The 8 Life-Changing Tips I’ve Learned After A Week On Medium

And I’m sharing them with you.

Today marks one week since I took the leap and signed up for Medium.

I had a free membership several years ago, but I was nothing more than a casual reader. This is my first time purchasing a Medium membership and joining the Medium Partnership Program.

I’ve swapped out my morning Facebook scroll for Medium reading, and already I can feel my brain cells thanking me and wondering why I didn’t do this years ago. Oh, the places I could be.

Since I believe in the power of reflection, which I shared in 10 Healthy Habits That Improved My Life (And Can Yours Too), I wanted to take a moment to write a reflection post and share some of what I’ve learned in the last 7 days.

1. How to Write Catchy Headlines

I’ve always struggled with writing headlines. Fortunately, I’ve worked with clients who write the headlines for me, and I only have to generate the content’s body. After a week on Medium, I feel more confident writing headlines.

Some of the best tips I’ve learned:

• “How I Did X” is better than “How to Do X”
• Use power words (like healthy, astounding, brilliant, etc)
• Make sure your headline shows how the reader can benefit from reading the article

2. Publications Are Gold Mines for New Writers

I learned about publications on my second day on Medium, and I had no idea what they were before.

Originally, I thought you had to be an established member with lots of content to post to them. Ironically, I learned it’s quite the opposite. Publications are how new members get discovered.

3. Not Every Article Is Suitable for Publication

I’ve only applied to one publication so far, though I have spent time researching publications and have my eye on a few I’d like to write for in the future. The biggest downside of publications is you don’t get to decide when your article is published, and it can take weeks to get accepted into some of the larger ones at the risk of your article getting denied anyway.

If you’re not 100% sure your article is perfect for a specific publication, it’s better to go ahead and press publish on your own.

Before I apply to a publication, I spend time researching and reading the type of content they publish because I want to ensure my draft aligns with the type of content they post.

If you submit a draft that doesn’t align with the content they post, you’re wasting your time and their time.

4. Medium Has a Long Shelf Life

I was surprised when I joined that many of the most popular articles in my feed were from the summer, with some even from last April and May. That tells me that an article can remain popular on Medium for months after it’s published, which is amazing!

5. Read, Clap, and Leave Thoughtful Comments

The best way to improve your visibility on Medium is to read other writers’ work, clap for their posts, and comment with your honest thoughts about what they’ve written. This is pretty much true about any social media platform. I spent some time a couple of years ago building my Twitter account, and I dedicated some time to my Instagram account when I first started freelancing.

You’ll see I lost interest in both of those accounts, and I haven’t been super active in the past year. Part of the reason for that is because I’ve been too busy writing to bother with my social media, but the other reason is that I got bored of putting in the effort.

I felt forced to respond to people on these platforms. What I love so far about Medium is it’s natural to reply to content. Maybe it’s because I’m reading topics that genuinely interest me.

It’s easy to read, clap, and leave thoughtful comments for other writers without feeling forced when I’m interested in what they’re writing.

6. Use Google Trends to Curate Ideas

How I’d never heard of Google Trends blows my mind, but it’s changed the way I write forever. Google Trends allows you to search a keyword and see what the US is searching for right now.

How is this helpful?

In the world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it allows you to pull topics and keywords that are popular right now, which means they have a greater chance of piquing the interest of readers.

For example, I was writing a post about spinach (which is trending upwards), and I saw that banana spinach smoothie is a related trending topic. Guess what topic got added to my idea file?

Google Trends also gives you related topics to your keyword, which can spark ideas.

7. Hemingway Editor is a Useful Tool

This is a tool I heard about years ago but forgot about it. Thanks, Medium, for reminding me about it.

Hemingway Editor is an app that highlights sentence structure to improve your writing. While I don’t always agree with everything it highlights, it’s more helpful than Grammarly at identifying sentences that need rewriting. I also use it to identify unnecessary adverbs.

The app also tells you the article’s grade level (Grade 8 is recommended for online readability).

8. Personal Stories Sell

The majority of my favorite Medium stories are the ones where people share their lived experiences. It seems the general audience agrees because these stories always fly to the top of the charts.

I can attest to this because my personal story about how I quit my job to freelance write had over 300 claps in 5 hours–a new record for me.

Wrapping Up

I wonder what I will learn in my next week on Medium! This is an exciting new journey, and I love learning every day.

From my experience, Medium provides a longer-lasting dopamine release than scrolling mindlessly on Facebook and Instagram.

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