I recently wrote about 8 things that are a waste of time for beginning writers. Instead of complain about more stuff, I figured I’d give my audience a nudge in the right direction for a change.

Here’s five of the best opportunities for writers in 2021.

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is so underrated. Here’s a picture of a post I published about two months ago:

As you can see, the bottom of the post says I received about 8,130 views on a picture with a 4-word description. What on God’s green earth is going on right here?

Well, LinkedIn is being LinkedIn. That’s what’s going on.

The reach on this platform is ridiculous.

I have about 14,000 followers there right now, and most of those followers came from videos I made for Youtube and re-posted on LinkedIn for fun.

There’s 5,000 views on a 30 second video of a sea turtle. I caught this footage in the Philippines just off the coast of Apo Island.

The main point I’m trying to make here is that LinkedIn’s organic reach is ridiculous. The second point I’m making is that no, LinkedIn is not just for professionals. The two posts you see above are about animals. That’s a far cry from posts about Elon Musk and career advice.

LinkedIn is also a great alternative for writers.

The above is a status update that was born from a blog post I wrote. It took me 5 minutes to summarize it into a short LinkedIn status. I got more views on LinkedIn than I did on Medium!

LinkedIn is full of status updates like this, and if you can understand how to write them well, you’ll potentially get boatloads of eyeballs overnight. I made a course about this a few years back called LinkedIn Mastery. Thankfully, much of the advice still stands. Here’s a link to check it out with a $99 discount if you want it.

2. Quora

Another platform with ridiculous reach is Quora. I recently talked to Sinem Günel and she said that most of her email subscribers come from Medium and Quora.

At the end of the day, the only thing I care about as a marketer online is my email list. I could get a billion views on Youtube or Facebook, but if I drive only a handful of email subscribers from those billion views, it was largely a waste of time.

I’m interested in platforms that convert viewers to subscribers.

Quora isn’t a platform I’m actively on, but many of the best writers on the internet swear by it. I believe them. Take a look at Quora in 2021.

3. Search Engine Optimization

The Medium hamster wheel is a very real thing. What I mean by that is, to keep getting views on Medium, you need to keep writing.

It’s a never-ending hamster wheel. Once you stop writing, your views will take a nosedive.

If you want to get off the hamster wheel, then write search-optimized posts.

That way Google keeps indexing your post in search results and you keep getting views on auto-pilot without having to meet weekly or monthly writing quotas.

These stats aren’t anything to write home about, but as you can see, on my personal website, FindingTom.com (this site) I managed to break 20,000 monthly page views a few times last year.

I get about 2 email subscribers per 100 views, so my blog generated about 400 monthly email subscribers there for a while. That IS something to write home about.

That’s enough email subscribers to start a $20,000+ per year online course business. My views fell off a cliff because I stopped writing there after May, but you get what I mean.

Over the next few months, I’m going to create some free resources for people to get started with Search-Engine Optimization. Consider following my blog here or subscribing to my email list to be the first to know when they drop.

4. Friendships With Other Bloggers

My friend Nick Wignall told me a few weeks ago that networking and fostering relationships with other bloggers is such an underrated yet powerful thing to do. I concur.

Ever since he told me that, I’ve tried to reach out to other bloggers, hop on calls, and make myself available to those who have questions or comment on my articles.

It’s made all the difference in the world for me this year.

I think that building your own “clan” online can potentially be the biggest opportunity out of all the ones I’ve mentioned here.

You can give each other advice, discuss what’s working for you, and generally just have a community of warm support. Not many people understand the blogging journey. My parents don’t get it, my siblings don’t get it, and my friends don’t know either. That’s okay, and I don’t blame them, but it does help to have someone who understands your work.

Consider building a clan of your own this year.

5. Medium

I still believe Medium is one hell of a platform to be on in 2021. If you answer questions on Quora then find ways to cross-post those answers to Medium, you’re killing two birds with one stone.

Until Medium decides to stop giving hundreds of views to new writers like Halloween candy, I’ll continue singing its praises.

What do you think of my list? Anything I missed? Comment it below.