My Beginner’s Guide To Start Earning On Medium
This is a basic guide to navigating through Medium as a new writer
Why am I writing this?
When I joined Medium, I had to look for information and read long posts from Medium. Often, I would come across out-of-date articles that may or may not be relevant today.
My best friend also wants to write on Medium, and he’s driving me crazy with basic questions. I’m unsure if this is because he’s too lazy to search or if, like me, he couldn’t find clear answers to his questions. Anyway, I mentioned to him while we were in the pub having a drink last night that I would write a basic guide.
And if he stopped blowing up my phone while I was writing, I would actually get it done!
Community Based Marketing System
One of the reasons the community-based system works is because you get paid to be an active member of the community!
Let me explain.
You earn for reads and comments! If someone stays on your page for longer than thirty seconds, this qualifies as a read. If they comment, you get paid.
To build your following, you should be reading, clapping, and commenting on other writer’s posts and following them! This encourages them to do the same.
When you get a comment, reply and follow! This is very simple. Think of it as working in a shop and saying thank you to a customer.
Note: Claps no longer qualify for payment!
Although I do read other articles if I see something interesting, However, I mainly read within my niche, which is writing, how to write, blogging, and so on, because these are the other writers who are the most likely to read my posts!
I am not worried if someone follows me back or not, but I try to follow anyone that comments or follows me.
What can I write?
You can write about anything that interests you. I love writing about writing, problems writers face, such as writer’s block, and helpful information like this piece.
No matter what you write, some people want to read well-written posts.
Here are a few topics to give you an idea.
Personal development
Health & wellness
Writing & making money
Technology & digital culture
Politics & current events
Business & entrepreneurship
Poetry
Fiction
Life lessons & reflections
Science & History
The use of AI
Don’t use AI to write your posts. Just don’t. The community is built for people, and although there are AI posts and clickbait titles on Medium, that is not what the site is about. Also, you aren’t contributing anything to anyone. Sure, you can make some money if you post hundreds of AI-written blogs, but it’s a short-term gain.
Getting your writing out there with Publications
I honestly can not say this any better than the article below! Written by Martynas Ki. (Martynas Ki. (@strangecash)
No, I am not being lazy. The post was written so much better than I could do! Also, there’s a link there to join Long, Sweet. Valuable and Short, Long, Valuable as a writer! Which I highly recommend as I write for them myself!
Along with Illumination of course!
The best aspect of the Pubs is that they already have followers who are readers. My Clickbait post from earlier shot me from 8 followers to over 200 and from earning $5 to over $100 in just five days. And that was on a smaller Publication!
Formatting
Formatting is pretty simple on Medium: raises his hands to the Heavens and gives thanks. I hate formatting! I loathe it with a passion that goes beyond hatred.
The main formatting you will have to do is.
Main title big T
Subtitle small T.
Headings either big T or small T. Although some Publications expect you to use the small T for all headings.
Break up your writing by not having big blocks of text. That’s about it.
SEO
I use basic SEO in my titles and a headline analyzer to help me with my main and sub-titles. I also use some keywords in the text. I always use the five tags on my posts to make them more discoverable.
Titles
Have an interesting title! Not full-on clickbait but something that catches the eye or scores high with the headline analyzer. I try for a score of 86+
Grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Make sure your articles are as free from mistakes as possible. I advise you to run your work through Grammarly and then ProWritingAid. Both are free to use, although some advanced features that you do not need for Medium are disabled for free users.
Images
Do add a relevant image below your main title like the one.
You must give the source for the image! If you use your own images, you must state that the image was created by you.
Luckily, you can add images directly in the Medium creator from Unsplash, which comes with the source provided, like the one above.
A great place to be
Finally, Medium is a great place to be; the people are helpful, friendly, and supportive of each other. The earning potential is good, and because of the community-based system the payout structure works for the writers who put in the most effort.
Thanks for reading!
If you have anything to add, please don’t hesitate to comment. Let’s build our community and help each other!
Paul
