A single view.
That’s all my first month on Medium provided.
One person (bless them) chose to read my notes about what I’d learned from taking A-level exams last summer.
Since releasing this first article, it’s safe to say that I’ve learned a lot about building a strong following in a short space of time on this platform.
I’ve identified three points that stand out as priorities when it comes to achieving growth here:
- Finding a niche
- Writing consistently for some time
- Iterating and improving on what you’ve written
This is my two cents on the first of these three.
I’m going to teach you the stages to finding a niche and building in it, so that you can go on to monetise your Medium account and find clients in the future.
Lets get started…
I’ve divided finding an engaged niche up into three stages:
- Taking stock of the knowledge you have
- Writing broadly on topics that will get you noticed
- Identifying a niche and building into it
I’m going to talk about them in order…
Taking stock of your knowledge:
This is to find the subjects lurking in your brain that are actually worth writing about.
I’ve always used the Two-Year Test from Dickie Bush to do this…
What are the obstacles or points of friction in your life that you’ve overcome in the last two years?
The idea behind this is that, chances are if you had a problem with something, others will too.
Furthermore, these people will read content written about how to solve the problems they are facing, especially if the person writing the content has done so, and has reached a level they’re striving to get to.
The answer to this question for you could be anything:
- How you scaled a business
- How you trained for a marathon
- How to breed cats
Any knowledge that you have.
The important point here is the word knowledge. Without knowledge, your articles are going to stink of incompetency, turning readers away.
With that in mind, research and learn about things yourself, so you can broaden the range of topics that you have knowledge to write about.
It’s now time to start writing…
Writing broadly on topics that will get you noticed:
Publishing your first article is hard. I promise it gets easier though.
At first, I wondered whether my knowledge was going to be sufficient to build an audience. Impostor syndrome, if you like.
Please, just publish.
Press the button. Get your knowledge out there, as quickly as possible.
Now, then.
Unfortunately, you might find that people don’t want to engage with your content at first.
Two solutions to this:
- Go back and rethink the topics you’re writing about
- Just keep going
I vouch for the second solution.
Write broadly and consistently about the things you know and understand, and I promise at some point, something’s going to break to a wider audience.
Focus on publishing content that lies in the intersection of what you know about, and what the world wants to read about. Think trends and recent events for this.
This gives your work the chance to be suggested to and enjoyed by more people, leading to a growth in your following.
To stay consistent, create a system that allows you publish work regularly. Find time in the day that’s dedicated to writing and publishing articles, because I’ve found that Medium really values the consistent writer.
At this point, a niche might emerge.
So then what do you do?
Identifying a niche and building into it:
If you’ve been publishing consistently, it’ll only be a matter of time before a niche appears.
One of your articles might end up getting 250 views instead of 25.
Seize the opportunity.
Start creating similar relevant pieces, and see if the volume of engagement with your work stays high.
If it does, rinse and repeat. You’ve found a topic that engages a wider audience, so now you have to cater to them. Write more of what they enjoy, and at the same time, monitor how the new work performs.
This allows you to continually iterate the content your releasing. As your audience grows, you’ll develop a style that keeps them coming back for more, turning repeat readers into followers.