WRITING
You Can Increase Your Medium Story Views without Being the Best Writer
Success as a writer on Medium is achievable even if you don’t have the most elegant words or experience, and I tell you why
It seems like at every turn, new writers or struggling writers are told that they must be at the top of the writing game to be a successful writer that gets views on Medium. And, I must admit that I’m one of those people who have said this to be so, but this is not the end all be all of gaining momentum on Medium.
The truth is, while it is a plus to be good at writing (or excellent at it if you’re lucky), being just an ‘ok’ writer can still win you some points with readers. It’s all in how you relate to people with your stories, even if you’re not yet an experienced writer.
Relating to People
We all can relate to somebody, and it’s not difficult to relate to many different types of people with your writing. The main thing is to touch on something that people need, want, or are experiencing or have experienced, for that matter.
Get into the minds of readers. What do they think about? And you do that by putting yourself in the reader’s shoes. If you were reading your story or article, what would you want to take from it? What would you get out of it?
Take this story you’re reading right now, for example. You can relate to what I’m writing about as far as wanting to be able to write relational stories and gain readers without having to be an expert at penmanship and all of that stuff. Right?
Tips for Writing to Relate to People
Well, the first things are pretty much a given and that’s going to be the title and subtitle of your piece as well as the image.
Your Title
You won’t get many readers if you don’t have a title that grabs readers’ attention. Your title should let the readers know what to expect if they click on your story, but it should also be something that sparks their interest.
Let’s look at a comparison example.
- Title 1: What Walking in the Park with My Dog Did for Me
- Title 2: How I Lost 18 lbs. in 2 months from Walking My Dog in the Park
Which one would you be most likely to click on — Title 1 or Title 2?
I’m guessing you chose Title 2. Why? Because it’s relatable.
- Weight loss is a hot topic and many people are interested in losing a few pounds or maybe a lot of weight.
- Also, those same people would be interested in doing it fast, and losing a significant amount of weight in just 2 months is awesome!
- And, most people like or love dogs, many people have a pet dog.
- And, just about everybody can relate to enjoying going to the park.
Boom! You’ve got people clicking on the story.
Your Subtitle
An effective title is just 33.33333% of the work to get more people to click on your story. The subtitle and the image carry the same weight to make your 100% clickable story.
So, this means that you must have a strong call to action for that click in your subtitle. The subtitle needs to touch the reader in some way. They need to see what’s in it for them to click and read what you have to say.
I’ll just use the subtitle of this story as an example:
Success as a writer on Medium is achievable even if you don’t have the most elegant words or experience, and I tell you why
- Ok, so the first thing is something that we all want and that’s success, and many of us want that success to be on Medium.
- Next, there’s a power word in this — achievable. When somebody sees this they likely tell themselves that maybe this is something that I can do.
- Then what do they see next? An answer to a rebuttal that’s in many people’s minds about writing, and that’s not being what they consider themselves as the best writer.
- And, lastly — you see that I’m going to tell you why you can be successful writing on Medium, even if you’re not the best writer with a lot of experience.
Boom! Relatable.
Your Image
One thing that’s important that some people may not think too much about is the image they choose for their stories. I put some time into this so that I choose an image that’s eye-catching but also one that represents the content of my story in a creative way.
For instance, I chose the image for this story because
- It’s about story views, and the girl with the magnifying glass represents somebody who is really wanting to look closely at what she’s interested in.
- So, I searched for magnifying glass, but I wanted a person in the image, and I wanted it to be a close-up picture to make a point about viewing something.
You can find a bunch of free images to use here.
Your Content
After you’ve got the title, subtitle, and image on point, it’s important to understand that just because readers click on your Medium story and give you views, doesn’t necessarily mean they will give you reads, which Medium tracks and is how you get paid in the MPP (Medium Partner Program).
Reads come when your content grabs the viewer’s attention from the first paragraph or two. Again, here is where you relate to readers and also peak their interests.
Don’t be boring!
Write like you’re talking to your best friend, a sibling, or just somebody you are very close to. Make your writing conversational. Of course, there will be areas where it may be more or less like a conversation but make it so that people are engaged in what you’re saying.
Do you have something to say that’s informative, entertaining, shocking, funny, or maybe sensational? Do have some advice? An opinion about something? It’s important to appeal to people’s emotions whether that be making them happy, sad, angry, agreeable, or just glad because they got something out of reading what you wrote.
Again, put yourself in the reader’s shoes.
And it’s a good idea to use some formatting and don’t make your paragraphs too long so that your story looks like a wall of text. Also, make sure you proofread so that you don’t have grammatical and spelling errors. These create distractions.
Your Tags
Be sure to use all five of your tags and make sure that you choose tags that are relevant to your story. Don’t waste this. Tags are very important.
Publications
Don’t be afraid to apply to be added to publications, even if you are a new writer. Having your stories in publications on the platform will give your stories more opportunities to be seen.
There are hundreds or more publications on Medium, so be sure to get in some of them. And don’t worry about it if you’re not accepted into the larger publications. Smaller and lesser-known publications are just as effective at giving your writing the wings that it needs.
Write a Ton
Yes. This is a must. You have to put out content and a lot of it, if you plan on being successful on Medium. This is true even if you don’t think it’s the absolute best. Just follow what I’ve said already and do your thing.
You’ve got to write and write and then write some more and publish on Medium 1–5 times a day or at least 3–5 times a week. Put out so many articles that you’re like a virus on Medium. Then, more people will see your stories, you’ll pop up more in suggested stories and in tags, and the algorithm will pick up on all of your activities on the platform and put you in front of more people. Also, others will start to notice you.
Takeaway
So, to recap how you can get more views (and reads) for your Medium stories:
- Relate to people
- Write killer titles and subtitles
- Find eye-catching, relevant images
- Write conversationally, format, and proofread
- Choose 5 relevant tags
- Apply and get into publications
- Be prolific and write and publish A LOT
And, of course, stop being scared. It’s all good and you can do it. :)
More Tips for Writers
I’ve written more stories with tips for successful writing on Medium that you will find in my bio.
