5 Common Technical Mistakes to Avoid for Medium Writers
By: Morris T
Tags: Readership, Writing Tips, Writers On Medium, Writers On Writing, Medium Writers

MEDIUM SMARTS

5 Common Technical Mistakes to Avoid for Medium Writers

These have a detrimental impact on your readership.

Avoid these mistakes. Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay

You may have the best story in mind but if you do not provide it a suitable home, it will not go far.

This article focuses on technical mistakes, not actual writing. Avoiding these potholes help position your article for success.

Background colors not conducive for reading.

I saw this a few times and it led me straight to the exit door within seconds. While your choice of color reflects on your artistic approach, the objective here is to gain readership.

Make reading as easy on the eyes as possible. Nothing hurts more than a red background with white font. Non-standard title case.

Many readers are writers themselves. A non-standard case is obvious. It is easily avoidable and hence the presence of it diminishes your authority.

Your title should be in the title case.

“Title case or headline case is a style of capitalization used for rendering the titles of published works or works of art in English. When using title case, all words are capitalized except for “minor” words unless they are the first or last word of the title.” — Wikipedia

Make use of free tools to format correctly. I use Title Case Converter. Lack of sources.

Medium is a place for reading and learning. Your readers have limited time and they want to spend it on relevant and effective articles. A story with authoritative content requires the citation of the proper source.

For example, I write about causes that I feel strongly about, such as putting an end to child labor. I do not simply state, “There are many child laborers”. I do research on the actual numbers and this allows me to put it up there for the world to read without any allowance for doubt.

For example: “There are nearly 1 in 10 children subjected to child labor globally.”

Proper citation of sources conveys to your readers that you are serious about your work and they can confidently invest their time reading your article to be informed.

On the other hand, articles that are purely on a “feeling” or personal basis have more leeway. I do write about my thoughts and only my thoughts at times.

For example: “ This morning, I saw a couple behaved rudely towards an old man. Why must people be so unkind?”

You can’t be citing your mind as your source now can you? It is already implied by your literary approach. Lack of images.

While your words can paint a picture, a picture can paint a thousand words. Use it to your advantage. A well-chosen image can propel your story above the others. It can also serve as a break for the eyes in between texts.

I make sure that my articles have 2 images at a minimum. One at the start, the other after midway. Inappropriate images.

This is the opposite of point number 2. Do not use too many images as you are not creating an art gallery, neither should you use unrelated images just for the sake of getting pictures into your story. Consider the below picture and the caption.

It does not portray the essence of this article and derails the serious tone of the subject. It reeks of fluff, an exaggeration of the impact this article makes. Readers will disconnect.

Happy readers. Photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash

What to do next

I created this list of common mistakes to avoid based on my personal reading on Medium. It is not a hypothesis and I actually did stop reading the articles.

The hypothesis is that many other readers will do the same.

Medium writing is competitive, I rephrase myself, hyper-competitive. Every single tip that can increase your chances of securing that extra readership is worth a try.

Of course, it must be a proper actionable tip which is my focus when writing articles on Medium optimization. I only share tips that worked for me and are replicable by you.

Fluffy tips which have recently increased in numbers such as “ Do this ONE thing and you will get $1000 a month on Medium.” in my opinion are a waste of time. Logic tells otherwise. If it is indeed so easy, we will see many Medium writers earning big bucks. But that perhaps next time, is another story for me to write.

All the best for your Medium writing. We are in this together!

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