According to Medium Partner Program criteria, an author needs to have 100+ followers (and at least one published story) to be eligible to become a partner to make money from your stories.
So, if you’re new to the platform, you want to reach the 100 followers mark to start getting compensated for your work.
Today you are going to learn what it takes to get the first 100 followers and how to become a top writer on Medium.
Hard Work
Instead of using “growth hacks” or any other shortcuts for success, I recommend you start doing it the right way from the beginning.
Growing your audience and followers requires patience and lots of hours of writing. There are no tricks you can pull off to avoid this. Sorry.
To succeed on Medium, you need to
- Write quality articles on well-performing topics daily.
- Provide value for the reader.
- Publish articles on relevant publications.
- Improve your writing.
Following these steps, it takes a couple of months before you reach the first 100 followers. But it’s worth it. After a couple of months, you get the snowball rolling and your blog starts growing faster.
What to Write About
So, your goal is to write a lot. But what should you write about?
You can write about anything as long as it provides value for a reader.
Take a tour on Medium. There are tons of publications. Each publication is a niche-specific page around a common topic. The biggest publications have hundreds of thousands of followers.
By inspecting the top stories of a publication, you can see what is working at the moment.
Here is a list of the 20 most popular publications to write for in 2021.
When you start writing, feel free to experiment with different topics. You should not pick a niche, especially at the beginning.
Keep in mind you don’t need to be an expert to write about a topic. Just don’t try to pretend to be one.
Publish Your Stories in Publications
Publish your stories in a publication relevant to your topic. The most popular publications have hundreds of thousands of followers. All these followers are your potential readers.
Before you submit your piece to a publication, keep in mind the publications review each story. Each publication has its own set of rules for writing, style, and so on. Make sure you are familiar with the rules before writing.
Remember, not all articles are accepted for publication.
Make Your Stories Look Appealing
To get followers, you need to get readers. To get readers, you need to grab their attention.
Write a compelling title, with a grabby subtitle. And do not forget to add a descriptive thumbnail image. You can use for example Unsplash images
Take a look at this article. It’s almost impossible to scroll past it:
Improve Your Writing
There’s always room for improvement when it comes to writing. To succeed as a writer, you need to keep on improving constantly.
See What the Others Do
Read top stories. If you write about health, check out the top stories on Health to get inspired and learn from the pros.
Use Spell Checkers
Every writer makes silly grammar mistakes. Worrying about these wastes energy and eats resources. This is where spell checkers save the day.
Use Grammarly to get rid of inevitable grammar mistakes.
Make Your Stories Easy to Read
Use HemingwayApp to improve the readability of your stories.
Make Your Profile Look Professional
It’s easier to start following a real person who has a clear mission. To do this, make sure your profile clearly states who you are and what you write about.
- Use your real name.
- Add a close-up picture of yourself
- Add a bio that briefly introduces you, and perhaps what you write about.
Do Not Use Any “Growth Hacks”
There’s no such thing as a growth hack.
Surely, there are hacky ways for you to get your first 100 or even 10k followers quickly. But doing this gets you nowhere. Only quality followers count. Treat followers as a byproduct of good writing and hard work.
So, do not:
- Spam clap stories you did not read to gain the attention of the author.
- Clap for claps or follow for follows
- Leave nonsense responses to popular stories to gain exposure.
- Believe in “growth hacks”.
Instead, focus on writing and the community:
- Provide value to the readers.
- Respond to your comments.
- Leave helpful responses to other stories.
- Clap only the pieces you like.
Conclusion
Today you learned how to get your first 100 followers on Medium.com.
Do not focus too much on the number of followers. Focus on writing quality content. Provide value for the readers to give them a reason to follow you.
See what’s working, experiment with different niches, and write a lot. Preferably, publish one well-thought and quality story a day.
Remember to be patient. It can take months before you see results. But once you get the ball rolling, nothing can stop you from growing.
Further Reading
If you’re serious about writing on Medium, you should read this comprehensive guide: An Ultimate Guide to Writing on Medium in 2021