Maximizing Your Earnings: $10,000 from 10 Medium Articles
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Chapter 1: The Potential of Writing on Medium
Envision generating $10,000 by expressing your insights, experiences, and narratives online. Numerous influencers and authors have accomplished this through effective content strategy. This guide will delve into how you can aim for the impressive target of earning $10,000 from just ten articles.
As a software engineer, I tend to be wary of bold assertions regarding online income. However, curiosity drove me to investigate these claims firsthand. My method was straightforward: I aimed to verify whether the figures were accurate and if substantial income could indeed be realized through writing.
To begin, I researched various content creators, focusing particularly on those who attracted readers with captivating titles like "How to Earn $X on Y." To uncover the truth, I embarked on my own writing journey. Over the span of a month, I penned seven articles on Medium and promoted them once on LinkedIn. The outcome? A modest total of $0.49, with 92 views and 30 reads.
These preliminary results sparked my interest, prompting me to explore further and quantify what it would take to generate a significant income — specifically, $10,000. Through diligent research and utilizing AI to comprehend what makes an article appealing, I gathered valuable insights into the writing industry. Here’s what I learned.
Understanding Medium's Compensation Model
Medium compensates writers based on the duration paying subscribers spend reading their articles. The more engaging your content, the longer readers will stay, and consequently, the more you will earn. Therefore, the secret to maximizing your earnings lies in ensuring reader engagement and retention.
Key Metrics
To attain the $10,000 earning target, it’s essential to grasp the following key metrics:
- Total Earnings Goal: $10,000
- Number of Articles: 10
- Average Reading Time per Article: 4 minutes
- Value per Reader Minute: $0.02
- Read Ratio: 50% (half of the views convert into reads)
Calculating Your Path to Success
Let’s break down the numbers:
- Total Reading Time Required: $10,000 / $0.02 = 500,000 minutes
- Reading Time per Article: 500,000 minutes / 10 = 50,000 minutes per article
- Reads Needed per Article: 50,000 minutes / 4 minutes = 12,500 reads per article
- Views Required per Article: 12,500 reads / 0.5 = 25,000 views per article
Summary of Requirements
To achieve your income goal, you will need:
- Total Views Required: 250,000 views (25,000 views per article × 10 articles)
- Total Reads Required: 125,000 reads (12,500 reads per article × 10 articles)
Optimal Article Length for Engagement
To craft an article that takes around 4 minutes to read, target a length of 800–1000 words. Given that the average reading speed is approximately 200–250 words per minute, this word count fits well within the 4-minute reading timeframe.
Insights into Popularity and Competition of Tags
Upon reviewing the available data, it becomes evident that there is a significant disparity in the popularity of various tags on Medium. There are 505 distinct tags that I identified on the Medium platform, although it’s possible that the system can dynamically create tags.
Followers:
For instance, the technology tag boasts an impressive following of 10,800,000, making it a highly competitive yet potentially lucrative area for publishing. In contrast, tags related to restaurants and memoirs have no followers, indicating that articles in these categories may face challenges in gaining visibility.
Stories:
Moreover, the number of stories associated with each tag varies significantly. Both the technology and blockchain tags contain 1,600,000 stories, suggesting high competition. Conversely, the podcast-equipment tag has only 22 stories, indicating a niche with less content but also a smaller audience.
Developing a Robust Strategy
It is evident that solely publishing on Medium makes it challenging to sustain a living. A systematic approach that includes diversification of publishing channels and strategic content distribution is necessary. Below is a proposed framework:
Establish Clear Goals
- Earnings Target: $10,000 from 10 articles.
- Engagement Metrics: Aim for 250,000 views and 125,000 reads across 10 articles.
- Content Quality: Ensure each article spans 800–1000 words to align with the 4-minute reading target.
Leverage Available Tools
- Writing Platforms: Medium, LinkedIn Articles, Substack, Guest Posting.
- Promotion Channels: Social media (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok), Email newsletters, SEO.
- Analytics Tools: Publishing platform statistics, Google Analytics, custom-developed statistics, social media insights.
Outline a Global Strategy
- Diversify Publishing Platforms: Avoid reliance on Medium alone; publish across multiple platforms to broaden your audience.
- Optimize Content for Engagement: Create high-quality, captivating content that retains readers.
- Actively Promote: Utilize various channels to promote your articles and drive traffic.
- Engage with Your Audience: Foster a community by interacting with your readers and followers.
- Build a Recognizable Brand: Create a consistent voice and style with identifiable logos, colors, and themes.
- Establish Authority in Your Niche: Share in-depth knowledge and unique insights to become a trusted resource in your area of expertise.
Break Down into Actionable Steps
- Diversify Your Publishing Platforms
- Medium: Continue leveraging Medium’s audience.
- LinkedIn Articles: Reach a professional audience with your articles.
- Substack: Build a subscriber-based audience through Substack.
- Guest Posting: Contribute to popular blogs in your niche to reach their audience.
- Enhance Content for Engagement
- Choose Relevant Topics: Focus on trending issues and common challenges in your niche.
- Use Strong Hooks: Start with surprising facts or engaging anecdotes.
- Incorporate Visuals: Use images, infographics, and videos to boost engagement.
- Maintain Clarity: Write clearly and concisely to keep readers interested.
- Promote Your Articles
- Social Media: Share your articles on platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Email Newsletters: Build an email list and send regular updates with article links.
- SEO Optimization: Implement SEO best practices to enhance article visibility.
- Engage with Your Audience
- Respond to Comments: Foster engagement by replying to reader comments.
- Encourage Sharing: Include calls-to-action prompting readers to share your content.
- Network: Build connections with other writers and influencers in your niche.
- Monitor and Adjust Your Strategy
- Analytics: Utilize analytics tools to track article performance.
- Content Adjustments: Modify your strategy based on performance feedback.
- Continuous Learning: Stay informed about the latest trends in content creation and distribution.
I will continue to delve into this topic using data and analysis. Follow me for further insights here and on LinkedIn.
For more insights into Medium data, feel free to reach out. In the upcoming article, I will explain how to extract this information for those with a more technical background.
