Boost Your Curation Odds With These 2 Boring Tweaks
You’ll Also Make the Internet a Better Place
We writers on Medium are always sharing tips on how to succeed here. As curation is one of the mysteries we’re always sleuthing, I thought I’d share two tweaks I rarely hear mentioned.
While nobody knows for sure why an article is or isn’t curated, we do know that the quality of writing, insightful points and originality all matter.
But there's another factor that comes into play which I believe may weigh into the curators’ decision-making process…
Update: Medium curated this article! It’s rare for an article about Medium to get curated, which seems to suggest they support these tweaks!
The first tweak involves the recent drive lately to make the Internet more accessible to all, whether hearing-impaired or visually impaired or like me, a bit colorblind.
Google is even ranking sights higher that have become more accessible.
Google wants everyone to be able to enjoy the Internet, so does Medium. It’s just like having designated parking spots and wheelchair ramps at a restaurant.
There is one simple step many writers miss when creating their stories. They write the story, craft a headline and then go find a great public domain picture…
However, what about the people who can't see the picture? They should be able to understand what is being displayed.
That's where “alt tags” come in. When editing your article, if you click on the picture you'll see “Alt text” like here:
Click where it says “Alt text” and enter a description of the picture. Try to make it so that someone who would never see the picture can understand what's really going on. That's the key.
My guess is that doing this may score extra points in favor of getting curated, and also allows people who are visually impaired to understand your Medium presentation.
Update! If you’d like to add Alt Tags to an article that you already published, here's how.
The other “boring tweak” I think helps with Curation, especially if you're talking about health or recommending stocks and such, is to include standard disclaimers that explain things. Some examples…
For a crypto article:
This is not financial advice, and meant for educational purposes only. Trading cryptocurrency is extremely risky and people should only invest what they can afford to lose.
For an article with affiliate links:
When you click a link on this page and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission to support me in continuing to spread tips to you and others.
Anyway, I've had better luck with stories getting curated when they have these alt tags (always with pictures) and disclaimers (only when needed).
I think the curators really look at stuff like that, as it makes Medium more legit.
So, while these aren’t the most exciting tweaks, I think they may really help with curation, while also helping the quality of the Internet itself.
Wishing you all the success on your writing journey. 🥂