How Pro Writers Grow Their Mailing Lists On Medium

And what you can learn

Photo by Torsten Dettlaff from Pexels

Intro

The list of your e-mail subscribers is not only a powerful marketing tool but also the thing that gives you some independence from the platform. A mailing list enables you to take your readers off the platform. And lets you monetize your courses, digital products, etc.

Today I am going to take a look at how some of the most popular writers on Medium grow their mailing lists. And hopefully, this will give you some great ideas to grow yours.

If you haven't heard of Medium it is a great writing platform on which you can earn money for your writing. Check it out! Im writing on Medium as HungryMinded.

To gain a better insight into how many e-mail subscribers these writers have, I will be using this chrome extension. You will see what this tool can do further into the article.

Let’s see what tricks the pros have got behind their sleeves. The first Medium writer I have decided to look at is
Zulie Rane.

1. Zulie Rane

Screenshot by the author from Medium Any Author Stats chrome extension

Zulie Rane is one of the most popular Medium writers also active on Youtube. Her Youtube channel is dedicated to everything around Medium and writing online. She has uploaded a lot of useful tutorials on writing-related themes.

Her stats:

Followers: Over 56k

E-mail subscribers: 858 on Medium, but that is not the whole picture. We can’t know the total amount of her e-mail subscribers. Because she is using another platform to grow her main mailing list.

Screenshot by Author

The platform she is using for her newsletter is ConvertKit.

Strategies:

As Zulie Rane has a Youtube channel, I managed to find a video dedicated to this exact topic.

Although the video is from 2019, looking into some of her newer Medium articles I noticed that the principles she talks about in the video have not changed. Here’s an example:

screenshot by the author taken from Zulie Rane’s story.

The call to action is separated from the story by using quote formatting. It is also in bold, to be more noticeable. There is a hook. An offering of a free five-day starter kit. And the link takes you to her newsletter sign-up page.

Takeaways

• Make the call to action stand out.

• Make it interesting — have a hook

• Offer value (free five-day starter kit)

• Have the link to your mailing list in your profile description

2.Tom Kuegler

Tom Kuegler is a well-known travel blogger who leverages his success on the platform to sell courses to aspiring writers.

Screenshot by the author from Medium Any Author Stats chrome extension

His stats:

Followers: Over 62k

E-mail subscribers: 270 on Medium, but that is not the whole picture. He is also using ConvertKit for his main mailing list. And I am sure that the subscriber count is a lot higher than 270.

Screenshot by the Author

Strategies:

One of his strategies is offering his free 5-day e-mail course to attract new subscribers. He has got the link in his profile description.

screenshot by Author

But it looks like his focus has shifted from Medium to LinkedIn as his latest stories all have a call to action to follow him on LinkedIn.

screenshot by Author

Some of his articles do not include a link to his mailing list. But he puts it early in the article and repeats it several times when he does.

Takeaways:

• Sometimes a link in the 1st or 2nd point of the article

• Don’t overpromote

• Post in bigger publications

• Offer free value upfront

• Repetition

3. Burk

Burk is a digital entrepreneur and a Medium writer. He hasn’t been on the platform as long as our previous examples but nonetheless has managed to become quite successful. Let’s take a closer look.

His stats:

Followers: Over 10k

E-mail subscribers: 405 on Medium.

Strategies:

Burk has managed to gain over 400 e-mail subscribes here on Medium by ending almost all of his published stories with a cleverly crafted message similar to this one:

Screenshot by the Author

Although Burk’s main focus seems to be on promoting his digital products. Links to which are also included in his profile info.

Screenshot by the Author

He has gained quite a lot e-mail subscribers simply by cleverly reminding about the option every chance he gets.

Takeaways:

• Make it easy

• Make it exciting

• Repeat

Lessons

We have looked at 3 great writers. And here’s what we learned:

1. Remind

If you want to grow your mailing list. You need to remind your readers of this possibility. You need to include a call to action in your stories. And you need to do it often. But don’t go overboard.

2. Make it stand out

You need to make your call to action stand out for it to get noticed. Use formating. You can use bold, quotation formatting like Zulie Rane, or come up with your own stylistic ideas. Be creative.

3. Offer value

Make it worthwhile to sign up for your newsletter. Offer something of value. A freebie. You can monetize later. In my opinion, offering something for free for joining the mailing list is the best secret the pros have taught us today.

Good luck with growing your own mailing list!

One Last Thing

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