How I Went From 20 Views Per Day To 500+ Views Per Day on Medium

The most reliable way to grow an audience

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Four days back, I posted a story where I shared some of my key statistics with everyone. At that point, I had:

• 5325 views
• 197 followers
• 10 email subscribers

At the time of writing this, and four days after making that post, here are the new numbers:

• 6772 views (27.2% increase)
• 226 followers (14.7% increase)
• 12 email subscribers (20% increase)

This isn’t so bad considering that, just two weeks ago, I was barely getting 20 views per day.

Here are my tried and tested methods for boosting your stats on Medium.

⭐ Focus on your headlines

The average reader spends 2–3 seconds on your headline before deciding whether to click on your article or whiz right past it.

This provides you with the worthwhile challenge of learning how to write attractive headlines.

You need to give people a compelling reason to click your headline and read the rest of the story.

Here are the things I do with my headlines:

• Give readers a vivid idea of what your article is going to be about
• Clarify to readers how they’ll benefit from reading the article
• Create a curiosity gap by outlining the topic of the article in the headline, but leaving out key details to pique the reader’s interest.

Another thing…

⭐ You are the niche

There has always been this widely-held notion that in order to succeed as a writer, you need to focus on one or two niches.

Personally, I find niches very constraining.

I have seen so many excellent writers here who write about anything and everything. These writers went against the widely-held notion that “you need to have a niche”.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that having a niche is important, as it helps you stand out from the crowd. But after a while, your niche becomes your voice and personality, not the topic you write about.

You already have a niche if you write in your own voice and let your own ideas guide you. That niche is you.

You’re the niche because no one else thinks or writes the way you do, and people read your writing because they find it enjoyable.

This brings me to the number one thing I’ve discovered about all the outstanding writers whose work I’ve read:

They’re all interesting people who say interesting things.

Personally, I read from at least 8 writers every day. This gives me fresh ideas and perspectives to fuel my own writing process.

⭐ Build your tribe

Medium is not just a writing platform, but a community. The only way you can get discovered is by engaging with the community.

Here’s my personal strategy:

• Look for interesting writers who post on a consistent basis.
• Follow them and turn on notifications.
• Each time they post, read and clap 50x (only if you enjoyed it, of course)
• Comment and give your genuine thoughts about the post.
• They’re very likely to return the favor. I have made some good friends this way.

⭐ Leverage publications

I currently have just 226 followers.

If I were to publish a story at this moment, the story will be distributed only to those 225 people on Medium.

Worst yet, only a fraction of that number will end up reading it. (In fact, I’d consider myself lucky if up to 20 people ended up reading it.)

That is why publications are so important, especially when you’re just starting out.

Publications are a great way to get your writing across to a larger and more diverse audience.

My top three publications so far are:

• New Writers Welcome: This is my favorite publication so far. I get the highest number of views from them (around 200–300) but then again, I haven’t tried many other pubs. The best part is that they accept newbies with 0 followers.
• Illumination: I have published two articles in this publication. It doesn’t matter what the topic of the story is. If it’s interesting enough, it’ll be published. Once you get accepted here, you’ll be automatically added to a few other sister publications.
• The Writing Cooperative: I just got accepted into this one. They mainly accept articles that share writing tips and advice.

Before submitting your article to a publication, go through their page and analyze the articles there to get a sense of what kind of articles do well.

And finally…

⭐ Be focused and consistent

I believe a lot in personal responsibility. If you do the right things for a long enough period of time, you’ll start to see results.

Here’s what I recommend you do:

• Post 2–3 times a week
• Write for your readers
• Leverage publications
• Engage with the community

If you do these things, then it’s only a matter of time before your numbers start to improve.

Another problem is that a lot of people spread themselves too thin. They write simultaneously on Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, Substack and their personal blog, all while having a full-time job.

I’d rather focus on just two platforms and give them my full attention to maximize results.

Finally, always remember to do the work even when you don’t feel like it!

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