How to Make Money With External Views On Medium
One proven way and an idea for the future
You know it, Medium doesn’t pay for external views. Sometimes that really sucks. I’ve got multiple posts with thousands of external views and only a few internal ones that basically earned me squat. There’s a solution to this problem. Actually two.
What are those?
Good question. The first option is already working. It’s the referral program. Every external viewer is a potential new Medium member. If you lure them in with your referral link, you earn monthly. Good start.
But an even bigger way…
…would be ads. Don’t get me wrong here. I hate ads. I like Medium without ads. Think about what ads would mean though. Medium has a great Domain Authority score (DA) at 95. 100 is the max here. It’s ranking high on Google. Therefore, external views are easy to come by with a little SEO work.
With over 60 million monthly visits (estimated in 2016, so probably a lot higher now) that would be an incredible source of income. Google Adsense has a pay rate of $2–3 per 1000 views (at the lower end). That’s the cut the users get. Google earns too, of course.
Other networks have even higher rates. Medium could also tap into Twitter's ads business as Ev Williams has good connections to Twitter, given the fact that he is one of the Twitter founders.
Let’s do some math
A quick calculation with the Adsense numbers.
60 million / 1000 * $2 — 3 = $120,000–180,000 per month
Not too bad, right? That’s the lower end. This would not only earn Medium, but it would also benefit us, writers greatly.
But ads are annoying, right
Heck yes, they are. We have a simple solution for this though. Medium could show ads only to free users. Paying members don’t get ads, but they still benefit from the views of free users and external views through this ad system.
Obviously, monthly external views or free views are not as high as 60 million. That’s the accumulative view number. I have no idea how many of those 60 million views come from free users. Still, even at 10 or 20%, ads would account for a mountain of cash. It’s worth thinking about it, in my opinion.
How do you feel about this?
P.S.: First of all, you should get my posts in your inbox. Do that here! Secondly, if you like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it supports us, writers, greatly, and you have the chance to make money with your writing as well. When I started, I made $3000 in 6 months. By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you more. If you do so, thank you a million times!
