I spent 13 years as a police officer, much of that as a detective.
If I had to pick an area I excelled in, it would be interview and interrogation. I was able to get people to tell me about crimes they had committed when it didn't benefit them to tell me about those crimes.
My success in interviews didn't come from talent—I honestly don't think I had much talent at all—but from simply avoiding the most common mistakes interviewers make. For instance, I listened far more than I talked, showed respect even if it wasn't warranted, and never talked over the person I interviewed.
These are all basic ideas that, shockingly, few detectives stick to.
Making money on Medium is precisely the same. You don't need extreme talent, but you do need to avoid these wildly common mistakes. I see these mistakes nearly every time I open the Medium app to read a few articles.
1 - Cryptic titles
We are bombarded with information that vies for our attention. Articles with clear headlines that interest me or tell me how they'll benefit me will win every time. Don't be clever; be clear.
2 - Journal entries
Almost every single author who posts daily to Medium is writing journal entries. They are not writing anything that benefits the reader. Yes, writing should be personal, and stories should be shared. However, when you are writing just to keep your daily writing streak going…it shows. People will stop reading your work.
3 - Not using all five tags, or using the wrong tags
You get five tags on Medium, use all of them. But before you use them, check to see how many stories are under that tag and how many followers it has. You can use the tag "Divorce" if you write about divorce. But should you? Probably not.
That tag has 29k stories under it and only 1.4k followers.
I'd use "Life Lessons" instead. That tag has 737k stories and 1 million followers, which is a huge difference.
4 - Not optimizing SEO before publishing
Before you hit publish, you can write the SEO blurb for your article. Most people ignore this, and Medium automatically uses your first few sentences. That's a mistake. Take a minute to write a short descriptive sentence or two telling the world what your article is about.
5 - Formatting mistakes
There is no "correct" way to format an article. However, many ways exist to turn people away from your writing. Making each sentence its own paragraph is one of them. Use the stand-alone sentence sparingly. Also, putting 7 to 8 sentences together without breaks can be hard to read on mobile, which is how many people read Medium articles.
I tend to use 1-3-1 formatting, as I find it easier to read: one stand-alone sentence, followed by three to four sentences, followed by one more stand-alone sentence.
What I'm reading this week
Whether you love him or hate him, Elon Musk is an interesting figure in today's society. Walter Isaacson does a great job of telling the story of what shaped the Elon Musk we see today in his book "Elon Musk." I'm shocked at how troubled his childhood was, but it helps me understand the man we see today.
Question for the week
What apps on your phone steal the most of your time, and what could you do with that time if you took it back?
Talk soon,
Josh