How can a designer write a popular article in just three months? (Down)

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1EphMdOBdszKff_rOGZNQ165LNf35iBw6z5g3EhRBTWhGWM g2TYy6Nvykr_MyvLHb1tMUprQNwHMNEWeVoNHBOzIeZkzhR0dB6pFe7v51t6wV8XGjX4zfOSb93s5UjKCKVPGqxHaFFU96/s1600/header.jpg)

[This article](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6 %98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/medium-%E5%AF%AB%E4%BD%9C%E4% B8%89%E5%80%8B%E6%9C%88%E5%BF%83%E5%BE%97%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A-%E6%88%91%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E5%9C%A8-me dium-%E5%AF%AB%E5%87%BA%E4%BA%86%E7%AF%87%E7%AF%87%E7%88%86%E6%96%87-%E4%B8%8B-4577e107e0e3) Author Chofy Lin, is a graphic designer with the sun in Cancer and rising in Leo, with a personality that is M on the outside and S on the inside. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

[Why we reprint this article] Following the previous episode, Chofy Lin used a more detailed data list to explain in detail the factors related to the popularity of her popular article. Friends who want to write more popular articles, in addition to observing Chofy’s analysis through this article, can also read the related articles recommended by her to further enhance their writing skills.

This article follows the previous episode “How does a designer write a viral blog post in just three months? (Part 1)” and continues to discuss the analysis of how to write a viral blog post. It is recommended that readers read the previous article first and then continue reading this article. But if you read it backwards, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

What we discovered from Medium’s backend data

The author organized and made public all his background data, and tried to find some interesting findings from the data. Since the author is not a professional [data analyst] (https://www.hbrtaiwan.com/article_content_AR0007924.html), the following content is based on intuitive feelings and observations during the writing process for your reference. At the same time, professional readers are also welcome to leave messages and give feedback!

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnWc4TMANqNb7ZfdpN3zNk-qHTLfZC5FoKdEN9YrTQLB116HOKjnt2 AaF9vensMQIzmJgPvo52fb8s2ntyz-VVuzU6I0nFpKIFmMJzHsDtGXqxR6E-1nJUODQ3Rva36M_pP0N3LqWmhSzL/s1600/1_bL8NFaKi3-ggqisc5TcNHg.png)

List of article background data (stats)

【Additional explanation】 The 15th article is “[How does a designer write a viral article in only three months? (Part 1)] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/05/how-to-write-viral-blog-posts.html)” that I just wrote last week. I think the feedback is also worthy of discussion, so I added it to the table. Since this report has embedded links to many other articles, the above 14 articles, in order not to be affected by the previous article when reviewing the data, use the data collected and retained before May 14.

à Is the relationship between word count and reading rate absolutely negative? Short answer: Basically yes, but it is also affected by other factors

The larger the number of words, the harder it is for readers to have the patience to read it. This is conceivable. The author’s articles have more words than ordinary authors, with the average word count being about 4,300 words. Therefore, the average article reading rate is also lower.

However, word count isn’t the only thing that affects your reading rate. According to the statistical table, whether sorted by word count from high to low or low to high, the reading rate is not completely inverse or proportional. See the image below:

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfb1KnewzVRxs8vHcX5HUVDLD5yI-0sCaKOYb4H0oSbW5-HLWpGNZNJ6Ad v0CQ9Y6L0jlb40LdBJ_FzZHBm3ttqAADJeTVcp332jsXj_R3HdTfDxVSMxILWNuMroRpb6XjiwV7i9muohDx/s1600/1_QkrQHU7XI80lTsVBahSLIA.png)

Sort from high to low word count

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHICwX7k6DuJ4N7bUHC9AU94B-RT_p_Nj2PAzIswY5iCg-xsKR7-Sp7VAM g9nQ1U41PRoxU3zfDdQak2OQxis4O4tNQkR6Z2O4UVft7F7PE5N8iPXh6MmVo-4hOZ4ntFZZFiDXPrtl6xgE/s1600/1_KpVLQq2UrRSWnQ3a8gW82w.png)

Sort from low to high word count

Regarding the relationship between word count and click-through rate, the author has compiled the following insights:

First, there should be a correlation between word count and reading rate. However, the average word count of the author’s articles is very high, and the least one is nearly 2,000 words. Therefore, there is no real comparative case of word count for comparison. However, based on the current data, my personal estimate is:

To achieve the best article reading rate, it is recommended that the word count be below 3,000 words and no more than 4,000 words at most.

In addition to the number of words, the theme, content, and layout may also be important factors that affect whether readers have the patience to read it to the end. How to optimize the reading experience is also something I should pay attention to in the future.

【Additional explanation】 Although I know that a large number of words may cause a reading burden, the author still chooses this approach. Of course, there are important reasons: the author hopes that readers will use the article as a “tool-type” collection. That is to say, because it is useful, readers are willing to clap their hands or add bookmarks to record it, just like encyclopedias or dictionaries, it has become an important collection of readers.

Therefore, the author does not force readers to spare time to read it all at once, but still writes all the knowledge in each article. Waiting for readers to be able to easily refer back to it when needed.

à Is the number of words related to the number of claps? Will the longer you write, the more claps you will get? Short answer: Not necessarily. What is more relevant is the content and nature of the article.

As mentioned before, the author chose to write more words, which is also one of the deliberate management methods. Some people may want to ask: “So if you write a lot of words, a lot of people will clap?”

The statistical results are: the top four articles with the highest number of words also happen to have the highest number of claps; however, the number of words and the number of claps do not show a complete positive correlation. At the same time, there is an article with more than 2,000 claps, but the number of words is the smallest; therefore, the number of words and the number of claps may not be completely related. See picture below: [](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNyBzV0Qu1BkCcxmSjhKSBFmE1Vxjr18CB33SC7qEkvQjAYgzOTj2LqRyk nOMuqqKbfper1LcMzUN4Zna8UaRnd1-CRGnhkfDVPG5TgyB60-m7T0sx2eyFrQdNFDJ-r7iPpfYq8TlGX8Gd/s1600/1_HiGVC-nIVTQNiFQQnpWspA.png)

The four articles with the highest word count and the number of claps they received

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOYNsLAS2Il9ADYJV9VNFCApbpnGSi7X1-3uZ_nKUESGUPwxJ-MSLTPoBE ev8R8LsGQ_wvp-Fj8YE_LGMid-iV776eTxbCJqYNkmhQd9nImCCHrlc-Ae6hg-cXxEl0CfIXtltGVHdLyfio/s1600/1_qMo8zWWRhuMHskpTVFBMPA.png)

One of the articles with the fewest words also received a high number of claps

Articles with a long number of words are likely to cause readers to have psychological reactions like: “Wow, it may be useful information, let’s clap first and then talk about it!”; and “Wow, there are so many words, no credit but hard work, let’s clap first and then talk about it!”, so it is indeed possible to get more applause.

But does it mean that if you write a lot of nonsense articles, you will get a lot of claps?

Actually, this may not be the case. The conclusion is that although the large number of words may give readers the psychological feeling that “this is a serious article”, whether it can get applause and favor still depends on the quality of the content.

à What is the difference between whether an article is shared on Facebook? Short answer: If you don’t share your article on Facebook, the most obvious situation is that the reading rate will increase, but at the same time the average number of claps will decrease.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZ4FME6XQ_1gaou4n3LIjzJ8Zectp9o-8tK4AhbCGjmURCD7SljNIjJCBO 6bA52jA_qhn0ly2NQfZFtVYOS35aad8_A_iE8JolBsjwk3pkRf6dQDOjpwwyVX2WTRp5-2Ld_0fNSBVTQeN/s1600/1_5eKQGhmdEL9YWJYutcHZRQ.png)

The 3 most read articles

For the purpose of experiment, the author specially selected 2 articles on Medium and did not share them on Facebook. These two articles are: “[Diary 0317｜The Theory of Everything in Love: When she said “I have loved You.”](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A 6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E6%97%A5%E8%A8%980317-% E6%84%9B%E7%9A%84%E8%90%AC%E7%89%A9%E8%AB%96-%E7%95%B6%E5%A5%B9%E8%AA%AA-i-have-loved-you-7768ec5 cf3fc)” and “[About salary: Salary is not the most important thing at work, but it is the lowest threshold of labor feedback](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A% 84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A 8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E9%97%9C%E6%96%BC%E8%96%AA%E6%B0%B4-%E8%96%AA%E6%B0%B4-%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E5%B7%A5% E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%AD%E6%9C%80%E9%87%8D%E8%A6%81%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%8B%E7%89%A9-%E4%BD%86%E5%8D%BB%E6%98%A ”

Interestingly, these two articles also happen to be ranked among the top three most read. I want to exclude the 2nd one “[Opening](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88% 86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5% B8%AB/%E9%96%8B%E7%AF%87-%E6%9B%B8%E5%AF%AB-%E9%80%99%E4%BB%B6%E4%BA%8B%E6%83%85%E4%B8% 8A%E7%9A%84%E6%88%91-59aa5e3d234e)” The reason is that, as the first article, the author believes that many of the readers are my friends, and it is natural that the reading rate is high, so it cannot be included in the ranking. So, why are the other two articles ranked in the top 3? The author speculates that the important reasons are:

Native readers on Medium have a high reading tolerance level.

In other words, if you don’t share the articles on Facebook, the people who will read these articles are naturally the native readers on the Medium platform. Users of this platform have a high reading tolerance; in other words, readers on Medium are willing to read articles with a larger number of words.

Another characteristic of native readers on the Medium platform is that their average number of claps is lower.

This can also be known by inference. After all, the native readers on the Medium platform are not necessarily followers of the author’s personal Facebook account. They do not communicate with each other in their lives. They are indeed just passers-by. Therefore, it is conceivable that people who do not know me give me relatively cold feedback on applause.

à Judging from the articles with the highest and lowest “average number of claps”, what are the readers’ reactions? Short answer: The type and content of the article mainly affect the reader’s preference for the article.

There are many factors that affect the total number of claps. For example, sharing through different platforms or groups may produce different results. Because it is not certain who will share the article, “total claps” is less suitable as an item for evaluation and discussion.

From another perspective, the “average number of claps” may actually reflect readers’ preferences.

The picture below shows the top 6 articles with the lowest number of claps. Articles 2 and 3 happen to be articles that have not been shared on Facebook. The reason for the low number of claps can be found in the above explanation. Ranked No. 1 is the author’s opening article on Medium. Most of the readers of this article are from the author’s Facebook friends. But at that time, due to their Facebook usage habits, many friends did not find that “claps” could be used more than once, so the average number of claps was lower, which is understandable.

In addition to the first 3 articles, what is the situation?

The result is: the articles ranked 3 to 6 are all “tool type”.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQXE934ZtT6pGQVl_WLuEEFZp1LVajV2sOQSUJU25IR3q7qf68o47Lz6Vg Zuspw12c3RzWODIGEHvIk95bByoJyKoijfm3MzGMqjezt4jeH_EBPRliMzUePWBCdHIRDSzpzXfcGYV6OYcL/s1600/1_FTJXsIGLlknN3Mj5q1KZ0Q.png)

Top 6 with the lowest average number of claps

As counter-evidence, the author extracted data from the five articles with the highest number of claps for analysis. Three of them are daily conversations that have nothing to do with work. In addition, although the other two articles talk about design, they happen to be design investigation records that focus on storytelling. They are “[Use design to solve problems, or there is nothing you can do - a short story about design investigation] (https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8 %A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8 %88%E5%B8%AB/%E7%94%A8%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%8E%BB%E8%A7%A3%E6%B1%BA%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C-%E6%88%96%E8%80%85-%E7%84 %A1%E8%83%BD%E7%82%BA%E5%8A%9B-%E9%97%9C%E6%96%BC%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E8%AA%BF%E6%9F%A5%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%80%E5%80%8 B%E5%B0%8F%E6%95%85%E4%BA%8B-a3ab88ea7e22)” and “[Close your eyes and design──Beyond visual communication, the ignored five senses experience](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0% E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8% A8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E9%96%89%E4%B8%8A%E7%9C%BC%E7%9D%9B%E5%81%9A%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88-%E8%A6%96%E8%A6%BA%E5%82%B3%E9%8 1%94%E4%B9%8B%E5%A4%96-%E8%A2%AB%E5%BF%BD%E7%95%A5%E7%9A%84%E4%BA%94%E6%84%9F%E9%AB%94%E9%A9%97-ad6cba507403)”.

Therefore, it can be seen that the articles with the highest average number of claps are “non-instrumental” articles.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLl12D-KpOQk4V7hrxpDDxiyPV9pG3Z3jNJzEXS3inwGdTTbVODynIZmuk pS3-XHfljMdX4xHqsfhhMj9jKhYj8QjEWBzKOnV8__BwhRg6rrhwIvC86DhdPJDQ-vTNZ5ZNOmKIKfqFxn4Z/s1600/1_Me2oxa3JqtJCxwNAux_HFw.png)

Top 5 with the highest average number of claps

What conclusions can be drawn from this? The author believes that if the reader claps, it reflects the reader’s preference to some extent, so to sum up:

“Tool-type” articles may be read by more people, but they will not be liked by readers. On the contrary, “emotional expression” or “story-type” articles may be more likely to be liked.

Summary: What are your observations on the clap response to the article? Short answer: “Practical” articles will be read by more people; but “emotional expression” articles may be more popular.

For further evidence, the author selected two articles among all the articles that could represent the “practical tool type” and the “emotional expression type” and had similar total claps for case comparison.

These 2 articles are:

• “Practical Tool Type”: [Report on Three Months of Writing for Medium: How I wrote a lot of popular articles on Medium (Part 1)](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%A B%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/medium-%E 5%AF%AB%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%89%E5%80%8B%E6%9C%88%E5%BF%83%E5%BE%97%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A-%E6%88%91%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E5 %9C%A8-medium-%E5%AF%AB%E5%87%BA%E4%BA%86%E7%AF%87%E7%AF%87%E7%88%86%E6%96%87-%E4%B8%8A-9479b2ef5eed)→Number of claps: 2000
• “Mood expression type”: [Lover’s murmur: If we know why we love, then can we also know how not to love](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85 %B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E6%88%80%E4%BA%BA%E7%B5%AE%E8%AA%9E -%E5%A6%82%E6%9E%9C%E6%88%91%E5%80%91%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E7%82%BA%E4%BB%80%E9%BA%BC%E6%84%9B%E4%BA%BA-%E9%82%A3%E9%BA%BC%E 6%98%AF%E5%90%A6%E4%B9%9F%E5%B0%B1%E7%9F%A5%E9%81%93%E8%A9%B 2%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E4%B8%8D%E6%84%9B-6e798a5c6cf8)→Number of claps: 1930

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqfcMQvsWyn9vST8mS-gjAdqDKdhwP8kNL0j5ErWr92QctXbbvrs2qfD- 074lKdBTalCw04xSBiQWAkz6d6vKEYFwnTsNaMUvekXnyVVNCNZP5vooDzzwqMS3gKIqlR7ieNxm6udQgSLO/s1600/1_Y44vJqyp-ItDbvrUK6iPjg.png)

Comparison of number of claps between “tool-type” articles and “emotional expression-type” articles

As can be seen from the table above, judging from the phenomenon of only one clapping, there are many more instrumental articles than emotional expression articles, which shows that many readers will only clap once for instrumental articles. However, the 50-clap, mood-expressing article with a higher total number of claps received a larger number of viewers. At the same time, it can be found that although the difference in the number of claps between the two articles is more than 70, the total number of claps is very close.

From the distribution of clapping times and personal clapping habits, I speculate that the psychology of clapping may be close to the following distribution:

• 1 time: passing by, read
• 2 to 10 times: I don’t want to take just one shot, I like it
• 11 to 20 times: Like it a little more than the above level
• 21 to 49 times: After exceeding the threshold of 20 times, the number of clapping people will be greatly reduced. But the section here should express a clear and strong like
• 50 times: brainwashing, showing love, I just want the author to know that I like it very much!

Judging from the author’s own habits, I do not clap easily, because clapping on the Medium platform will leave a record, and at the same time, my reading hobby will be spied on. Therefore, once the author really likes an article, most of them will directly clap 5 to 10 times to express that they like it very much. If you think the author has really written well and want to convey encouragement to the other person, you may clap your hands more than 20 times. But in the end, I never clap my hands more than 50 times. The reason is that it always makes people feel a little shy.

Regarding the observation of clapping, there is a small conclusion:

Medium is a very suitable platform for cultivating “brain fans” because of its clapping design. After all, the reader claps once or 50 times, which is far from the total number of claps accumulated in the end.

【Additional explanation】 The term “brain powder” here does not have any derogatory connotation, it is just a descriptive term for the degree of preference. On Facebook or other platforms, you can usually only like once. The number of claps designed by Medium can be used as a medium to convey the level of liking. This kind of rules is different from other platforms and is a particularly interesting design.

Highlights: What was discovered from the background data

I believe that after reading the above paragraphs, you may feel a little dizzy just looking at the data chart, right? Although I tried to improve the layout, after adding the supplementary charts, it will inevitably be more difficult to read the pictures and texts. In order for everyone to simply understand the above key points, let’s make a review below:

1. To achieve the best reading rate, it is recommended that the word count of the article be controlled within 3,000 words.
2. There is no absolute correlation between the number of claps and the number of words, but articles with a larger number of words may first give readers the feeling that “this is a serious article and deserves to be applauded.”
3. Medium’s native readers (not imported from Facebook) have a relatively high reading tolerance and can increase the reading rate, but at the same time the average number of claps is low.
4. The average number of claps may reflect reader preference. “Tool-type” articles will be read by more people; but “emotional expression-type” articles will be more likely to be liked.
5. The distribution range of average claps falls within “1 time”, “2 to 10 times”, and “50 times” at most.
6. Judging from the distribution of the average number of clapping times, general clapping habits fall into two extreme values: “less than 10 times” and “50 times or more”.
7. Conclusion: Medium may be a suitable platform for cultivating loyal fans (willing to clap 50 times).

Feedback from writing on the Medium platform

After I started writing about the Medium platform, it brought me a lot of positive feedback. Among them, the increase in personal “online voice” is indeed obvious. The author directly summarizes the growth of various gains and presents them as follows in numerical summary!

• Number of followers on Medium personal account: 250 → 1500, adding more than 1350 followers. *Total views on Medium: 65,000+.
• Facebook Number of followers: 200 → 991, more than 790 followers added.
• Behance Number of followers: 450 → 695, more than 245 followers added.
• Number of articles authorized by the media to be reprinted: 12 (this is the known part that has contacted the author).

On the Medium platform, the most directly linked social networking site is Facebook, and the computer version can be linked to it with one click. The number of Facebook followers has increased from 200 to 900. This number may not seem like a lot, but it is worth noting that I have been using Facebook since 2009, and the number of followers that have grown in these three months is three times the number accumulated in the past few years. This is undoubtedly a breakthrough brought about by the use of Medium. The same phenomenon also occurs in the Behance portfolio.

Since the author’s design works are rarely updated, the number of tracks usually increases very slowly. But after using Medium, the author found that the followers of the portfolio had also climbed up silently. So far, the number of followers has increased by more than 200. It has been 3 years since I started using Behance, and the growth in these 3 months has more than doubled the cumulative results in the past 3 years.

There are other rewards that cannot be expressed by numbers alone. For example, I got my first speaking invitation in my life:

Just when the author finished writing the second article “[Some thoughts on design quotation](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3% A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%B D%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E9%97%9C%E6%96%BC%E 8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%A0%B1%E5%83%B9%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%9B%E5%BF%83% E5%BE%97-%E4%BB%A5%E5%8F%8A%E6%88%91%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E5%9C%A8%E4%B8% 80%E5%B9%B4%E4%B8%AD-%E6%88%90%E5%8A%9F%E6%8F%90%E9%AB%98%E4%BA%86%E8%8 7%AA%E5%B7%B1%E7%9A%84%E5%A0%B1%E5%83%B9%E8%88%87%E5%B9%B4%E6%94%B6-781675f9e79e)”, Taichung co-working space [Monospace] (https://monospace.tw/) immediately invited the author to share. I was very flattered to receive this invitation, so I named the lecture “The Survival Guide of Mediocre Designers”.

To my great surprise, within two days of the event going online, the tickets were sold out immediately! Perhaps the title of the lecture played a role in making the audience interested in how the author, a “mediocre designer”, “survived”?

Regarding this speech, the author has recorded detailed thoughts. Interested readers can click here to read.

There is also more feedback, such as the author gaining many new writing friends outside the Facebook stratosphere, and also some very heart-warming exchanges and responses from readers. In addition, from a specific perspective, does the Medium platform help the author’s design work?

The answer is: yes.

Since I started writing, I have received an average of two or three new work projects and cooperation opportunities every month that were not introduced by friends and came entirely from Medium readers. Therefore, writing has indeed brought some help to the author’s income.

To summarize, the feedback that writing on the Medium platform brings to me is:

1. Increased the number of followers on each operating platform
2. Breaking through the stratosphere and bringing new cooperation opportunities
3. Accumulate a collection of written works and get reprinted and exposed

Summary: My writing experience and suggestions on the Medium platform

The author summarizes some writing suggestions and personal thoughts. These thoughts may be different from those mentioned before, but they may make you write more happily, smoothly and calmly.

1. How to write a hit article: “Sincerity” is a must, but “character” is more important

If you want to write a good article, “seriousness” is only the basic threshold. Carefully includes the design and arrangement of content, consideration of titles, and research and confirmation of information; these are just basic skills. Readers can tell right away whether you have written carefully or not. If you can be “serious”, then you can get a score of A.

But what if you want to go further and get A+ or A++? More factors depend on: whether readers like you, whether they resonate with your article, or even whether you will be lucky enough to be shared by a large or well-known website - these all require character. So specifically, it’s still the same saying: “Do your best and obey fate.”

2. What’s wrong with becoming famous? But don’t forget what you really want to write

As mentioned before, writing explosive articles is more about character. But to be honest, isn’t it possible to become famous by working hard the day after tomorrow? Of course there are still ways to go. Positive measures you can take include: recommending your work to well-known platform websites, or reposting your work to various communities with related content, and using advertising to increase exposure.

Don’t wait for others to share it for you, share it yourself. Doing so will certainly bring considerable rewards. In this regard, I recommend the following extended reading: “[Carefully create popular articles: Master the hot spots and focus, and let your works be seen] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/03/how-to-write-the-perfect-blog-post.html)”.

If you adopt a more negative approach, for example, give out Farm Titles, write works that cater to readers’ tastes by abandoning the author’s style, etc. Can this make you famous? I believe there is a good chance. But is this “good”?

It doesn’t matter whether it is “good or not” it must be said. The author does not intend to criticize anyone’s writing taste, but what I really want to say is: blindly catering to and asking for praise can easily make oneself unhappy and worry about gains and losses. This is something that the author constantly reminds myself.

The author believes that the truly important value is: obey one’s heart.

Only by following your heart can you feel happy writing and continue writing for a long time. For example: I wrote an article about my thoughts after watching the movie last month. Before I posted it, I knew that this article would not get as many claps or favors as other articles, because this record is more of the author’s personal expression.

[](https://medium.com/%E 8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8%BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E 4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC %E6%97%A5%E5%92%8C-%E6%84%9B%E9%81%8E%E7%9A%84%E6%97%A5%E5%AD%90-%E6%97%A5%E6%97% A5%E9%83%BD%E6%98%AF%E6%99%B4%E5%A4%A9-%E8%8D%92%E6%9C%A8%E7%B6%93%E6%83%9F%E8%8 8%87%E8%8D%92%E6%9C%A8%E9%99%BD%E5%AD%90%E7%9A%84%E6%84%9B%E6%83%85-ec5b55ae25da)

But so what? As the author’s personal channel, I can write any articles I want to write. Even if you know that your writing is not good, it will become a record of your journey. This article left the author with that weekend, that movie, and my own unique touch - the important thing is not to forget what I really want to write.

3. You may not be able to do it, but you just haven’t found the “suitable platform” yet.

Recently, due to the author’s frequent recommendations, some friends around me have begun to join the Medium platform. Whenever someone starts writing because of me, I always feel a little uneasy, worried that they will be frustrated because they don’t get the feedback or encouragement they expected.

“Writing” is just a way to express yourself, and not everyone may be suitable to express themselves in this way. So don’t be too upset if you don’t get the desired feedback.

But before that, I have other suggestions for readers who plan to invest in writing, that is, you can evaluate which writing platform is suitable for you.

Taking Medium as an example, most of the content that most readers expect to read here are “technical” and “practical” articles. Therefore, writing this type of article is always more pleasing. Other writers have also noticed that there are a number of writing platforms on the rise. For example: SOSreader, which is mainly composed of Chinese writers, and Blink Forum, which is mainly composed of college students. Each of these platforms has its own unique temperament and characteristics. Writers who are interested in joining can try to research and find a more suitable place for their performance.

▼SOSreader

▼Blink Forum

4. The only way to progress is: continuous and continuous accumulation

Whether we are designing or writing, we always have to face many competitors who appear one after another. Occasionally, I will see someone who seems to be a little ahead of his time, or someone who has aroused discussion because of a certain work. No matter which community we are in, we will always face a lot of anxiety.

Therefore, the author wants to encourage all creators and myself: life is a long road, including writing, design and various career development. You won’t be depressed just because you messed up once; similarly, you won’t always be calm and smooth just because you succeeded once.

Don’t care too much about anyone being ahead or behind, stay true to your original intention. Do what you need to do/write the articles you need to write well every time, and you will eventually accumulate results in the long run. Talented people will not be buried forever, you just haven’t been seen yet; if unfortunately you really fall behind, it also means that your skills are inferior to others, and you should learn and grow frankly. After all, there are always many people and things in the world worth learning from. In the face of knowledge, all of us will always be small seekers, right?

Reader feedback

This additional explanation feels a bit like selling plaster. But last week when I went to Taichung Monospace to publish my writing experience on Medium, Lin Yuzheng Riven shared the following article he just wrote on the spot, which was completely based on the previous episode “How does a designer write a viral article in only three months? (Part 1)”, and it successfully received 1,200 claps!

[](htt ps://medium.com/monospace-tw/adobe-xd-%E6%8E%A8%E5%87%BA%E5%85%8D%E8%B2%BB%E6%96%B9%E6%A1%88-%E8%B7%B3%E5%9D%91% E4%B9%8B%E5%89%8D%E8%AB%8B%E8%A9%B3%E9%96%B1%E6%AD%A4%E4%BD%BF%E7%94%A8%E8%AA%AA%E6%98%8E%E6%9B%B8-bee5f4093970)

Unexpectedly, someone actually tried it personally and seemed to get very good results. I was very happy for him.

Extended recommended reading

Another writer on Medium [Ani Hsieh] (https://medium.com/@anithing510) recently wrote a new article “[How to get on the headlines of LINE Today? Designers use personal experience to teach you the six key points you must master to write popular articles] (https://www.contenthacker.today/2018/05/6-tips-to-write-awesome-blog-posts.html)”.

The author is not a UX designer, so the so-called “UX thinking” is alien to me. But after reading the text, I found that Ani’s description is easy to understand whether you are a UX professional or not. At the same time, it is not only suitable for Facebook fan pages, but also very useful even if it is applied to Medium or other platforms. The article has so far accumulated 7,000 claps. If you are interested in engaging in writing business, then this is a must read!

Finally, I would like to give you a call to action:

Readers who have read the first and second episodes of this series and hope that the author will continue to write “Medium Writing Observation Reports”, please go to [Medium original text source](https://medium.com/%E8%83%8C%E5%9C%B0%E8%A3%A1%E7%9A%84%E8 %BA%AB%E5%88%86%E5%85%B6%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AF%E4%B8%80%E4%BD%8D%E5%B9%B3%E9%9D%A2%E8%A8%AD%E8%A8%88%E5%B8%AB/medium- %E5%AF%AB%E4%BD%9C%E4%B8%89%E5%80%8B%E6%9C%88%E5%BF%83%E5%BE%97%E5%A0%B1%E5%91%8A-%E6%88%91%E5%A6%82%E4%BD%95%E5% 9C%A8-medium-%E5%AF%AB%E5%87%BA%E4%BA%86%E7%AF%87%E7%AF%87%E7%88%86%E6%96%87-%E4%B8%8B-4577e107e0e3), gave the author 50 claps as feedback. This will let me know that you are actually here and supporting.

Your support will encourage the author to continue writing. The next time we meet, maybe it will be the release of the “Report on One Year of Writing”!

★ Photo Credit: Chofy Lin

★ Make generating inspiration a habit, please sign up for the Ouchi Master Lecture on June 4: Building an Inspiration Database.

★ Vista Book Club June Special: “Is this idea a success?” Internet entrepreneurship master turns your ideas into cash》.

★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “[Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands] (https://hahow.in/cr/content-power)”.

---

Further reading

• How to make the headlines on LINE Today? The designer uses personal experience to teach you the six key points you must master to write popular articles
• How does a designer write a popular article in only three months? (Part 1)
• “Have you written today?” Book excerpt: Have you written today in depth practice from writing

---