12 Very Interesting Things That You Might Not Know About Medium

Things I learned recently that can increase your views

No one tagged me to do this story.

I thought you just might want to know more about Medium.

Things maybe you don’t know that will help you to get more views and earnings for your stories.

Want to know Medium better?

Here are 10 things you might not know:

#1) SEO your way to more views

I learned this from Tom Fenske, owner of The Short Form. He calls it how to make friends with Google in his story, and it’s a simple way to get more external views and a higher Google ranking for your stories.

No, this won’t get you more money for stories since we’re paid when Medium members read our stories like this one.

However, external views can get the algorithm to notice that your story is popular. This can help it get chosen for distribution to Medium members or external views could help promote a YouTube channel or book you’ve written.

All you have to do is click the three dots at the top of a draft and click “more settings” and then change the SEO title and description. Use keywords like autoimmune disease or ITP for a story on immunocompromised people.

Otherwise, if you don’t do this, then Google uses your Medium title as its default title, and it may be lacking SEO keywords people are searching for.

#2) The 150 story Medium milestone

In case you missed my story, I cited Susie Kearley’s story where she said she noticed 150 stories seems to be the Magic Number when your earnings begin to increase for your stories.

Maybe, it’s when the algorithm sees you’re serious about writing.

So if you’re new to Medium or have been around but started off at a slow pace, lock into 150 as a goal to strive towards in your writing journey.

You got this!

#3) Geek out on Medium enhanced stats

You know you love looking at your stats. We all do. There is so much data to provide feedback on your writing, but did you know Medium has a free Chrome download with extra stats called Medium enhanced stats?

You can see lists with your top percentage stories, click on dots on a graph to see stories you published each day of the month, and much more than this. It also gives you a Medium milestone to strive for like your number of views.

#4) Find a few niche readers this way

You probably know you can click on the hand icon to see who are the fans of your stories but have you considered this as a way to find niche readers?

Say you want to find readers in a publication on mental health or short-form writing who are the biggest clappers for these particular subjects.

Click on the hand icon and you can see the bios of writers who clapped for the story, and this lets you know something about their reading preferences.

This is A LOT smarter way to find new readers than the follow-to-follow method because it’s like fishing for readers with similar interests.

#5) Read to increase earnings

I recently wrote a story on a writer who went from 19 cents in one month to writing nine stories the next month with 1K to 4K claps.

This is a miraculous Medium turnaround, and besides being a good writer, I recognized this writer’s comments on most of my stories and other writers.

Klara Jane Holloway figured out the key to earning more on Medium. It is not writing a shit load of stories. It’s building connections with other writers.

Makes sense, right? I’m more likely to read a story by someone I know, especially if I’ve come to like their writing and share similar interests. Writing a lot of stories help too, but I’m striving for a 50/50 read to write balance.

#6) The Holy Grail of ideas

Type the name of a Medium publication in the search bar, backslash, and then type work archives … and you have the holy grail of ideas for a story.

Ex: The Memoirist/archives

You can click on a “most read” tab to get ideas for the kind of stories that are most popular with readers for each year the publication has existed.

This is a glimpse into the mind of your readers to see what they like to read about … or to see headlines that were successful … and you might just piggyback your way to writing a viral $200 story.

Is that where you found your viral article Paul Walker?

#7) Let’s talk tags a moment

Now that the five tags are back at the bottom of stories, you and I can go back to cherry-picking off writers who have been around longer than us and know which are the right tags to select.

Yes, check the bottom of the next story you read and you’ll see the tags are back. If you’re new to Medium, there are 70 top tags where stories for that topic get housed and many smaller tags. Will Smith even has his own tag.

#8) Selecting the right tags

Here’s what I’ve read big wig writers such as Tim Denning do.

They select three popular tags and two niche tags related to their story to maximize their chances of a story of their story being found.

It’s like placing bets on five horses and hoping one will win.

# 9) Why didn’t anyone tell me this?

You may have gotten a Top Writer tag. It’s not that hard. Write a lot on one tag. I’ve gotten about seven, and I just started to see them as vanity badges.

But Tom Fenske points out their functional use isn’t to show off, but to use them to your advantage. If you’re a top writer for a tag, your stories get a higher rank on those pages and you should write more stories in that tag.

#10) How to unsubscribe to a writer

I’ve subscribed to a lot of writers as a way to manage the flow of reading other writers’ stories I like … but sometimes I’ve oversubscribed.

You know what I’m saying. My reading taste may not match with another writer and my inbox be filling up. So just go to the writer’s profile page by clicking on their picture and click on the “envelope” to unsubscribe.

#11) Geek out of Medium Chrome extensions

If you love checking out your stats, there are chrome extensions called Medium Distribution Info and Fractions. Each gives you a deeper look at your stats. Fractions will estimate your monthly earnings, Medium Distribution Info tells which of your stories have been distributed and under which tags. Medium Enhanced Stats tells you views per day, views and reads for stories for the current day, and tags for your distributed stories.

#12) Free Medium writing tips

Do you want to learn even more about Medium?

Paul Walker mentioned my YouTube channel in his story on Medium writers sharing free writing advice about mastering the Medium platform.

Here’s what Paul said about me:

I am as Paul said a regular guy figuring out Medium. The focus of my channel is on the craft of writing and actionable tips on writing, and if you’re writing gets better, the earnings will naturally follow.

Want to learn even more about Medium? Here are a few of the best stories I’ve written about Medium:

Or check out my latest YouTube video on tips on how to write five stories in one book by splintering stories off different subjects in the book.