Passive Income
The Key Behind My Best Performing Stories
Let’s Dig Into The Stats Behind Viral Articles: My Earnings & Takeaways
How I Started Writing On Medium
I started writing on Medium in November 2020. After writing only 3 long-form articles, I set them aside and got busy pursuing Amazon KDP and Redbubble.
After a couple of months, I returned to Medium, writing 2–3 articles per month, and only started to take it seriously in the last 5 months after feeling inspired to give it a second shot.
During this time, I wrote numerous intensive pieces around the theme of my side hustles, summarizing what I learned, the resources I used, and breaking down my earnings.
A Few Points Before We Get Started
- In no way in this piece do I intend to brag about my earnings or views.
- The purpose of this article is to reflect on what has been working for me, in an attempt to help potential readers analyze their own stats and double down on what’s working for them.
Below is a list of my top-performing articles, that I consider to be viral (in a way that they were responsible for the majority of my earnings on the platform).
Let’s dive in and reflect on these similarities and elements that I believe made these articles gain popularity.
Amazon KDP
- Massive KDP Account Termination: 7.4K Views, Total earnings: 33.97. Published on November 23, 2021. 10% Internal views, 90% External views
- How Much I Earned On KDP Selling Lined Notebooks: 7.4K views. Total Earnings: $93.33. Published on November 4, 2021. 28% internal, 72% external.
Redbubble
- How I Made Passive Income On Redbubble: 7.1K views. Total Earnings: 40.23. Published on September 6, 2021. 17% internal, 18% external reads.
Vocal
- Interested In Vocal? Vocal Just Did Something Amazing Today: 677 views. Total Earnings: 13.84. Published on October 23, 2021. 68% internal, 32% external reads.
Shutterstock
- Shutterstock Stock Photography Income Reveal: 877 views. Total Earnings: 18.5. Published on November 22, 2021. 50% internal, 50% external reads.
App Development
- 8 App Ideas That Are Proven To Work: 862 views. Total Earnings: 17.48. Published on October 28, 2021. 77% internal, 23% external reads.
Similarities
All 5 articles above share one major similarity that I believe made them more attractive than other pieces, all the above (except for the last one) revolve around one common theme: Passive income.
Other similarities include:
- All 5 articles discuss a step-by-step approach to making online income and provide actual value to the reader encouraging them to embark on these side hustles.
- All articles are long-form, with a minimum of 4–5 minutes of reading time.
- The first 5 articles share my experience using these platforms and include a breakdown of earnings.
- Four of the above articles discuss not only what I gained from selling on online platforms, but the mistakes that were done so that freelance beginner knows what to avoid if they intend to pursue working online.
- 4/5 articles discuss the next steps that I intend to take to step up my game, thus providing value to the reader.
Takeaways
- If you intend to write an article on your passive income journey, do not hesitate to over-deliver value and over-share.
- Include what mistakes you did and what next steps, if any, you will take in order to kickstart your growth. The reader will follow your journey and you can update them every 2–3 months on what you implemented and whether it worked for you.
- Focus on articles that can attract internal reads.
- Try to optimize external reads by directing them to your youtube channel/personal blog or encouraging them to opt for the referral program.
My Next Steps:
My next steps can be summarised in one point:
Double down on what is working: create more similar articles under the same niche but focus on summarising each long-form article.
What Is Your Most Viral Article?
