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is don’t bother, and some use them exclusively. One is that most publications will have more of an audience than you would as a new writer.</p><p id="4f49">The two publications I started with were Weeds & Wildflowers and Coffee Times. Both had, and still do have more of a following than I currently do on my own.</p><p id="5945">It worked! I started getting more reads and followers. It worked despite some will say you do not need a publication to broadcast your work further. I guess you don’t really, but using a publication really did help my audience grow faster than I think it would have without using a publication.</p><figure id="c278"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*9iMVbASXyShP-6w8"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@syedhadi16?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Syed Hadi Naqvi</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="1c5b">Second Move — repurpose unread content(controversial)</h2><p id="e809">My second move was to repurpose my content. I still do this sometimes even though the number of underperforming articles is growing smaller each week. This is controversial, to say the least.</p><p id="397a">Medium guidelines are to not delete and republish your article. That is clear enough. But there are enough writers here who do almost exactly that I believe a further explanation is warranted. Don’t just delete and republish your content as-is.</p><ul><li>Edit it</li><li>Make it better</li><li>Change the title to be more inviting</li><li>Change the main photo to something more intriguing</li><li>Use Grammarly to clean it up</li><li>Use the Hemingway app</li></ul><h2 id="00da">Third Step — Stop Writing on Topics With no Traction</h2><p id="df59">Stop writing articles on topics nobody cares about. If the audience engagement is not there then stop. As far as I can tell if your reads are constantly low then the algorithm will figure you are not offering value to reader

Options

s. Your work will get suppressed, your engagement will lag and your growth on this platform will stop. Or you may even find yourself, as I did back in October, losing followers as fast as you were creating them.</p><h2 id="0ac4">Fourth Move — If You Hit on Something Keep Doing That</h2><p id="330d">When you find a topic or topics that actually get you readers and gain traction then keep doing that. To get there you have to experiment a lot with different topics and sometimes genres. So try out different things. Work on different topics and see what sticks.</p><p id="ec3c">Look through the most used tags and see if your articles can fit into a particular niche.</p><h2 id="3302">Fifth Step— Use Facebook Groups or Discord Groups</h2><p id="c730">I do this almost every time I publish a new article. It depends of course what the topic is as to where I will share it with a group I am a part of, but it definitely works.</p><p id="f5d6">I am part of many different Crypto Discord groups and my articles that list different NFT projects, or ecosystem projects do get lots of views and reads. So I double down on that and publish them to different groups I am in. I also do this with different Facebook groups I belong to. I am in a soap-making group so my article on making soap with English Ivy was published there. There is a Facebook group just for the purpose of sharing your work with other new readers and writers.</p><p id="a609">It helps to push the word out there myself sometimes.</p><p id="1e48">So I hope you use these steps that will, I guarantee, keep your audience growing. Whatever you do, don’t lose hope. Your audience is out there. It may just take a little hand-holding of your articles to get it to the right audience.</p><p id="bc73">Thanks for reading.</p><p id="13f6">If you found this article helpful and want to read more why not subscribe to Medium. You can use this <a href="https://chester-beard.medium.com/membership">link</a> to sign up, and read all you want each and every month.</p></article></body>

Take These Steps if You Want to Grow Your Audience

How You Can Keep Your Audience Growing

When I first started writing on Medium I thought it would be fun to have a side project from my general writing business. I have my own copy and grant writing company which I started last year. I quickly found that I could not just post a couple of times a month as that was not enough of an outlet for me. Also, I found that I really wanted to make a dent here. I found that I wanted an audience and wanted it to grow.

The Beginning

My first month in September 2021 went fine. Considering I published maybe a dozen or so articles my audience growth was as I would expect. The second month, of course, October of last year I noticed I was losing followers. By mid-month I had grown my audience but when I looked closer at the figures it was apparent that I was losing followers as fast, almost, as I was gaining them.

When I started out writing on Medium I spent a lot of time reading articles on Medium about how to grow on Medium. It was a new platform and I did not know the algorithm or how it works. It does work similar to how other algorithms work in that it feeds you more of what you just went looking for. It is no different from Google, Amazon, Pinterest, or any other social media platform. But how it decides to push your content out was a mystery to me. And the advice on this goes back and forth, up and down, and is contradictory.

First Step — Join a Publication

The first thing I did was start putting my writing into publications. There are a lot of reasons you may want to use a publication even though some advice is don’t bother, and some use them exclusively. One is that most publications will have more of an audience than you would as a new writer.

The two publications I started with were Weeds & Wildflowers and Coffee Times. Both had, and still do have more of a following than I currently do on my own.

It worked! I started getting more reads and followers. It worked despite some will say you do not need a publication to broadcast your work further. I guess you don’t really, but using a publication really did help my audience grow faster than I think it would have without using a publication.

Second Move — repurpose unread content(controversial)

My second move was to repurpose my content. I still do this sometimes even though the number of underperforming articles is growing smaller each week. This is controversial, to say the least.

Medium guidelines are to not delete and republish your article. That is clear enough. But there are enough writers here who do almost exactly that I believe a further explanation is warranted. Don’t just delete and republish your content as-is.

Edit it
Make it better
Change the title to be more inviting
Change the main photo to something more intriguing
Use Grammarly to clean it up
Use the Hemingway app

Third Step — Stop Writing on Topics With no Traction

Stop writing articles on topics nobody cares about. If the audience engagement is not there then stop. As far as I can tell if your reads are constantly low then the algorithm will figure you are not offering value to readers. Your work will get suppressed, your engagement will lag and your growth on this platform will stop. Or you may even find yourself, as I did back in October, losing followers as fast as you were creating them.

Fourth Move — If You Hit on Something Keep Doing That

When you find a topic or topics that actually get you readers and gain traction then keep doing that. To get there you have to experiment a lot with different topics and sometimes genres. So try out different things. Work on different topics and see what sticks.

Look through the most used tags and see if your articles can fit into a particular niche.

Fifth Step— Use Facebook Groups or Discord Groups

I do this almost every time I publish a new article. It depends of course what the topic is as to where I will share it with a group I am a part of, but it definitely works.

I am part of many different Crypto Discord groups and my articles that list different NFT projects, or ecosystem projects do get lots of views and reads. So I double down on that and publish them to different groups I am in. I also do this with different Facebook groups I belong to. I am in a soap-making group so my article on making soap with English Ivy was published there. There is a Facebook group just for the purpose of sharing your work with other new readers and writers.

It helps to push the word out there myself sometimes.

So I hope you use these steps that will, I guarantee, keep your audience growing. Whatever you do, don’t lose hope. Your audience is out there. It may just take a little hand-holding of your articles to get it to the right audience.

Thanks for reading.

If you found this article helpful and want to read more why not subscribe to Medium. You can use this link to sign up, and read all you want each and every month.