December Writing Tips, Recommended Stories, and Scripture Prompt
By: Kimberley Payne
Tags: Recommended Reading, Writing Tips, Newsletter, Writers On Medium, Writing Prompts

Writing Tips

The writing tips in December that were shared on our Facebook group include:

Mary Gallagher: It just hit me we can insert alt text with photos! That does help with SEO.

Kimberley Payne: Yes, it’s something I have never done! Never remember to do it.

Mishael Witty: I do that for all images when I’m editing.

**

Kimberley Payne: Do prolific writers earn more money than marketers on Medium?

Mary Gallagher: Very interesting. Thank you.

Kyle Chastain: Thanks for sharing this. Do you think these groups are as helpful with all the changes on Medium?

Kimberley Payne: It’s really hard to say. Medium seems to change so often it’s hard to keep up. This is an older piece and maybe worthy of a new experiment.

**

Chelsey Blake: If you haven’t utilized coschedule’s headline analyzer, you should. It helps with SEO and it’s free!

I’ve got two articles on medium with even more free resources for writing/marketing. Hope this helps someone!

Mishael Witty: We recommend that all Koinonia writers use the headline tool and strive for a score of 70 or better. It’s not required, but definitely encouraged!

Kyle Chastain: Do you think this works more favorably with clickbait headlines? I’ve used it in the past and clickbait seems to get the highest scores.

Mishael Witty: That’s because clickbait titles use the best format for getting people to click and read (emotional/power words, etc.). We can learn from that without following the same deceptive article format. I’ve been accused of having “clickbait” titles before, but I don’t deceive. My titles say exactly what readers are going to find within the articles. Is it always what they expect to find? Apparently not, but that’s their fault for not understanding the main point of the article.

Barbara Radisavljevic: I have submitted titles to two different headline analyzers, the one from CoSchedule and this one. They often come out with very different results.

Sarah Paris: The good news is Medium is cracking down on clickbait! I’ll post the link in this thread.

Mishael Witty: What does this one use as a measure of “engagement?” Coschedule measures SEO strength.

Barbara Radisavljevic: I’m honestly not sure. This is what the website says: “The Headline Quality Score is based on a multivariate linguistic algorithm built on the principles of Behavior Model theory and Sharethrough’s neuroscience and advertising research. The algorithm takes into account more than 300 unique variables, including EEG data and Natural Language Processing, enabling your native ads to capture attention, increase engagement and deliver a stronger impression.” I normally use this as a second opinion.

**

Kyle Chastain: I learned this journalism rule about not burying the lede because I’d heard it in movies. I always wondered what it means so I decided to research it. Hope it’s helpful!

**

Richard Armstrong: I’m so glad to be part of this group. Yesterday I posted my first story on Koinonia. The editor was very helpful to make my article better and I appreciate it much. Merry Christmas.

**

Kimberley Payne: If you’re a self-employed writer then this short post may help: Small Business Owners Beware!

Gayle Kurtzer-Meyers: One of my favorites . We need to keep our minds and thoughts on his desires. It is easy to get caught up into earthy goals and forget about the purpose our God intended. Stay Blessed and Merry Christmas.

**

Julie Ranson: I learned a lot about the writing life from my first NaNoWriMo in 2020.