For instance, on its dashboard and elsewhere, it does not refer to writing as blog posts or content.  You’re not merely a content writer, you’re a creator of stories.

Medium calls your work stories, as in Medium wants your stories.

The platform makes it possible for students, entrepreneurs, moguls and nomads to get their feet wet in the world of journalism, storytelling, or editorializing. The site’s algorithms are built to reward the best stories for their quality rather than for the popularity or pedigree of the author.

Just when it didn’t seem possible for freelance writing to expand with more possibilities, Medium came along to nudge the boundary line.

Here are top 3 ways Medium is changing freelance writing.

1. It’s making us all into freelance writers

Anyone could be a writer before Medium, but the platform is making it possible for anyone to gain an audience.

No fiddling with your own blog’s settings to gain loyal readers. Medium does all the heavy lifting with a backbone that is beautiful on a design and user experience level.

Contributors don’t need a Masters in journalism either, and Medium doesn’t care how old you are, where your from and what you believe in.

It’s an open platform where content is king and kings are made by happy readers, not snooty magazine editors.

2. It’s making freelance writing more collaborative

Medium’s mantra is “People create better things together.”

Another idyllic notion that speaks to their guiding principles of collaboration and crowdsourcing. Collaboration starts in the editing phase where Medium encourage writers to share drafts of their stories with others users before publishing.

Notes are used to exchange feedback with other users. Published stories can then be submitted in Medium’s collections, or groups of relevant stories that are organized by their category or theme.

Each collection is a collaborative body of work by many writers.

3. It’s a free education in content writing

Medium gives feedback to writers through 30-day snapshots of their posts and their views, reads, and recommendations.

• Views: How many people saw the story
• Reads: How many people took the time to read the story
• Read ratio: How many people merely saw the story to how many read the story
• Recommendations: How many people recommended the story

Medium comes with a broad built-in audience. All writers need to do is deliver great writing.

The good content rises to the top, stirs up conversation in the comments section and gets shared far and wide.

Writing that contains good research and exhibits a thirst for knowledge is immediately recognizable.

Take what you learned from writing your best content and apply it to the next piece.

Have you used Medium? Let me know in the comments section below.

The post 3 Ways Medium is a Freelance Writing Game Changer appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

Blog comments are highly personal, even if they come from anonymous sources.

They either build up or tear down your brand or the writer who produced the content. The space below a blog post can easily be likened to the Wild West. For this reason, even if commenter information isn’t accurate, it’s highly intoxicating. That’s why it’s so important to have a constructive and engaged audience.

Blogs are officially the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.

Additionally, they are the third-most influential online service when it comes to shaping customer opinion. While most of that has to do with the content of the blogs themselves, the comments that follow are a major influence on readers, whether pulling them into a conversation about a product or completely turning them off of it.

Invest your time to see real economic gains

Blogs are 31.1% likely to influence a purchase and that includes the blog content as well as the conversation happening in the comments. When it comes to comment moderation, you can’t replace a human.

Therefore, you need to find a balance between using your time to create great content and then protecting that content. For the Huffington Post, comment moderation is enough to fill several full-time jobs.

Are your comments helping to drive business?

Your blog is your chance to gently guide the conversation and eventually convert readers into purchases.

You don’t want a negative commenter to have the last word when it comes to your product.

The comment section can work to your advantage if you provide impeccable customer service each time a negative comment gets posted.

But if monitoring and responding to your customers in the blog space is too overwhelming then ultimately you’re hurting your bottom line.

Small businesses that blog get 126% more lead growth than small businesses that do not blog.

The trick is to give your potential leads a chance to roll in even when you’re not working. Leaving your comment section open gives leads more access to you and creates a new avenue for sales.

Use the comments section to to show leads who they may be getting into business with. How does your audience respond to your blog and how do you respond to your audience?

Smart customers, whether it’s a B2B or B2C relationship, will know to look past the “trolls” and the time wasters and appreciate the sheer volume of conversation that you and your message generate.

The post Why Blog Comments Are the Economic Engine of Small Businesses appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

Maybe you’re great at writing and curating awesome social media posts but if you have a hard time getting even one post per day it’s time to reconsider your process.

Especially if you’re producing rich content, like videos, podcasts or blog posts, your audience wants to know that they can count on you to push out useful or entertaining stuff at regular intervals—links to your Thursday afternoon Youtube video or to your daily blog post at 8am.

If your crazy schedule doesn’t let you market your brand or content regularly, it’s time to start automating your posts.

Today’s best automation tools work like an editorial calendar for journalists, helping to plan when stories go out so they reach the target audience at the right time. But these tools—which are often free—go a step further by hooking up with your social channels to post the content for you at the time you’ve chosen.

Automation gets the job done

When you’re not online, automation tools are busy running on their own so that your accounts don’t flatline while you’re on that silent yoga retreat in a mud hut on the back of a turtle floating through the universe.

Automation helps you market better

Another great thing about these tools is that they let you repeat the same or similar messages for a campaign. If you want to advertise your upcoming webinar or event, you should be pushing that message out regularly, up until the date.

These tools will help you schedule a whole batch of upcoming messages about the thing you’re trying to sell so you can plan how often and at what time the campaign posts go out.

Measure and tweak you campaign on-the-fly

And when you’ve created your posting schedule for the day, week or month, yo u can always edit it. Let’s say that first tweet went out and got 10 re-tweets but the second tweet got no love.

You can view the stats per post using the automation program and then change up the wording or the timing of the upcoming tweets so they have a better chance of getting traction.

One last thing before you automate away: don’t think that automation has to be robotic. Authenticity in your content is always going to show through. Add color, add personality and don’t ever allow your brand to lose it’s voice.

What automation tools have you tried and why do you love them?

The post Why Putting Social Media on Auto Pilot Works appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

What do people see, read and perceive in the first seven seconds when they come across your Twitter bio?

That first glance could make or break your brand. It’s the difference between whether someone follows, or clicks in another direction. Be boring or leave the space blank and your Twitter bio could be driving customers away. The mantra to be repeating as you create (or re-create) your bio is now this: Always be attracting.

The post How to Build a Powerful Twitter Bio appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.