I Got The $500 Bonus on Medium. Here’s What I Did To Get There.
9 effective ways of writing engaging articles.
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To my surprise, I woke up to a $500 bonus a week ago. I was astonished. I had not been on Medium for 4 months and just started to get motivated about writing again due to an article of mine that recently went viral.
I know how painful it can be when a story goes unnoticed. When I first started writing on the platform, some of the articles I had written barely got any reads.
But then I started taking notes on what brought more attention and what didn’t.
I started tweaking my writing and re-invented the way I told stories.
And I realized that my readers not only wanted to be educated, they also wanted to be entertained.
Thus, I kept writing until I improved my craft and became a better writer. The money was a reflection of how better I got.
So, I wanted to share the strategies I learned over the last 2 years that took me from $0 to $953.35.
These are the things that helped me create content that brought in an extra $500 for the month.
1. Follow one concept. Just one.
Instead of rambling on and on in my posts, I decided to stick to the rule of one. I always make sure that I have one big idea so that my article doesn’t go in twenty different directions. In short: stay on topic.
2. Have a strong introduction.
The purpose of the first paragraph is to entice your readers into wanting more. When I scroll through Netflix, I personally turn it off if the beginning doesn’t seem interesting to me. I need to be drawn in.
3. Sometimes less is more.
…which is why listicles are so popular. 14 min read vs 5? I’ll take the 5. Short paragraphs are sometimes more effective because they are easy to read and digest. I also always make sure I break my paragraphs up with subheadings and bullet points if necessary.
