My Earnings And How I Got 18,000 Views For One Article!

My earnings and lessons learned

Updated: Sept 21 2023

If you are new to Medium like I was, you may think getting tons of views on Medium is awesome. You are in for a big lesson.

A lot of people desire to make money as a writer using Medium as a side gig or as a full-time job. I am struggling to even have Medium as a side-gig and the pay is roughly about $1 -$2 for every article I publish. Many veteran Medium writers say things will start paying off in a year or so if you make writing a regular part of your routine. Hope is my middle name. Just joking.

But getting back to my viral article. After a month or so of writing, I wrote about my experience using Google Maps to find a school as part of my gig as a crossing guard. I endorsed the app as I wrote that it saved me so much time even after I missed the correct street. My article was published on December 17, 2021.

When I looked at the stats on the day it got published, I noticed the views kept climbing. For a while, it kept going up until it reached 7,000 views. Today, it’s currently at 18,000 views! This by the way was my first viral article. I am not bragging — just explaining.

My strategy was no strategy at all. I didn’t do any SEO or keywords because finding keywords is not so easy anymore because I find it difficult to find free programs.

So I guess I got lucky. I found viewers and I also used a publication for my article. I am eternally grateful for this.

Now for the news: I only earned $55.83 for this article to date for 18,000 views. With this amount of views, I thought I would earn more but that’s not the reality of getting lots of views.

You may ask why such a low amount? Essentially because Medium writers get paid for reading articles from members and writers who are on the Medium Partner Program. I got lots of views from nonmembers of the program. This article is still popular on Medium and it is added to many other lists by other writers.

The good news is that if you have lots of views, it will help you if you’re an affiliate and have things to sell.

Even if my earnings are a bit disappointing for this one article, I take this as a learning lesson. Next time you get lots of views for one article, promote an affiliate link or a referral link from Medium. Make lemon out of lemonade.

Other key points:

• always try to create useful content for Medium readers
• make sure your title is interesting and will grab the reader. If necessary, see if your title is also similar to one on Google.
• if you want more Medium readers, engage and read other writers. I cannot thank David Perlmutter and Harold Zeitung for living and breathing the engagement values on Medium by taking the time to highlight and comment on my articles. (I am sure they have read yours, too!) Do check out their articles when you have a chance because they deserve reads, too. If you don’t have time to comment, highlight someone’s article. I am learning from them!
• publish your articles using publications like this one. This is a great way to get more eyes on your article.
• use Twitter to send out your article and use hashtags. By using this method, Twitter sent me a message saying that my Tweets reached 100 people!

People on Medium are busy and have multiple duties and jobs. Make it worth their time. I don’t always write more than one article a day because I strive for quality over quantity. Whatever works for you, go for it. Here’s to writing!

Here’s a shoutout to one of my followers:

Ira Robinson: check out Ira’s story here:

September 21 2023

Conclusions:

Yes, a new writer can get a lucky break and somehow write a story that gets thousands of views.

But in my view, writing this today, I feel that writers should use their favorite SEO tools to get an audience for their particular niche.

In addition, to be successful, I feel it is so important to engage with other writers. Read and comment, highlight and follow other writers.

Did you enjoy my story? If so, I hope I can have your support. If you are new to Medium, please join here, and support writers like me who make it as a writer. By joining today, you can also start a great side gig and make money as a writer, too! Some writers are earning double and triple digits every month!

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Until next time. Take care of yourself.