4 Small Things with Big Impacts on Read Times
Lessons learned from my latest 30-day writing challenge
I’ve become addicted to 30-day writing challenges. They’re a great way to try out new ideas and see if they hold water. In my May challenge, I wanted to see if I could 3x my stats another month in a row, but with only 20 articles instead of 30.
In the following article, I’ll:
- Reveal if I met my goals
- Show you the proof
- Detail my top performing articles
- Wrap up with the lessons I learned (those 4 small things)
Did I meet my goals?
- Goal: Post 20 articles. ✔️Achieved.
- Goal: Increase income 3x. ❌ Failed. 1.5x increase.
- Goal: Increase followers 3x. ❌ Failed. 2x increase.
So the growth slowed down, but there was still good growth.
Here’s the proof
Here are the 30-day screenshots, showing across-the-board improvements in views, reads, and fans.
What the screen shots don’t show you is that in April, the two days with over 120 reads both had 2 stories published. In May, the day with over 120 reads had zero stories published (although 1 previously published story was curated).
I’m not counting the Medium engagement bonus in the earnings. So clearly, the earnings generated by read times are rising.
Plus, following the advice of Hunter Cabot, I republished some Medium stories on Vocal for an additional $10. Extra money for no extra work? I’m in!
Which articles performed best, and why?
1️⃣ The #1 article for the month earned almost $16, and was published mid-month.
Why did this article perform well? ▪️ It had a captivating title ▪️ People were interested in the subject (can I earn money with no views?) ▪️ The editor replaced the boring tag line with a better quote ▪️ It was styled as a mystery with screen shots for readers to follow the clues
2️⃣ The #2 article for the month earned about $4.50, and was published at the end of April. It made the bulk of its earnings (about $3.50) from new membership conversions.
Why did this article perform well? ▪️ It was curated ▪️ It had a catchy title that attracted external readers who became members
3️⃣ The #3 article for the month earned a little over $3, and was published mid-month.
Why did this article perform well? ▪️ It was in a big publication (The Startup / Start It Up) ▪️ It was a detailed how-to, with lots of screen shots ▪️ It answered a need readers had ▪️ It was curated ▪️ The editors recommended it in another story
The common themes for these are: curation helps get external views which can convert to Medium members for a bonus, and editors are awesome people who can really do a lot to improve your results.
4 small things with big impacts on read time
These are four things I used in the stories of mine with the biggest earnings. They all help to increase read time. And increased read time leads to increased earnings.
1️⃣ Include screen shots or images with a lot of detail
Including something with a lot of detail will cause at least some of your readers to pause and study the image. The same goes for writing a caption that includes additional information as well as just who took the picture.
2️⃣ Make it read like a story
The feedback I got on my #1 article was that it read like a detective story. My other evergreen article, which was #4 for the month even though it was published in March, contains 3 stories in it. People like stories. They will read more of your article if there’s a story in it, instead of skimming.
3️⃣ Make it a follow-along
My #3 article was a detailed how-to piece. It guided you step by step through the process. So people would read it, take an action, read it some more, take another action, etc. This kept them on the page longer than just reading it all the way through.
4️⃣ Respond to all responses
As you grow in popularity, this is probably not possible. But then, you won’t need to be scrounging every nickel you can from each article. By responding to every response, you give people more that they can view while still on the page of your article. They want to see what other people said. Then they want to see what you said to the other other people.
Final thoughts
These are the things I learned from this 30-day challenge. Other people learn lots of interesting things from their 30-day challenges. Consider taking part in one yourself, and see what interesting things you learn.
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