THERE ARE 600 MILLION BLOGS ON THE INTERNET

The most common traits of successful writers with 100k+ followers

There are 600 million blogs on the internet.

6 million articles are written every day — 2.5 billion annually.

— Data by Zippia

This data made me think of many things.

Are they all successful?

Do all of them achieve the purpose of blogging?

What is the purpose of blogging anyway?

You get it..

It feels like giving up on the dream of becoming a successful blogger.

But there is hope hidden in this pile of data.

People still read blogs, in this era of videos.

In my personal experience, When I really want to learn something, I don’t watch it, I read it.

When I want to understand something I write it.

Words are silent and they let the mind speak.

Well, it also surfaced a thought about what makes a blogger successful on Medium.

Being successful can mean many things to many people.

So I had a good old parameter of followers to measure for the experiment\’s sake.

I went on an expedition and studied Medium Writers who at least have 100k followers.

And these are my observations. Please be mindful that these are not absolute rules, and I don’t follow all of them.

But this could be a good starting point for beginners on the Medium platform to start with.

Write daily

All the writers I came across with 100k+ followers have been writing for a long time.

And they are doing so with utmost discipline and consistency.

Writing daily is normal, but some writers run an extra mile with two articles daily.

It seems overwhelming to comprehend or even give it a try.

But if you follow a process and system for writing, it is a piece of cake.

Illustrations

Successful writers have beautiful illustrations that summarise their thoughts behind the writing.

This is often made by themselves.

I don’t follow this but would like to try someday.

But writers who do not feature an illustration in the banner image at least have an intriguing image to support what they are writing about.

In short, they have a simplistic writing style and a distinct visual element to their blogs.

Self-help

I would say all of them add value.

They write something that can possibly change someone’s life to some degree.

Writing that gives an insight about a topic or invites the reader to look at an unexplored perspective.

Humans are selfish and greedy. There is no other way to put it.

They will engage with your content if they get something out of it. Sooner you get this, the better it is.

This can be a topic that you want to learn about.

Write about something you don’t know, and inform about it to your readers.

Simplicity

Simple, precise and concise.

Feedback on Reddit on my medium post changed my writing style forever.

The comment read “f**king word salad”.

We need to understand that blogging is not about how well you write, but is about how well it is read.

Stuffing words just to have a longer length does not do any good to your stature.

In fact, it might damage your position.

People are here to read, enjoy and feel good, don’t treat them like they are students sitting in your English class.

Face

The name for your medium blog can be a brand name, company name, personal name or a funny name like “OK The Fun”

The successful writer on Medium might write under a pen name.

But one thing that I found common on all the accounts is that their profile has a face.

It is human nature to connect with humans.

Knowing that there is a face behind the content that I am reading adds to the human touch and connection.

This is the very reason I updated my logo with my face.

Medium

Medium is a huge factor in the success of these bloggers.

That’s why I closed my web blog to start this one

Share in the communities where your voice matters the most.

It doesn’t mean you have to share only in blogging communities if you are a blogger.

If you write about a specific topic — let’s say “roses”; find a subreddit to post it there.

Go where the people are.

I feel great being on the medium because I just have to focus on the writing and not have to worry about maintaining a blog, bugs, spam, cyber attacks and whatnot.

It significantly adds to the productivity of a writer.

Medium is the factor in being a successful writer. An important one.

Not Boost Worthy, no Publications

I want to debunk the myth that you need to be in a medium publication to be successful on Medium.

It is not important.

You will get traffic anyway if your blog is adding value to the reader\’s knowledge.

With or Without — Publication, Boost and Staff Pick.

If you want to be in a long race, consistency is the key, not being viral.

I have seen accounts that have almost no followers in spite of being published in famous publications with 300k+ readership.

Do not hang up on the idea that your writing is not good if you are not accepted by a publication.

Give it time.

When you are new and growing on Medium, you will face challenges that are unknown to you.

Gradually the genuine medium readers will catch up with genuine interaction and connections.

I have fallen in love with many people on this platform just by reading what they write.

By the way, I follow most of the writers I seek inspiration from, see my follow list to check them out.

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