Writers: Stop Complaining About Your Stats And Do This Instead
Views, reads, and money are down, I get it.
Did you know Medium stats are down?
Everyone is talking about it right now though. It’s the same few lines you are finding in the posts complaining about Medium stats:
“My views are down. Reads dropping drastically. I only made X dollars this month!”
Over and over again people are complaining. It’s also leading to the articles that talk about Medium being about to collapse. They are in financial ruins. Or whatever else doomsayers are talking about.
You know what?
This isn’t anything new. If you search “stats are down” on Medium, you will find article after article about stats being down. Want to know the funny thing? Some of these articles go back to 2018!
None of this is new. Medium is a cyclical thing. Some months you are the king of the castle. Other months you are asking for alms on the side of the road. If you are going to be writing here, or on any platform for that matter, you need to get over the ebbs and flow of stats.
I have been on Medium since 2017. I have made a couple of thousand dollars in a month and I have made twenty. It comes and goes, and when it goes, you need to be ready to do something about it.
5 Things You Can Do When Your Stats Crash
Alright, we are in a crashing stats market right now. So, what do you do to turn it around? The great news is that there are things for you to do. While stats crash, a lot of times this means we need to hone in our craft a little more.
A lot of times, when algorithms make it harder to get views and reads that means we need to get better at writing articles, headlines, and choosing photos. We can’t just put up the same old thing, because we may not be getting a lot of chances to be seen.
When that’s the case, we need to do a little extra work. Well, maybe not extra work, just the work we should be doing, but now is essential that we do. Here are five things that might help you during this time.
Focus on the topics that have done well in the past.
Maybe you need to change up what you are writing about. Just for this season anyway. If you had productivity articles do well, maybe go back to those. Or, sprinkle them in with the topic you like to write about.
Write better headlines.
This should be important to you in the beginning, but when chances of being seen are down, you need to convert at a higher rate. If 1,000 people see your post on the homepage, and only 5% are clicking through when things are hot, that 5% isn’t going to cut it if you are only being seen by 100 people.
Evaluate your position on other platforms.
Maybe you are on LinkedIn and you are getting thousands of views and email subscribers and followers there. This might be a good time to switch your focus there for a while.
Do a 30-day publishing challenge.
Sometimes, forcing yourself to produce more content during one of these dry spells will help jumpstart your position with the algorithm. If you are publishing regularly for so many days in a row, you might be able to get a leg up while others are abandoning ship or slowing down their efforts.
Try to break into something new.
Maybe that means getting into a new publication. Or writing under a new topic. This could also look like partnering with other Medium writers to form something else completely. Some of the best stuff that comes out of Medium happens when people pivot and pivot together.
These are just five things that you could try out while your stats are down. You never know, they might just help you take off. Sometimes that is the best thing you can do is to do something.
Final Thoughts About Down Stats
“You know what’s great about hitting rock bottom? There’s only one way left to go, and that’s up! — Buster Moon, Sing”
I love that line in the Disney movie Sing. Hands down it's one of my favorites and I really think it applies when anything is down in my writing pursuits. If my stats are down, that means they should go up again. If money is down, that means it can go up again.
It won’t do it magically.
That’s why we need to take a little action on our part. Especially now. If we keep doing the same thing over and over again nothing will change. Complaining about it won’t help either. You need to start doing something and make a change.
Remember, try these five things out:
- Focus on topics that have done well in the past.
- Write better headlines.
- Evaluate your position on other platforms.
- Do a 30-day publishing challenge.
- Try breaking into something new.
Now, there could be other things you can do. Maybe you do something different. If you do, share it in the responses below to help others out!
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