How to Maximize Eyeballs On Your Stories

It can be complicated

Many of you know that I’ve been writing on Medium for a while now, and I’m an editor for several different publications. I‘m often asked questions about Medium and social media in general.

While I’m not an expert, I have learned a few things.

Here’s a recent question from an avid reader:

“Some of my stories have been picked up by Smart News, Google News, which is great — except the reward is only in eyeballs. Are there other ways you would suggest of maximizing the advantage when this happens?”

Here’s my answer:

That’s fantastic news!

There’s no short answer to your question. “Maximizing the advantage” means different things to different writers.

It depends on what you want the reader to do.

Gather Subscriptions

• You might want them to subscribe to your Medium account. When you post a story, they will get an email, and hopefully, that will encourage them to read it.
• The downside? Both members and non-members can subscribe, so you won’t always be paid for reads through subscriptions.
• Upside? If non-member subscribes, they’ll be asked if they want to become a member. If they convert via that prompt, that membership will count toward your referral earnings. Nice!

Ask For Referrals

• A referral is better than a subscription.
• If a reader joins Medium through your referral link and then becomes a paid member of the Partner program, you are paid part of their membership every month.
• Here’s my referral link if you’re interested in joining Medium.

Become a better writer in 5 minutes. If you’re not already a Medium member, Join us here.

Collect Email Addresses

• If your goal is to gather email addresses, set up an account on Substack and put a link in their stories that suggest a reader join them over there.
• Which one is better, Medium vs. Substack? It depends on your preferences.
• Substack is a platform that has been specifically designed for email newsletters and writers.
• You can export a list of your email subscribers from Medium. Find it in your Settings, Audience Development.

Here’s my Substack link.

My newsletter is free for anyone. I send it weekly, most of the time. If you also want to receive it, join the thousands of happy people who enjoy it today.

You can see how the Substack link looks at the bottom of this poem of mine.

Ask Them To Read More

• You might have a blog you’d like them to read or another article that expands on your post. You can place a link to that story or article right in your post, and the reader can click through to read it. Simple.
• Here’s one now:

• But you don’t always get money for additional reads.
• You are paid based on the reading time when a subscribing member reads your story.
• You also earn money when a reader becomes a member within 30 days of reading your story.

Sell a Product or Book

• If you want to sell your book or a product, put a link in your article. You can embed the link in the title of a book like this:

Silence, The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich Nhat Hanh

Or you can place an image with the affiliate link in the caption.

• Be sure to mention that the article contains an affiliate link. You can keep it light and short.

Here’s my affiliate link note. Feel free to use it to craft your own.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you use this link, I may earn a teeny amount of cash. Every little bit counts, so thanks.

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