Writer, linguist, content creator & dad of 4. I write about tech, menswear, fashion, social media, life lessons, writing, blogging, nutrition, fitness, and anything that pops into my mind. Connect with me: burkr.de!
Three Must-Reads (updated regularly)
Read My Most Popular Stories (updated regularly)
A common question I get on how to start a blog is: What plugins do you need? That’s a tricky question. You might need none or only a couple. Others might need a handful or more.
But there’s one plugin (or type of plugin) that every WordPress website — no matter how small or big, how many views or how few — needs right from the get-go. It’s not the only one, but it’s one of the most important that many people forget or don’t even know about.
A caching plugin
A cache plugin will speed up your site, precache pages, reduce loading…
Lists are finally here. A great feature added to your Medium profile. I already tried out lists and have 3 use cases that you might like.
- Categorization: Use lists to group your related stories together. For example, one list for all self-care posts, one for writing tips, another one for fun stuff, and so on.
- Monthly recaps: Create monthly lists for your most popular posts or your favorite ones. It’s an easy way to recap your stories and get some more exposure.
- Curate other people’s stories: Lists are not just useful for your writing, they can also be used to…
I don’t just use Medium. It has become my primary writing platform, but I make use of other platforms as well. For one, I have my blog. I also started writing on Vocal Media. I give you 4 reasons for that here:
- Pay for external views: Unlike Medium, Vocal Media takes into account external reads when it comes to paying. You earn 3.80$ for 1000 views, external or internal. Or 6$ if you’re a Vocal+ member.
- Bonus payments: Vocal has a small but still nice bonus system. You get 5$ for your 5th story, or 50$ for your 50th, for…
I’ve been doing Vocal Media wrong in the past
I’ve been doing Vocal Media wrong. And from what I can tell, I’m not the only one. Let’s deep dive into my thoughts about Vocal Media and why I think it’s still worth a shot.
I arrived when everybody left
I just read two stories on Vocal Media. The first by Laquesha Bailey is called “Why I Finally Cancelled My Vocal Media Subscription After 7 Months”. The second one “Goodbye Vocal Media” was written by Shamar M.
As you might guess from these two headlines, they’re not satisfied with Vocal Media. Nor should they be. In comparison to this platform here, Vocal has quite a…
No follow-for-follow or any other funny business
I’ve gotten this question a few times now. “How did you manage to get almost 2000 Medium followers in just shy of 5 months on this platform?” My answer was “I don’t know”. Because to be honest, I didn’t. Until I thought about it some more.
Before my first post
It all started even before my first Medium story. I didn’t just write that first post and hoped for the best. Instead, I did a little research. By research, in this case, I mean I created a Medium account, became a paying Medium member, and started to read viral articles by high-profile writers. Why…
With number 4 and 5 I made 2000$ for 4 hours of work a month
Sounds like a scam? I thought so too. That’s because numerous YouTube gurus tell you how to earn ten thousands without making videos.
You won’t. Most likely.
But these tips might lead to a valuable side income. I’ve earned over 2000$ in total this way. For as little as 4 hours of work per month. There’s a catch though. I’ll tell you upfront.
It’s hard to get in
What’s most frustrating about YouTube as a platform to make money on? Without a doubt, it’s the partner program's requirements. 4000 watch hours within 12 months and 1000 subscribers, this is the base requirement to even be…
Easier to set up, cheaper, and it keeps me standing most of the time
For the longest time, I was contemplating buying a standing desk for my home office. I had been working on a desk that wasn’t even a proper desk for over a year. It was uncomfortable and less than ideal for my back and neck.
Then again, I wasn't sure how long this working from home situation would last. It’s been over a year now. It might last another one. It’s time to upgrade.
I didn’t go the traditional electrical standing desk route though. …
It’s not my full name, as you might imagine. That German long version is too much, in my opinion. So, I go by Burk. Hi!
I’ve been writing for the better half of my life. I only started writing in English last year, though. Since I began on Medium in February of this year, my English writing career has been going better than expected.
I grew up on a little peninsula in the North Sea. Not much to do there for a growing teenager. So, I wrote. First, it was poetry. Then, science fiction. A few years later, after graduating…
