The difference between zero engagement and millions of views comes down to a handful of semi-obvious techniques.
The generic writing advice is “write daily.” That’s the most obvious hack and it’s not enough.
Here’s what the masters of online writing do.
1. They optimize to hold a reader’s attention
This is the biggest secret of top 1.15% writers.
They ethically gain attention with their ideas then retain that attention. If someone clicks your content, but doesn’t read until the end, you’ve wasted that attention.
Why do you want a reader to read until the end?
Because if they don’t then you don’t create enough trust or interest for them to join your email list. And given the link to your email list is at the end, you’re missing a big opportunity if you get a click but don’t hold attention.
99% of the money the top 1.15% of writers make comes from their email list. It’s so stupidly simple yet most writers don’t do it. They skip this step because audience building is hard.
What’s harder is renting an audience from gatekeepers who can take it away without reason.
2. They use subheadings as attention anchors
Traditional writers use subheadings as labels. Example: “1971–1998.”
This is wrong.
A subheading is a mini-headline.
The point of a subheading is to resell the reader on why they should keep writing. It’s to keep them engaged. Here are two great subheadings:
3. They use strategic cliffhangers
Predictable writing is boring.
Yet that’s what most online writers publish. You can predict their ending before you’ve read it. Example: “How to be healthy.”
One of the answers is going to be “go to the gym.” It’s so predictable ChatGPT can write it which is why so many writers are down to $2 an hour pay (if that).
The secret of the best writers in the world is they plant cliffhangers throughout their writing. You never know what they’re going to say next.
I wrote an essay recently about writing online. Right in the middle I went into a part about doing marriage counselling with my wife.
It was unexpected. Readers thought I was about to talk about an imminent divorce. Then I pivoted into why marriage counseling is normal. All this happened in an essay about writing online.
Being unpredictable is addictive in a world full of cookie-cutter Marvel movies. Try it.
4. Break all the mother-f*cking rules
Swear like a drunken sailor. Start sentences with “because” just because. Or “but” or “and.” Ignore grammar rules. Say what’s politically incorrect. Tell people how you really feel instead of fake-feel to suck up to the masses.
Reply to the hater in your comments and challenge them. Ask the hater why they don’t use a real photo of themselves or hide behind a nickname instead of their real name.
Conventional writers get paid the least. They write SEO content for robots for a Google Search engine that’s dying in an age of AI.
Don’t be normal. Take the rules and flip them.
5. Don’t waffle worse than a fat man eating waffles
Waffling is just self-indulgence that leads to self-flatulence. But your job is to write for the reader, not yourself.
A shortcut to writing success: get to the point.
This is why X, Instagram, Threads, and LinkedIn are so powerful. Their main content types have character limits. You can’t write 10,000-word essays because no one will read them.
You’re forced to take big ideas and compress them. Then if an idea gets signal you can expand on it in a later newsletter.
Ask yourself after every sentence you write:
What does this mean for the reader?
Be obsessed with the reader. Talk to them like a brother or a sister. Pretend you’re having a first conversation with Barrack Obama. Would you open with a 10,000-word Ted Talk or share one short idea? Obvious, right.
Bringing it all together
People’s attention is like an iPhone battery. It leaks every second they’re reading your content. Don’t deplete their battery with a story from 5000 years ago that adds no value to their life.
Start with small bite-sized pieces of writing, then expand on the ideas that show signal through engagement. That’s how you join the top 1.15% of writers such as Dan Koe, Kieran Drew, Alex Mathers, Michael Simmons, Mike Thompson, and Matt Gray.
Any other secrets you’ve learned from top writers?
