I made $0.91 in my first 7 days of the Medium Partner Program
(Here’s How I Made it Happen)
Believe it or not, I didn’t join Medium to make money.
Instead, I wanted to focus on building an audience and I saw medium as a much more viable way to do that than by attempting to build my own blog from scratch — all by myself.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still trying to build my blog; I just realize that it’s going to take a really long time, and until then I am finding what I consider moderate success on Medium.
So after a little bit of thought, I signed up on July 19th and immediately posted some stories from the backlog of my independent blog.
The next day after reading posts from other writers in the Partner Program, I decided to make a real effort to apply.
But first, I needed to fulfill the requirements.
To join the Partner Program, I needed to gain 100 followers.
It’s a very divisive subject, but I did this by using the “follow for follow” method. A lot of creators don’t like this method because they consider it illegitimate.
However, along the way I learned that what I originally considered as a means to an end was actually a really great way to engage with a community of people that were on the same path as me.
Eight days after starting the method, on July 28th, I gained 100 followers and was accepted in to the Medium Partner Program.
Seven days after that, on August 4th, I had already made 91 cents — approximately 91 cents more than I had even imagined was possible.
Here’s the steps I took to make this success a reality.
Followers
Followers are important and they don’t stop being important. Even after I met my goal of 100 to meet the partner program requirements, I continued to make an effort to widen my network, and I will continue to do so indefinitely.
Medium Membership
Within the first few days of creating a Medium account, I signed up to be a paying member too.
I really just thought it made sense that if I was going to be reaping the benefits of the Partner Program, then I should be putting my money in the pot to support it too. After all, $5 is really not that much.
What I didn’t know is that paying members seem to have a slight advantage over non-paying members when it comes to building a following.
Just think about it.
In the Partner Program you get paid when paying members read your articles. You don’t get paid when non-paying accounts read your articles.
This means that writers in the partner program are hoping to increase their earnings by actively searching for paying members.
Paying members are the ones with the little green lines above and below their profile pictures, and writers are much more likely to follow, comment, highlight, and subscribe to them.
So, do yourself a favor and increase your odds of engagement by becoming a paying Medium Member.
Engagement
Of course, I wasn’t just waiting for other people to engage with me. Even though it felt a little awkward at first, I made a real effort to genuinely engage with other people.
Yes I did target more paid members, but I made sure to actually read their articles, highlight, and leave thoughtful comments. I wanted them to know that I wasn’t just using them and that I actually cared about what they wrote.
I made sure to do this about 3 to 5 times a day, sometimes more.
Audience Targeting
When I signed up for Medium I initially wanted to write about real estate and personal finance. That’s my niche.
I realized very quickly though that paying members on Medium aren’t really interested in those subjects and that they cared more about something else: writing.
I still write about my niche. After all that’s where my passion lies, but if I wanted to make any income from the Partner Program then I needed to start writing for writers.
From then on I began to alternate the topics I wrote about, making sure to include real estate, personal finance, and writing.
Quality Over Quantity
When you read “how to make money” articles on Medium you’ll usually see the same recommendations pop up over and over again.
One of the most notable pieces of advice being that you should write at least one article every day. Heck, I even saw one guy claim to write up to fifteen articles a day.
I don’t do that.
I actually try to write one article every other day.
This allows me to really focus on the quality of a story instead of pumping out pointless articles hoping that because of sheer number people will click on them.
With my strategy I’ve found that when I’m focused on answering questions and providing great value and knowledge to my readers in some way, they tend to stick around and read for longer amounts of time.
This in turn creates a potential for higher earnings.
Article Length
Again, common advice recommends that you should be writing 3 to 4 minute articles.
They say this because that’s the amount of time most people are willing to sit down to read an article for — and I’m not really arguing with that.
However, when I did a some research and looked into things a little more, I saw that some of the top performing writers on Medium write significantly longer articles; they might be anywhere from 6 to 9 minutes long.
Seeing that made me suspect that if my articles were longer, I might have higher reading times.
So, I started writing longer articles.
So far my theory seems to be correct.
Simplification
Somewhere along the way, I learned that to be a good writer you need to go back over your draft and simplify not only the title, but every paragraph you wrote.
I’ll admit, this isn’t my strong suit, but I’ve been practicing every chance I get.
By simplifying things you’re much more likely to catch and keep your reader’s attention.
Headlines
When it comes to headlines, “short and simple” is the best; but it’s also important to include an air of mystery.
For a headline to be successful, I’ve found that you need to convey a problem, and you need to imply that you have the answer to that problem. You also need to do it in the shortest way possible.
I try to utilize subtitles whenever I can too.
It’s easier said than done, but I’m still working on it and getting better every day.
Continuing My Education
I think it’s fair to say that I wouldn’t be writing if I didn’t take the time to learn how.
Likewise, I don’t think I’ll be successful creator on Medium if I don’t continue to try to educate myself on becoming a better writer.
So, I try to learn and seek out new information every day.
I know that this article has been on the longer side of life. But hey, if you read it all the way through at least you know why!
Also, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this. I really hope it helped you and I hope you enjoy the process of growing as a writer here on Medium.
I do look forward to writing and sharing more of my journey with you in the months to come. After all, this is just the start of something great.
Let’s keep growing.
Oh Hey, It’s Ray is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and former real estate agent. She lives happily with her husband and two children in the Pacific Northwest. See more from Ray at her YouTube channel and on Ohheyitsray.com