Medium Tips

21 Ways to Jumpstart a Dead Medium Story

You can’t always get it right on the first try

You might think that hitting the publish button is the end of your worries. You have done the research and spent hours writing and editing the story, and only the publish button is standing between you and the rest of the world.

The whole idea with writing online is that more people can see your work. Not having views is the worst thing that can happen to a blogger. A story that nobody reads is hardly a story. Sure, it has the same elements, but it lacks the key point, the audience.

David Schneider, the co-founder of Ninja Outreach, has increased organic traffic on the site by over 40% by bringing old content back to life.

What exactly happens after that publish button? Here are 21 ideas to revive underperforming articles on Medium.

1. Fill In the SEO Description

Google is an ever-changing internet institution. The search engine is ranking content by relevance and quality. The exact mechanisms are up for debate, but Medium offers direct SEO tools in story settings.

Write a short 140-160 character description addressing the keywords. If you don’t fill in the SEO box, Medium takes the first paragraph and drops it in. You can rank better on search engines with a to-the-point description of your story.

2. Outbound links

The Internet is crazy about links. Google is constantly comparing different sites in relation to one another. When your site or story links to a reputable source, you have a better chance of ranking higher on search engines.

If your stories don’t include enough links, go back and edit the story through hypertext. If someone else links to your article, you’re receiving extra SEO points. And you can always be that someone with your next story.

3. Friend Links

Friend links are not just for your friends and family. Don’t shy away from blasting free links to your newsletter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Quora, or any platform that lets you write.

Twitter shares are Friend links by default. You’re not losing anything by letting non-members read your story. Medium still pays for member reads. And you can promote your story as free to read, even though you’re still getting paid.

4. Create a Content Calendar

You’re missing a lot if you’re not using Hootsuite, or a similar tool to manage social media. The software lets you schedule your posts in advance.

You can create an upfront schedule for individual stories, and share your stories on social media for the following weeks and months. You never know when something might happen and your story suddenly becomes relevant.

The beauty: you only have to set it once, and the program does all the work for you.

5. Swipe a Good Performing Headline

If your work is not getting enough eyes, the problem is probably your headline. You can always update It. Advertising legend David Ogilvy is famous for re-writing an automobile advertisement headline 104 times.

Search for a magazine or a publication outside your niche, the further away the better. If you’re writing about Startups, search for an enticing headline about make up. Harpers Bazaar and Cosmopolitan offer endless sources of good headlines. Pick something that you can remodel for your own topic and change the title to fit the story.

6. Respond in Good Faith

Responses are the most overlooked marketing tool on Medium. You can respond in terms of a short story-comment. Find a popular article related to your underperforming story, and write away. Place a link to your story.

Stay away from read-half-now-half-later comments. Respond honestly and add to the story.

7. Meme Generators

Create a joke out of your headline. Find a meme generator online, and blast your second wave of promotion with giggles and smiles. Include a link to your story in the description.

8. Write an Analysis of Trouble

You can always be intellectual after the fact. When your content fails, you can still salvage your hours with a lesson for your audience. Danny Forest does it beautifully in an article for Better Marketing.

People like to hear about the wrongs too. Tell your audience what not to do in an honest analysis of your underperforming content.

9. Add Audio to Your Post

Turn your story into a short podcast. Software like play.ht and Blogcast offers a range of AI voices that can narrate your post. Another great solution is voice professionals on Fiverr and Freelancer. You can also upload your stories to a different podcast channel, and start your own show.

Google is starting to recognize audio. The search engine is adding new features by the day. Soon, we might get used to audio search, and if that happens, you want to be already present with your content.

If you’re up to the task, you can narrate your own stories. Listening is often more convenient than writing, as you can do it while driving or working out.

10. Write a Guest Post

You can talk about the why and how of your dead content. Place backlinks to the piece you’re trying to breathe back to life. You can do a makeover of your story or build upon the previous premise.

Search for [Submit a Guest Post] on Google to start. Find a good looking blog in your niche and contact the editor. Serious blogs have the contact form or an email address for submissions.

Guest blogging gives you a unique opportunity to access another audience, add to the story you’re trying to revive, and possibly find new fans.

11. Add Cool Infographics

Design infographics related to your story using Canva, Adobe, or other software. Then, refresh your story with infographics. Add keywords to your photo, and change the content license to attribution in the story settings.

You can go a step further and upload the same infographics to Flickr, Pexels, and other free image platforms. Thousands are searching (myself included) for reusable infographics every day, and in that process stumble upon articles and stories.

12. Create a Content Ecosystem

The content ecosystem is a story taken from big corporations like Pepsi or Coca-Cola. The idea is to connect previous stories your content.

You don’t have to write exclusively for just one topic. You can connect History advice to Marketing and Psychology. Go to the old story, and think of a paragraph that can connect to your other content, and don’t forget links.

13. Power Kicker

Create a publication on Medium, and build an umbrella page that hosts similar stories. Then, choose a simple line and write it above the headline:

• Medium Tips
• Headline Hacks
• Morning Rituals

You can also build a private page on another server. Link the kicker to the page hosting other stories, and repeat this process until you connect each story.

14. Alternative Text

Ever since the early HTLM, we know about the importance of ALT in your images. Medium has an option to write a brief description of your image.

Alternative text is not the same as the caption, which shows under the image. ALT describes the image when a device fails to load it. ALT also helps visually impaired users to read what the image is about.

The alternative text adds to search engine optimization, helping to rank your story. Write a specific description that is 125 characters or less.

15. Facebook Blogging Groups

I don’t support click-for-click offers because you’re not improving your content. But you can find someone in one of many Facebook groups to be your writing buddy.

Send them your underperforming story and ask for feedback. Offer the same courtesy to others. You can easily find other confused writers in Facebook groups.

16. Create a Short Video About Your Story

Video is in high demand these days, judging by various studies and overall market sentiment. You can create a short video clip talking about your story. Wave video offers a good starting point with the free membership and detailed how-to guides.

Talk about where the ideas come from, analyze the performance, or simply read the story. Then upload the story on major hosting services like Youtube, Vimeo, and Facebook.

17. Use Reddit to Your Advantage

Reddit is one of the most popular places on the internet. The platform has a great SEO and a unique format that pulls in a lot of readers. You can use it to boost and revive your Medium stories.

Create an account, find relevant subreddits, read a little and get to know the audience, and then answer threads or start new ones. Reddit done well can help you get 10k views to an old story in a matter of days.

18. Find a Publication

If your article is not in a publication already, find one right now. Individual places like Publishous don’t accept published drafts, but other publications like Better Marketing and The Startup, or a number of in-house Medium publications like Forge and Human Parts accept published stories. Send a short pitch about your story. Include a link to your Medium profile and a few lines about yourself.

Better Marketing has accepted one of my published articles a week after the original publishing date. The story has a steady traffic flow ever since, making up for more than $250 in cumulative earnings.

19. Change to a New Publication

Medium is open to controversial decisions. You own the rights to your story, and you can pull it from a publication at any time. You can also add your article to another publication.

Amardeep Parmar has done just that, and it has sent his story to the stratosphere. He has made over $2,000 for that piece since. Sometimes the first publication is not the right answer for your story.

20. Republish on Other Platforms

Your content builds additional exposure with the full support from Google. Many stories on Medium are republished from other platforms.

You may notice a line similar to this one: “This story was originally published at [MyBlog.com].” You can do the same with your Medium story. Republish your content on LinkedIn, Google+, Slide Share, etc.

21. Last Resort: Rewrite the Whole Story From Scratch

Some stories are beyond repair. You may find more luck by moving forward and rewriting the whole piece. Start with another headline, and continue writing the piece like the first one doesn’t even exist.

The Final Words

Tim Soulo has increased traffic to one of his pages by 486% with remodeling old content. Your Medium story is not dead if you don’t receive thousands of views on the first week.

Sometimes, you have to pull out the battery cords and jumpstart your content. Fortunately, you have at least 21 ways to revive an underperforming Medium story.

I can’t tell you which one is going to work for sure, because nobody knows that. But I believe you’re going to learn how to write valuable and enticing content for your audience.