4 Ways to Level Up Your Medium Game and Get Noticed
How to get more people to read what you publish
Medium has lots of great writers, but many of them never get noticed because no one ever reads what they’re writing. They wonder if Medium is really the platform for them and get discouraged.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are several proactive and consistent actions you can take to improve your results on Medium starting now.
Here’s 4 ways you can use to Level Up and get more people to read and comment on your stories.
1. Connect with other writers. Read the feed.
Before I ever started writing on Medium, I was a reader first. This makes perfect sense, since most writers are readers too.
But the important thing you need to understand about Medium is that most people on the platform are readers not writers.
So it really helps to be a reader yourself to understand the types of stories that do well on Medium. Here’s how to use your reading skills to start connecting with other writers.
- Start browsing the feed daily and read stories that interest you. Show your appreciation by clapping and commenting.
- Follow writers you enjoy reading.
- Bookmark articles that inspire or teach you something valuable.
- Subscribe to writers you like.
- Pay attention to stories that have lots of claps and comments.
Use your reading time to figure out what works for attracting readers on Medium and what doesn’t based on your own experience.
2. Style Your Stories to Attract Attention
When your story shows up in the Medium feed there are several things readers notice as they scan through.
The feed only shows readers the Title and Subtitle and a short excerpt of a story, plus a thumbnail version of the main image. You need to make all those things count to stop the scroll.
Here’s an example of how one of my stories looks in the feed.
I used a strong Title and Subtitle and an interesting image to help to draw readers into opening the story and start reading.
Here’s some guidelines to keep in mind when styling your stories.
- Make sure you take the time to create interesting Titles and Subtitles for your stories that intrigue and grab attention. This is the first thing that readers see — make a good impression.
- Choose a strong main image that really pops and supports your story. Search for images that evoke an emotion or action.
Tip: I create most of my images using Canva. It’s my go to tool to find unique photos, graphics and animation to jazz up my stories. You can see examples of this throughout this story.
More ideas on styling your stories:
- Format your stories to make them more readable. Break up long paragraphs and leave lots of white space.
- Use the formatting tools to add quotes and drop quotes. Use bold and italics for emphasis to make key points stand out.
- Write stories in a variety of lengths. Readers generally like shorter stories on Medium. The sweet spot is about 2 to 4 minutes for a story. You can write longer ones, but just be aware that if they are really long, they might not get read.
- You can also use emojis and gifs and images to liven up your stories too.
3. Start Publishing Consistently
One of the best ways to get noticed on Medium is to publish on a consistent basis. If you only publish once in a while you won’t build up any momentum for growth.
If you look at the top writers, you’ll see that they all publish consistently several times a week. But that doesn’t mean you have to publish every day unless you want to.
Just set a publishing schedule that works for you and be consistent. You don’t want to burn out. Steady as she goes is the mantra here.
4. Share Your Stories Everywhere
Take advantage of all the social media accounts you already have and post links to your stories on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn and anywhere else you have a following. If you already have a mailing list, send out a weekly newsletter to promote your stories.
You may not get responses every time, but if you publish and share consistently, you will definitely start getting noticed.
Final Thoughts
Medium is a wonderful platform to build your own community of writers and readers based on your interests and goals.
Just decide to commit fully to your own success and start to Level Up Now!
Linda Locke is a writer and mentor/teacher. She lives in Southern California in Ventura County by the coast with her husband and lots and lots of books.
If you liked this story and want to see more of my work, follow me here.
