideas for a better world

30 Stories on Medium in 30 days