20 in 30 Momentum Boost Results
Still growing, but slower
After the 3x results of posting 31 articles in 30 days, my May challenge was: could I keep momentum by only posting 20?
These were my goals: ▪️ Post 20 articles, half to my publication, half to others ▪️ 3x income to $100 — $120 range ▪️ 3x followers to 240 — 300
And these were my research questions: ❔ Do articles posted during the day perform better? ❔ Is there a way to identify potential good publications? ❔ Can I revise earlier articles to be better? ❔ Can I create a new image template for my articles? ❔ Can I make the writing process shorter?
So how did I do?
The subtitle of my challenge post was, “Is it enough to 3x my results again?”
The short answer is, no. I couldn’t maintain the momentum of publishing 31 articles in a month by only publishing 20.
That’s not the whole story, though. I did keep my results growing by publishing 20 stories. It just grew at 1.5x — 2x instead of 3x.
I’m still very happy with 2x growth, or even 1.5x growth, at an easier and more relaxed work pace.
Missed most of my goals
- Goal: Post 20 articles. ✔️Achieved. 9 to my publication and 11 to others. Publications were: Feedium (4), Writers’ Blokke (3), ILLUMINATION (2), The Startup, and 30-Day Writing Challenges. I was also added as a writer for Age of Awareness, Atta Girl, Know Thyself, Heal Thyself, and Restyle. I either didn’t submit to them yet, or they rejected what I submitted.
- Goal: Increase income 3x. ❌ Failed. Medium income is 130% of April income (not counting the Medium bonus). If you include income from the Medium articles I distributed on Vocal, that rises to 157%, or 1.5x.
- Goal: Increase followers 3x. ❌ Failed. 165 followers are 206% of April followers, which is a very respectable 2x.
Growth by the numbers
Increases across the board: ▪️ My views are at 132% of where they were. ▪️ My reads are at 143% of where they were. ▪️ My fans are at 177% of where they were. ▪️ And my followers are at 206% of where they were.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story.
In April, I had: ▪️ Average views/day: 43 ▪️ Highest views/day: 134 (on a day with 2 stories published) ▪️ Days over 100 views: 2 ▪️ Lowest views/day: 5 ▪️ Most popular article: 433 claps ▪️ Responses: 95
In May, I had: 🔼 Average views/day: 57 🔼 Highest views/day: 139 (on a day with 0 stories published!) 🔼 Days over 100 views: 4 🔼 Lowest views/day: 13 🔼 Most popular article: 1.5k claps 🔼 Responses: 133
That shows a steady climb in all metrics. I’m particularly pleased that the day with the highest views was on a day with 0 stories published. One of my earlier stories was chosen for distribution on that day, though.
Research questions and answers
I focused this month on trying to get a better handle on how Medium worked. I think I did well with most of my research questions. Certainly, I did better than I did with my goals.
❔Do articles posted during the day do better?
The surprising answer to this was, no. They do not. In fact, they do worse, since it often takes 2 days to get picked up for distribution instead of just 1. By publishing articles late at night, they are among the first articles the curators see. Since my publication only has 11 followers at the moment, I rely on curation to get views. So I’m going to go back to publishing articles late in the day.
❔Is there a way to identify potential publications?
Yes, there is. Do a search on all Medium for a keyword in your article. Then, when the search returns, look for which publications published those articles. Hover your mouse over the name of the publication, and that will tell you how many followers it has. If you really care about comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges, there’s one more step. Go to the publication and look at how many articles they published in a 5-day period. Divide by 5 to get the average articles per day. Then divide the follower count by the average articles per day. That’s the average number of followers per article. (Thanks to Daniel Hopper for that metric.)
❔Can I revise earlier articles to be better?
Yes, I can. Which is good, because it means I’m growing and improving as a writer. I revised two of my March articles that had not received much love. My earlier stories had a combined lifetime (in 3 months) of 17 views, 9 reads, and 2 fans. The revised versions (in 6 days) had a combined 19 views, 8 reads, and 9 fans. They also earned $.76 more than the first versions.
❔Can I create a new image template?
I had fun with this. I chose a “porthole” style template, with a sparkly background. I can either put an image in front of the porthole, so that it stands out, or crop an image to fill the porthole. I also played around with changing the colors.
Here are some examples.
But I’m not sure what that really buys me in the long term. So I may or may not keep using the template.
❔Can I make the writing process shorter?
Yes! The biggest way to cut down on the writing time is to write shorter articles. (I know, big surprise, right?) Instead of 8–10 minute articles, I’m now writing 4–7 minute articles. I’m also not using as many quotes (which took time to search for). And I’m writing more flow-of-consciousness instead of outlining. Next month, I plan to start writing more short-form (under 150 words) articles.
Conclusion
Even though I missed two of my three goals, I really sunk my teeth into my research questions.
Dropping my article count from 31 to 20 did slow my progress. But I continued to grow, achieving 1.5x — 2x on my key metrics. The supporting metrics indicated strong growth across the board.
It also shows that I am getting better at connecting with readers. I’m getting more reader engagement. And I published my first article that can legitimately be called popular.
Stay tuned for another 30 day challenge. I’m hooked on these as a way to focus on one area of improvement for long enough to show results.
Ready to have a better tomorrow?
I’ve created a guide to help you increase your confidence and improve your life. If you follow these tips, you will level up your life very quickly!