The image captures everything.
Caveat: The point is not to show my income. The main point is to inspire readers/writers or side hustlers to follow their journey. I am a huge fan of honesty, openness, and transparency when it comes to this kind of stuff.
Have fun, do good and the money will come.
— Richard Branson
The purpose of this story is to break down all the strategies I applied to earn $1729.33 in my 3rd month on the Medium platform.
On December 9th, 2021, I was accepted into the Medium Partner Program after a few weeks on the platform. If you’re interested in reading my first month’s report, in which I explained how I break the $100 barrier in merely two months.
Here are the December and January months reports.
First month on Medium: December 2021
Second month on Medium: January 2022
Let’s dive into the learning part.
Today I am going to reveal my 3rd month’s income on the platform for the sole purpose of inspiring writers and side hustlers. How much I made and what I did to accomplish my $500 Feb 2022 target.
Compared to last month, I had grown by 1100% on the platform.
My goal is to generate a $2000 consistent side income by the end of the year on Medium each month, but with the pace, I’m growing and receiving all of this love, I believe it’ll be possible in 6 months.
I learned these strategies from the best writers on the platform:
Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Tim Denning, Jenn Leach, Ayodeji Awosika and Benjamin Hardy, Ph.D. However, each writer takes a different approach — pick what works for you.
Three main components of any story to get more engagement
1- Education
Your task is to teach readers how to be better versions of themselves. After you’ve implemented the method, make sure to express your ideas anecdotally.
One of my articles, for example, went viral last month, with 31000+ views, when I simply told my experience on how to drink 3.78 liters of water each day, with a focus on how to check my water intake regularly. You can read the viral story here.
2- Inspire
Inspiring your audience is the second most critical aspect of any story. Readers should be inspired to be more productive in their daily lives.
For example, I revealed a simple method to boost my digestive system and live a healthy life: drinking a warm glass of water with lemon juice every morning.
Here’s another viral piece to inspire you: I discussed my techniques, backed up by research publications, on how certain simple habits are causing long-term brain damage. To have a happy life, all you have to do is start small.
3- Entertainment
I’m a non-fiction writer, as you can see. My technical education helps to fuel my reasoning brain; therefore, numbers are a big part of my stories.
It is not easy to include fun/entertainment elements into my stories.
But, hey, I’m new to the writing world; in just three months, I’ve learned a lot, and as a perpetual learner, I’m prepared to do a few experiments in the following months to include this component and make my stories more enjoyable.
In a nutshell, always provide your reader with three things via your story.
- Education
- Inspire/motivate
- Entertain
If a report is missing data charts, numbers, or other visual resources, it takes me longer to absorb it, and I don’t enjoy reading fiction. I’m considering picking up a few good fiction novels to increase my creativity while also adding an element of fun to my stories.
Importance of titles, subtitles, and images
Let’s start with the importance of the title. You are reading this story because of the title.
Title
Ask any top writer,
Tim Denning, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Ayodeji Awosika, Sinem Günel about the significance of a title. For years, they’ve been practicing titles and proper tags.
I believe I picked this from Sinem Günel. After you’ve finished writing a title, read out loud and ask yourself, “Would you click on this title?”
Make sure the headline increases the reader’s interest, but never mislead or clickbait them.
Subtitle
The subtitle should provide a glimpse of the story while complementing the title. Always use the subtitle.
Image
Spend some time to find a suitable image. Do not pick the first image right away. Here are a couple of websites I use to get the free images.
Let’s jump on the parts you’re waiting for.
February Stats
Warning: New authors should avoid using stats in the first couple of months. Instead, develop habits to ship stories consistently to build a habit.
As a product manager and engineer, I think that no product can be successfully launched without a data-driven strategy. Always keep an eye on your statistics to see what’s working and what isn’t. Treat your stories as though they were little products.
Earned — $1729.33
Views — 75,000
Stories — 33 (25 stories 700+ words and 8 short less than 200 words)
Fans — 1190
Followers — 607
Referred Members — 21
You never know what will resonate with the audience. The trick is to keep experimenting and be consistent. My goal was to achieve 30,000 views in February, $500 earnings, and 100 fans.
Here are my last month’s stats (Jan 2022).
Earned $138.61
Views 14,612
Fans 494
My goal was to get 5000 views in January, $50 earnings, and 100 fans.
How to add value?
Always write for the reader; make sure to see what a reader will learn from your story. I always ask myself the following question.
Are you solving a pain point?
If you are solving a problem through your story, you are definitely adding value for the reader.
Recall:
- Spend as much time as you can to polish your titles, subtitles, and image.
- Incorporate these three elements into each story: education, inspire, and entertain the reader.
Absolutely, no clickbait.
Story engagement strategies
I am a reader first, then a writer. I primarily joined Medium in 2021 as a reader; I was looking for a clean platform without ads to get some quality reads. As a reader, I do the following 4 things: claps, genuine comments, highlights, follow
Consistency is the key!
How much time did I spend on the platform daily, including writing/publishing last month?
Answer: 90–110 minutes, which brings roughly $40+ hourly income. That’s the power of the Medium platform.
How?
I write 2 articles each day M-F, one in the morning before my 9–5 job starts and the second between 6–8 PM. That’s it!
I love to spend weekends in the mountains, and if the weather is terrible, I have no option to go out; I would sit down on Saturday for 6–8 hours and produce 4–5 stories, each 800–1000 words, like this gentleman, Tim Denning.
What is the secret sauce?
Consistency! It’s straightforward if I can do it, you can do it.
March objectives:
My objective for March is to reach 55–60k views, which will get me at least $1000. I usually break down big ambitions into smaller ones, much like I do with building tiny habits; 60k views equals about 2000 every day.
- March goal — 60k views
- Earning — $1000
- Daily goal — — 2k Views
- Stories target — 40
If you have any questions, kindly leave them in the comments section.
