Since starting to write on Medium in January, I’ve gathered just over 50,000 views on the platform. About 43k of them have come in the last two months. I’ve learned a lot through this process, about many different aspects including quality, consistency, managing emotions and iterating content.

Many of these pieces of advice are scattered throughout my other writing, from article to article, as I drop them in as and when I’m experiencing them or learning from them, but this is not much help.

This article’s here to change that.

Here are all my top tips for growing from 0–50k views on Medium in the space of months…

I. Get started now

The most cliché advice is also the most important.

There’s a reason that everyone says it.

Who cares when the best time to start writing on Medium was? The second best time, and the only time now accessible to you, is now.

You don’t have to be good at writing, you just have to know about an area that people are interested in and willing to learn about.

If it’s niche information, don’t worry. There are billions of people out there with access to the internet, so you’re going to find an audience no matter what knowledge you write about.

Perhaps you worry that the platform is saturated? Wrong. Irrespective of any social media platform in the world, consumers and readers outnumber creators by varyingly astronomical amounts.

One thing’s consistent.

There are more readers than there are creators. People are starving for content.

II. Write about what you know

You don’t have any authority if you’re a complete beginner in building an audience online.

Perhaps if you have followers on other platforms you can direct them across, but growing a following of active users on Medium is going to help you when it comes to engagement and building authority.

The best way to do this is not necessarily to start writing about your interests. It’s to write about what you have deep knowledge about.

This is where I went wrong when I started.

I have a lot of enthusiasm for personal growth topics e.g. gym and meditation, but I don’t really have depth of understanding. This meant that nobody wanted to read what I had to say when I was writing about them.

What changed things was when I made a piece about something I had expert knowledge about that people wanted to learn.

People started to follow me for this knowledge, building up authority. Now I can write more broadly on things that interest me, and I still have people wanting to know what I have to say.

III. Quantity over quality

Against the common assumption, but it’s true.

We learn by iteration, by taking action and improving repeatedly upon this action.

It might be hard to believe, but the person who writes 10 articles quickly, continually responding to feedback from the world is going to do better than someone who plans for days over their first piece. The engagement will be higher, and even the quality will be better because experience beats planning.

By extension, you could say quantity is quality.

Another argument for this is that online media moves at a ridiculously fast pace…

You’re not going to stand out if you’re only posting sporadically. Get in your audience’s faces and let them know you’re there. If they can see your portfolio of work has a lot of content around a subject they like, they’re going to keep coming back. This is how you build return readers and followers.

IV. Scrap your morning routine — write instead

In writing more than many other creative endeavours, you need an unbroken stream of thought and flow to be able to output your best work.

This means no distractions, nothing weighing on your mind.

Because of this, the best time to write is in the morning, right after you’ve woken up. Don’t check your notifications. In fact, turn them all off. All they’ll do is create open loops that rip your attention away from creating like velcro.

Additionally, you’re more creative in the morning — you’ll find that inventive structure and style ideas come to you quicker and that you think of concise and engaging vocabulary easier.

Writing first thing in the morning ties in with the previous point on consistency too. I publish a piece every day, often writing that piece on the day of publishing. This means, the longer I leave my writing throughout the day, the more it’s hanging over me, distracting me from being present in other tasks.

If I get the writing done in the morning, I can spend the rest of my day focusing on being present and engaged in whatever activities I choose to spend my time doing.

V. Build a system for capturing ideas and note-taking

You might be the most inspired person in the world, but you need a little bit of organisation and structure to your thoughts at least.

Because of the above points, you’re going to be writing a lot, and the worst feeling is when you sit down and don’t feel as though you have anything to write about.

This is when your writing will feel forced and inauthentic, rather than natural and engaging to an audience.

Capturing ideas when you’re out and about living life and learning things is of high priority. I use Todoist for their quick capture features — there’s little friction and I can clarify the inbox at a later time for organisation and reminders.

A system for managing your notes and outlines is important too.

I’ve been using the Zettelkasten method for creating short interlinked notes in Obsidian for the last year, so I have a very sound structure that I can use to inspire my writing. I can also outline articles in Obsidian, making the writing process easier when I get to the browser to type words into Medium.

VI. Love the highs and the lows the same

When you’re looking for growth on any social media platform, you’re going to have highs and you’re going to have lows. Low growth, no engagement, mixed with days where engagement is through the roof.

The worst thing you can do is let it affect you too much, regardless of whether this is positively or negatively.

All the metrics are telling you the same thing, whether you’re doing well in your growth or not.

Growth is slow, or you’re not growing? This is a sign that you have to change something.

Growth is fast? You’re doing something right.

Remove the ego from the situation and look at each outcome logically, rather than from an emotional standpoint.

One easy way to do this when you are very early in your writing journey is to simply block vanity metrics. They don’t help you at this point, because you aren’t going to get any views.

Come back to them once you’ve published 20 pieces and see what’s been working and what hasn’t.

Following this advice, you’ll hit 100 followers and money will come into the equation. I’ve earned just under $1.2k from the Partner Program in the last couple of months, but I wanted to put out a warning.

Once money is involved, the emotional attachment becomes stronger. You’ve got to practice removing results and outcomes from your mind.

Don’t attach your emotional state to the performance of your writing.

Keep providing value and people will come.

VII. Nothing changes at the milestones

This is like the previous point, but I must reiterate…

When you reach certain outcomes, 100, 250, 500 followers and more, you might be tempted to think that things change, that you feel a certain type of way now that you have this status.

Wrong. Things change over time, not in an instant when you reach a certain result, and the first you’ll know about this is when you look back and think “Oh, I no longer worry if I don’t get X”, or “Hey, I don’t have Y problem anymore”.

You have to fall in love with the process, not the results. You have to be inspired by the fact that people are gaining value from the work that you’re releasing, not by the numbers on your screen.

The journey is the most fulfilling part of the process. Look at where you’ve come from and who you’ve inspired, not the day’s metrics on a screen.

This is the most concise, value-filled piece I’ve released so far, covering everything I’ve learned from growing a Medium account. If I had to pick the most important takeaways they’d be:

  • Get started now
  • Publish consistently
  • Learn from results, don’t attach yourself to them emotionally

I hope you’ve learned something new from this piece, and as always, thanks for reading!