Learn the First Steps to Take as a Novice Writer on Medium
First 5 steps you must take on Medium to start as a writer
The first 5 basic steps to consider taking, after having started using the Medium platform are the ones that I will share with you below.
There’s a lot to learn about how Medium works and how to get the most out of it. This is not a complete guide, but if they are a good base to start strong, the first 5 steps.
But it all depends on the personal plans you have with the platform. And whatever your personal interests are.
I could define some users in several categories:
1. Active readers. (Those who love to read to entertain or occupy the mind, with a good read. Be it News, Poems, Technology, Culture, Business … etc.)
2. Readers with an interest in being writers. (Those who, in addition to the above, want to share their own ideas, analysis, experiences …. etc.) With the genuine desire to develop professionally and eventually create a personal brand.
3. Active writers. (Here I include experienced writers, but who come to Medium with interest to continue developing their professional careers.)
4. People whose main business is another, and want to use Medium to market their service or product. (It can be a consulting service, a blog, a marketing service, a freelance service … etc.) With the main interest … of course! To be able to increase your followers, and achieve a greater number of fans, are the ones who will show interest in your services.
I know there are more examples, but these are the most common.
If you feel identified with one, perfect!
Now I show you the first step:
1. Be part of the Medium Partner Program
To start in Medium and be able to write and share your stories, the initial investment is 0.
Medium allows you to create content on your profile and then be able to publish it. This path has limitations, you will not be able to read all the publications and fully integrate into the Medium platform.
An investment of ($ 5 per month / or $50 per year) can make a real difference to our earnings on Medium. I mean joining the Medium Partner Program with many benefits. This point is well documented. You can find additional information here.
If we are an ordinary writer and not part of the Medium Partner Program, the possibility of earning money does not seem possible. (There may be some exceptions, but here it is not the rule.) The main reason is that we are limited in our reading allowance; therefore, we cannot get involved enough to build our fan base.
Also, many paying members would not follow or become fans of non-paying members, and who do not participate in other’s content, unless their content is very special.
I encourage you to invest the $ 5 per month and be part of the Medium Partner Program, you will see the difference in your experience on Medium.
Also, this will motivate you the first month to reach the goal of earning more than $ 5 and your membership in Medium will be completely FREE.
All this is possible only if you do your work of Learn, Write, Publish, and Repeat. Being consistent in this plan is the only way you will see positive results. Earn the $ 5 or more per month, that I mentioned above.
2. Edit your profile
Your Medium profile page consists of information publicly linked to your account as a reader or writer.
Medium only allows you to make very small changes to your Medium profile. But if you become a member of the program, your account begins to show more details of your profile. For example, the date from when you became a member. (This detail is important to add strength to your profile since if for example you manage to reach a good number of followers and the date shows that you have been a member for a short time. This is positive because it implies that your stories are good and people are encouraged to follow you.)
Medium only displays a number of special badges or icons on a writer’s profile, so taking the time to achieve/activate these various badges can go a long way toward establishing profile credibility.
Your profile includes the following details:
Profile details: (You can edit it yourself) Profile picture: Medium allows you to upload a single profile picture. It can be an image of anything, but most writers use a photo of themselves.
Display name: Ideally, use your real name as your display name (the name at the top of your profile). You can change your display name, at any time, without approval from Medium. Your display name can be up to 25 characters long.
Profile Bio: Your bio is possibly the most important part of your Medium profile. There are many ways to write a profile bio, some of the things that authors usually include are job description, the purpose of writing in Medium, professional meta, a witty description, keywords related to the topics they write about, or a hyperlink. If you have a product (like a book or audiobook) or a business that you want to promote, including the URL link in your description, can be an effective way to drive traffic. (You can use special characters and symbols in your Medium profile.)
Social Network Links: You can link your Twitter account to your Medium profile. (Additionally, you can link your Facebook account, Instagram, to name a few.) This can be another great way to direct traffic to an outside source.
Featured Article: You can submit a story at the top of your profile page. If you don’t set up a featured story yourself, your most recent Partner Program story (if you’ve posted one) will automatically be moved to the featured slot. You can replace it at any time by submitting any other story of your choice. That story will appear in a separate section before all of your latest articles.
Username: Your username is visible in the URL of your profile page, as well as in all the URLs of your posts, as long as those posts are not published in any publication. When you change your username, your existing posts will be redirected when people visit old URLs, but your profile will not be redirected automatically. You should update the links from other places. Also, any prior mention of your name or username will continue to work and will be linked to your profile page.
Example of medium username URL format: www.medium.com/@username
Usually, automatically, the beginning of your email appears as your username.
If you want you can use your name as your username, as it makes it easy for other writers to mention you
Profile details: (You cannot edit by yourself.) Top Writer badges: Medium awards them to writers who post frequently in a given topic. *Medium lists Top Writer badges and publications edited, by rank and number of followers, respectively.
3. Learn all about Medium and stay motivated
Writers are motivated by different things. Some writers want to work with an editor, others don’t. Some want to reach as many people as possible; others want to reach a specific audience. Some (but not all) want to earn money for their work.
Medium’s business model is designed to serve writers and readers, that’s it. That’s why Medium shies away from ad incentives, not to mention distracting banners, junk pop-ups, auto-play videos, and data trackers that follow you around the internet. You won’t see any of that on Medium, and that’s because Medium doesn’t accept advertising.
The best way to stay motivated is not to think about immediate results, but to work for future results.
Writing on Medium is not: A 50-meter sprint. Writing in Medium is An ultra-marathon.
Being a writer in Medium should be a long-term career if you want to be successful.
That is why it is important to set yourself a long-term goal.
The short steps will be your steps to complete your long-term goal:
Be a better writer on Medium.
4. Start to smash the publish button
Writing about things you are interested in You cannot be an expert in all trades. Master writing about a specific topic. (I’m not saying don’t write about other topics, you can.) What writers do who are making a good amount of money. Then they begin to write about other topics that interest them.
But it is a good strategy to choose specific topics and develop yourself in them.
For example: If the topics that you master or that are the skills that you have are related to business, marketing, and politics. You can start writing about them. Along the way, you will discover other topics of your interest.
Research before publishing Do your research on the topics to include in your medium stories. Look for keywords that could help you get permanent traffic. This is a strategy that works.
The ranking of your Medium story on Google is very relevant. There are thousands of writers on Medium and most of them are very active in publishing content on Medium. The Medium search engine cannot find relevant articles if you use the internal search bar.
Instead, you can use Google’s search engine so that your Medium stories can be found more frequently. What if your Medium article is on the Google search engine? You will get more Medium members externally, to read longer and you will earn more money.
Set a goal If you are an absolute beginner, your first goal on Medium should be to post as many stories without forgetting quality.
Following Medium’s guidelines at all times.
5. Passion + Consistency + Perseverance = Success
We must be passionate about writing and consistently meet the requirements of our readers.
Be consistent, if your plan is one story per day, stick to that goal. (If you fail one day, don’t get frustrated — continue the plan the next day.)
Perseverance will bring good results in the long run. We have to work hard and want to improve our work. More importantly, not only hard work but also smart.
Success requires passion, consistency, and perseverance.
I hope this information can help you so that your personal brand as a writer on Medium is a success.