I Had My Content Earnestly Reviewed by an Expert, and Here’s What I Learned
Seeking an independent perspective on the minimal views received by some of my impactful stories, the feedback provided was enlightening.
Recently, I’ve observed that some of the stories I’ve put significant effort into receive minimal views compared to previous years. Despite developing a relatively large audience, my stories no longer seem to reach them effectively.
Initially, I considered the possibility of a system glitch, as it happened to the mailing system last year. However, upon verification, I was informed that the distribution system is working as intended, and it is well-monitored by the administrators, showing thousands of stories gaining significant visibility.
Taking personal responsibility for addressing this concern, I sought guidance from a trusted advisor who excels as a writer and possesses a deep understanding of platform dynamics.
In this case study, I am sharing candid feedback received from my mentor, a successful writer and content educator. She willingly provided this feedback with the intention of helping other writers facing similar challenges.
While maintaining the essence of her input, I have made slight edits to enhance readability, considering the original version was in a more informal format due to our close friendship.
The feedback below pertains to a story that holds significant personal value for me but garnered minimal views.
Additionally, I included the revised version of this story at the end of this post, which incorporates the insights received from the feedback. I look forward to your honest feedback for the previous and revised version as a writer and reader.
Feedback Request
Dear friend, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to discuss the story titled Beyond the Surface: A Comprehensive Exploration of ALS Patterns After Years of Dedicated Research published on ILLUMINATION-Curated, a boost nominating publication, but it was not boosted.
Despite positive feedback from readers who accessed it through direct links and found it valuable, the story has received significantly low views on the platform.
I want to seek your honest feedback on why the distribution to my usual audience seems limited and why new readers are not discovering it organically. This story is particularly meaningful to me, and I invested considerable effort in creating it.
Interestingly, the same version has garnered views on another platform in an order of magnitude. I value your insights and appreciate your assistance in understanding and addressing this concern, considering your extensive experience on this platform.
Honest Feedback from My Mentor
“Dear Dr. Yildiz, to begin with, honestly, many readers are unlikely to click on a story with a 12-minute reading time. The length seems too extensive for the Medium audience. Have you seen any story from Tim Denning of more than 7 minutes in your publications?
Furthermore, the tone of your story may be perceived as negative. It could potentially discourage readers by not offering a sense of hope regarding this disease. While your concerns are valid, I suggest presenting the information in a more positive light. For instance, consider approaching it as if Pollyanna were telling the story. I exaggerated it to make my point here.
Additionally, your content contains excessive scientific details, which, although valuable, might not align with the typical Medium reader’s expectation for inspiring, engaging, personal, and uplifting content.
Complex lifestyle changes, such as fasting, cold showers, and altering comfort foods, may deter readers looking for a more positive outlook and easier solutions for health improvement. Be realistic. It is akin to a child’s reaction when asked to refrain from eating candy before a meal.
To broaden your readership, you need to write more concisely, infuse positivity and hope into your stories, steer clear of controversial or critical perspectives on mainstream ideas, avoid suggesting challenging actions to your readers, and ensure your sentences and paragraphs are short, use simple language, and don’t use too many confusing metaphors.
Another aspect that some writers may overlook is the importance of cover photos. For instance, your story featured a rather somber facial expression. While it may seem trivial, using uplifting images has made a notable difference in my story’s visibility. I’ve experimented with this approach multiple times since 2018, consistently yielding positive results.
I consistently recommend trying these approaches to my protégés and paid clients. They work, and many have experienced increased visibility for their stories on the platform. Following this advice, some of them have even secured positions in the top five follow lists on topic pages. For example, I mentored some writers for health topics, and readers love their simplified and engaging stories.
You may check out their content and simple styles to get an idea. I know you used to be a #1 top writer on health, but since your stories are not gaining enough visibility, you are no longer a recommended writer on the topics page.
Their success can be attributed to heightened reader engagement due to their simple style and well-crafted stories, as the platform’s algorithm values and rewards content that elicits meaningful interactions.
As you know, the more readers read your stories, the more views they get. If readers don’t find and read your stories, the algorithm will not show them to more readers, thinking it is not valuable. This recognition and assessment of quality content have become essential benchmarks here since August 2023.
I believe you are aware of it, as you also changed the submission guidelines of your publications. But you need to make your own stories more appealing to a broader audience with a few minor tweaks so that the algorithm starts distributing them to more readers.
I appreciate the chance to provide feedback. Your stories, while usually challenging to digest as I have no scientific and technical background, consistently offer me new insights, and for that, I am grateful as your loyal reader. I also appreciate publishing my stories in your publications, getting great views and engagement consistently.”
Conclusions
Based on this valuable feedback, I updated my story and published the revised version earlier, hoping it might reach a broader audience as the content is close to my heart.
Here is the revised version.
If you are a writer, I’d love to obtain your feedback on whether you have a similar experience and how you managed it.
If you are a reader, I’d appreciate which version of my story you prefer with your reasons. I am open to honest feedback.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
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I publish my health and wellness stories on EUPHORIA. My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness. Be Your Own Therapist in 10 Steps.
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