How I Gained 100 Followers, Medium Partnership & 10x My Views
5 ideas that worked for a newbie
I’ve finally made it. 100 followers and access to Medium Partner Program
It was hard work. But I can now start earning money.
I didn’t find this easy. I tried lots of things that didn’t work. Eventually, I discovered 5 tricks that worked and gave me the 100+ followers I needed.
I’m going to give you an inside view of my journey and what worked.
A (very) slow start
Month 1:
I published my first article on Jan 4th, 2023 and wrote 1 article/week. In my first month, I got 20 views and 6 followers. Talk about a slow start!
Most of the advice I read told me it is hard in the beginning and takes a long time to build a following. This inspired me to keep going.
Month 2:
My 2nd month was a big improvement. 144 views and another 20 followers. 26 in total. I kept writing an article every week.
At this rate, it would take 8 months to reach 100 followers.
Month 3:
I finally found some ideas that worked. This resulted in massive growth to 1465 views and 87 new followers. 113 in total.
It hadn’t taken 8 months. With the right approach, it only took an extra month.
Here are the 5 ideas I used to reach 100+ followers.
1. Dramatically increased my publishing rate
Most online writing advice tells you to play the long-term and be patient.
It takes time to build a following and credibility. I was about to settle down to the long road to 100 followers. Then I had a thought that changed everything.
If I wrote 4x more articles, I’d get there 4 times quicker.
I devoted the first 90 minutes of every day to writing. This meant I published 4 articles a week, up from once per week.
I stopped writing articles in a linear fashion. My approach used to be:
- article 1 idea
- article 1 research
- article 1 write a draft
- article 1 edit
- article 1 title
- article 1 photo
- article 1 publish
- article 2 idea
- etc
I found this slow and mentally exhausting.
It was quicker to work on many articles at the same time. As long as I did the same activity with them. My brain found it easier to stick in the same lane.
Rather than shifting from creative (headlines), methodical (editing), flow (writing). Now I work in batches:
Day 1: articles 1–3 — ideas & research
Day 2: articles 1–3: create titles
Day 3: articles 1–3: write some drafts
Idea 1: Publish more articles
2. Perfect the 2 key ingredients.
I had to learn this lesson firsthand.
- Spend hours writing an insightful article
- Carefully edit it
- Use the first title I thought of
- Result = no one clicks to read it
Online writing needs the powerful combo of:
Title + Content
You need to devote time to both.
Your title needs to stop the scroll, grab attention, and draw people towards it so they will click.
Title = to get them to click
Then your content needs to continue that journey. Deliver high-value material. Fulfill the reader’s expectations you have created via your headline.
Content = to keep them reading
There are two potential mistakes here. (I’ve made both)
- Poor headline + brilliant content = few people click, and few read it
- Brilliant headline + poor/unrelated content = lots of clicks, but few read it
Idea 2: Give time to perfect both Title and Content.
3. Promote your writing
In month 1, I realised Medium wouldn’t promote my writing for me.
So I got to work. I promoted my articles on my new Twitter account and Facebook. It was also effective to use two Medium Facebook groups to promote my writing to other writers. Be aware though that some people only clap/follow so you will follow them. It might help get you to 100 but unless people are genuinely interested it won’t help you long-term.
Idea 3: Promote on your social media. Start on Twitter if you aren’t on it.
4. Submit to publications
Publications are essential if you want your writing to reach a wider audience. Publications are like Medium’s magazines.
I submitted to a few publications and got ignored. I realised this was going to take a little more effort.
So I made a plan to increase my chances of success:
- look for publications that might accept me. Publications covering a wide range of topics seemed more likely. Specialist publications required a higher level of topic knowledge.
- read their submission guidelines very carefully
- produce a checklist of what they wanted from a writer. Some have a specific word count. Others only want 1 photo. Some are keen on personal experience
- use this checklist when writing articles
- targeted each article at a specific publication
This worked because my last 5 articles have all been in publications:
Idea 4: Submit to publications (after researching them first)
5. Meaningful comments on other articles
Good news — I’ve saved the best and easiest idea till the last.
By commenting on other people’s articles, you can get in front of many new people. Do this well, and some will read your articles and follow you.
How to do this well:
- Only comment on articles related to your topics. Otherwise, you interact with readers who aren’t interested in your topics.
- Add value with your comments. ‘Good article’ or ‘I love these insights’ won’t inspire anyone to follow you. Add extra content to what the author has written. Others will then wonder what else you might offer. Don’t argue or try to belittle the author. Write positively.
- Add a link to your article. But only when it adds a ton of value. I’ve done this several times when I thought my article would add a lot for the writer. Do not spam. That won’t inspire people to follow you.
You don’t need a hard sell to get people to follow you or read your articles. Make insightful comments, and people will want to know what else you have to offer.
Idea 5: Make high-value comments on other articles
Follow these 5 ideas, and you’ll soon have 100 followers. You will also find more people reading your articles.
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