How I Reached 1000 Reads on Vocal - and How You can Too.

Reaching ten views is an impressive feat on Vocal, so even breaking that first 100 can seem like an impossible task. With the platform becoming more and more saturated everyday, it's only getting harder to stand out amongst the rest.

Here's how I reached my first 1000 reads on Vocal;

Having the Right Titles

I started out on Vocal about a month ago and averaged around four views per story. So I wrote a few more. I made my stories longer, added HD photos, checked my spelling - nothing changed.

The minute I started changing how I phrased my titles I saw a major surplus in my view count. Through adding SEO friendly words (words that help your story come up easier on Google), bold capitalisation and phrases like 'How to', 'Five ways', etc. I started averaging around thirty to forty reads per story.

Your title is the main thing that gets people to click your story and should always be seen as a priority.

Writing big

Too many people only write on Vocal for Vocal, or rather, the Vocal audience. Although it's more difficult for your story to be found than if you had your own blog or website, it's still very possible for people to find and click your story through Google, not just through browsing the actual website.

House a consistently high standard in your writing, picture quality and titles. You should always write as if your story will gain thousands of views or they never will.

If the algorithm favours you and one of your stories blows up, you'll want people to enjoy your writing enough to click your profile to read more of your stuff. That means no spelling mistakes or messy writing; people won't come back if you write for a small audience and don't take pride in your work.

You'd be surprised how many views your other stories will gather if your breakout story is written well. It encourages a certain ripple effect that really boosts your overall views.

Becoming a staff pick

A previous article I wrote entitled 'Five steps to becoming a successful writer on Vocal' was chosen as a staff pick and it was the single biggest factor in pushing my reads past the 1000 mark. You may be wondering;

How do I become a staff pick?

Be original: Vocal staff picks are always unique and naturally stand out amongst the rest. If you want to be a staff pick you'll have to think outside the box a little.

Offer something interesting: The majority of staff picks inform readers about something captivating and interesting. Most of the time, the weirder it is, the better.

Enter a competition: Although not all, a lot of staff picks are chosen from competition entries, so even if you don't win the contest you have a bigger chance of becoming a staff pick through entering.

Quality and quantity

Both are immensely important and go hand in hand. There's no skipping this tip I'm afraid. You can write three stories of unbelievable quality and they'll probably get nowhere. The same goes for writing three hundred dodgy stories. They might add up to a decent amount but they wont have people coming back for more.

To stand out and get that first 1000 reads you need to write often (at least 2/3 stories a week - keep 'em short and sweet) and they need to be written well.

And there you have it. These four tips were the main factors in getting me to my first 1000 reads on Vocal. I hope they'll help you too.

Like this? Wanna read more? Just click the little picture of me and you'll find tons of content just like this. Feel free to leave a like or even a tip. Merry Christmas! - Ciarán