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A strategic SEO landing page for an ambitious tech startup

Hashnode vs. Medium landing page​

Hashnode is blogging platform for writers in the tech industry. In 2021, I served as the company's first Marketing Manager.

When I joined the company, the cofounders presented me with an ambitious challenge:

We want to overtake Medium as the go-to blogging platform for software developers.

To that end, I wrote copy for the Hashnode vs. Medium landing page, which became the second-highest converting page on the site after the homepage. My creative process was driven by two factors: feedback from the community, and SEO research.

Through user interviews and interactions with the community, we discovered some of the primary selling points that resonated the most with our existing users. These formed the backbone of the headlines and subheaders that I wrote.

We had found that certain keywords were drawing the majority of users to the platform—search terms like:

  • free Medium alternative
  • developer blogging
  • dev community
  • blog on a custom domain
  • Hashnode vs Medium

So I worked these into the copy along the way.

Of course, social proof is crucial for a piece like this. Hashnode had worked hard to cultivate an enthusiastic community on Twitter, so we liberally peppered this page with positive tweets from well-known users on the platform.

Writing for Hashnode means speaking to an international audience ranging in age from roughly 13 to 99. For many users, English might be a second, third, or fourth language. It's crucial to say exactly what you mean with minimal flowery language, idioms, and cultural references. The economy of words forces you to be ruthless when editing, which naturally lends itself to sharp copy.

In addition to this landing page, I also wrote a marketing piece for the company blog called Hashnode is the medium for the tech community, where I elaborate on some of the major selling points in a more conversational voice. To promote the fact that Hashnode lets you use a custom domain name, we gave away free custom domains to the first 100 people who requested one.

Check out the Hashnode vs. Medium landing page, and read the full text below.

Landing page copy​

Tired of paywalls? We hate them, too.

Hashnode is a Free Medium Alternative for Developers!​

Medium was simply not built with the tech industry in mind.

Hashnode was created to meet the needs of developers who want to plug into the global dev community while retaining ownership of their content on their own custom domains.

And we will never, ever make your audience pay us for access to your articles.

Create my blog

It's free and easy. Join our community and start sharing today.

Hashnode is a free, developer-focused Medium alternative with unmatchable features.​

[comparison chart]

We believe that content ownership is a big deal.​

Medium will charge you $50/year for the "privilege" of connecting a custom domain to your blog. On Hashnode, it's free.

We make it easy to plug your domain into our platform, so that the domain authority you build over time belongs to you—not us.

You put in the work, and your domain gets all the credit.

If you ever decide to leave Hashnode, you get to keep all the traffic and SEO you've accumulated while you were here.

Connect with your audience on day one.​

Hashnode is a community for developers. When you publish on Hashnode, we make sure that your work gets seen by the people who would be most interested in it.

On Medium, by contrast, you might struggle to be heard through all the noise of non-tech content.

Ok, I'm ready. How do I make the switch? If you're already on Medium, we've made it easy for you to switch.

Hashnode's Medium Importer enables you to migrate your entire back catalog over to our platform in a matter of minutes.

Create my blog

It's free and easy. Join our community and start sharing today.