I went from practically zero followers to over 50K and counting.
Without publishing every day.
Without social media promotion.
Without engaging with other people’s posts.
Yes. You don’t need to follow any of the advice above.
Here’s what really works:
1. Write an attention-grabbing headline
Your article is just one in the list of several others.
If you don’t stand out you will never get clicks.
Attention is everything — not just on Medium but everywhere.
Just adding a power word to your article can drastically level up the click rate.
Power words like: new, amazing, transformative, little-known…
Example:
What else makes this headline great?
- Important keywords: Google, Gemini 1.5 Flash
Sometimes a keyword is 90% of a good headline, especially for people who are very interested in the related topic.
- Emoji: 😲
Not necessary but it can add a touch of humanity to your headline.
- Power phrase: “Out of this world”
2. Write intros the right way
Your intros should build upon the headline.
Cut the fluff and get to the point quickly.
A good intro doesn’t look like an intro. It just starts.
Your very first sentence is crucial. Keep it short and lively.
Let it naturally flow onto the next sentence for the reader — and the next, and the next… no dull moments.
Whenever I write a new sentence I think of how to make it crisper and denser. Constantly rearranging and deleting words.
Don’t make readers think you have nothing to say and are just padding your article for views.
3. Don’t play with your read ratio
Of all the metrics in your stats page, read ratio is the most important to watch out for.
Specifically your member read ratio.
It tells the algorithm that what you’ve written isn’t a bunch of drivel.
You know how YouTubers are always so obsessed with “the algorithm”. You need to do the same as a Medium.
Read ratio = Reads / Views x 100.
1 View = They visited your article page link.
1 Read = They read for 30 seconds or more.
I’ve seen some people say it doesn’t matter but they’re wrong.
My articles always do well above 60% read ratio.
A great headline maximizes your chances of getting a view.
A great read ratio maximizes your chance of “the algorithm” recommending your story.
4. Be consistent
Publish regularly.
It doesn’t have to be every day but it needs to be regular — especially when you’re just starting.
And I know this is a cliché content creation advice people just throw around but let’s think about WHY…
Go to your Medium homepage and what do you see?
Most of the articles Medium recommends are:
- Popular and recent articles on topics you like.
- Popular and recent articles from people whom you follow or read recently or regularly.
When you’re new you have none of these. You have no followers, no content base, no popular articles. You have nothing.
The algorithm doesn’t “trust” you. This isn’t YouTube where you can get millions of views on your first video.
Your first story will get almost nothing. You can increase your chances with the right publication for the right story, but it’s still pretty unlikely as a fresher.
Consistently releasing engaging content with similar topics or themes is what gets you trust.
It’s what got me 50,000+ followers in less than a year.