I came to Steemit just 9 days ago, and I admit, I was clueless as to what I wanted or expected from it. The idea of being able to (possibly) make some money seemed interesting. Be honest, you were probably drawn to Steemit for the same reason, at least partly.
I am new to both blogging and Steemit, but one thing I have already learned is this:
If you expect to earn money from Steemit, or for that matter any other social network, then you absolutely must give value to your audience.
OK, that’s awesome, lesson learned, STOP praying for the dollar.
But I still had a problem. Who is my audience, and what’s my niche?
So after spending my first week or so stumbling about in the dark, I decided to think long and hard about my future on Steemit.
What am I good at? What do I know about?
Sadly nothing came to mind, at least not at first.
Then it occurred to me!
Over the last few years, I have suffered from three long term, on-going health issues.
Now wait a minute! I am in no way trying to lay the foundations of a sob story here. My health issues are not life threatening, they're simply a huge pain in the butt.
It occurred to me however, that these issues affect so many people from all walks of life, all over the planet, so just maybe it's something I could blog about.
So I gave myself some advice.
Forget about trying to make money. Instead, try to add value. Write about what you know and about what you are interested in. Be open honest but most of all be real."
I am in no way trying to give advice to anyone else. I'm a newbie, I have much to learn. It just feels that maybe I'm on the right path now, instead of trying to run around blindly in the dark.
So 10 days have taught me quite a bit. The $0.001 going into my account every now and then will not change my life, and that’s ok. I know what I need to do, and will try my best to do it.
I can't edit my introduction post, and in any case everything I previously wrote was 100% accurate, it’s just that now I kinda know what I want to write about and the direction I want to take.
Finally, I want to add this. I am enjoying Steemit, it’s a great community. I plan to invest in it both in terms of time and financially. My hope is that Steemit will one day take off big time and kick FB’s ass :)
Oh I nearly forgot, my interest is in the 'health' niche, but specifically the following areas
Lower back pain
Insomnia
Acid Reflux
So from now on my focus is on these things plus anything else interesting or a bit different from within the health niche.
Images: pixabay (no attrib reqd)
Great to have you around. Would love to see more of your content Upvoted and Followed!
(Follow me and we can improve the community together at Steemit. I hold daily draws to help new users!)
Hi precision, nice to meet you. I have followed you back. :)
You have been UP-VOTED and FOLLOWED!
Thank you very much, really appreciated.
Very inspiring. I wish more people did posts like this one!
Thank you dynobryno
I am also new in steemit... I am a doctor... I am of the same opinion about the niche and audience
Thanks, @drphysiatre .I'm no doctor or expert, but I have over the years done a massive amount of research into all three conditions. It's amazing how much help there is on the Internet from people who suffer the same things. Tips, advice and support. I'm not saying this should ever replace professional medical advice of course :)
Of course... the experience of people who suffer from certain diseases can help enormously others to overcome the difficulties...
Good luck brother
Cheers :)
Welcome to Steemit . You have gained respectable reputation in 9 days . I would say you have found a path that serves you .
Thank you @admyrer, I hope so
Good to meet you @harleyquinn. I just followed so I can hear more about your journey.
Hi @bigpanda, thanks, good to meet you too. Followed you as well.
Glad to hear you've found your place here so quickly! Insomnia is something that comes and goes with me, but it's so horrible when I do have it, so I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on it.
I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into these topics. I plan on giving some time, thought and effort to all my future posts and look forward to any thoughts or comments you might have on them. Thanks, @catonwheels.
Thank you for contributing something of VALUE to STEEMIT. Too many people here just posting nonsense and crap. Also a ton of people just copy-pasting articles and trying to get paid for it!
Thanks @hotsauceislethal. I think some people, myself included, start off with the wrong mindset. Its an easy trap to fall into, chasing the $$.
Nice to see another beginner on here or are we calling ourselves minnows among whales? Anyways, wanted to say that I Upvoted, Resteemed, and Followed.
Nice to meet you @karpone thaks for the U,R and F :)
I followed you back as well.
I liked it! I saw that you joined recently so I am very glad to see that you're actively posting. Hope this upvote helps and I hope you will some day do the same!
As you are new to steemit and it can be hard for newcomers to recieve votes so maybe you want to try Steemfollower where you can earn up to 5x more steem than just upvoting by yourself! It's a simple and safe vote exchange that is free to use. I have more info on it in this post where I go over the system in more depth and, believe it or not, this has become my most upvoted post yet.
Thank you @kromosoom for the upvote. Much appreciated :)
Thank you for sharing your experience with the humble beginnings on Steemit. I'm now for 3 weeks on Steemit and started because i was curious about the platform a child of Dan Larimer the founder of Bitshares and currently EOS. I wanted to feel what's behind the blockchain development, what are real applications and which advantages they could have beyond traditional software development. And now what do you think.. i'm quite addicted and try to give value to the community every day.
I derive content from my background, knowledge i have or what i wrote in my profile and i'm constantly learning from others here or let me inspire. I think you have also many more topics you can write about which come to you with the time.
And yes it was discouraging to see the first 5 comprehensive posts with $0.00 but i also commented other posts from the heart and knowledge and there was that moment as one recognized Steemian vote me up with 100% and gave me encouraging words (Thank you @barrydutton) and way over $2. It was enlightening and made me aware:
Give value and eventually get something back!
Become a valuable member of the community and have influence
Don't expect immediate miracles but with persistence and hard work you get noticed by the community.
I also recommend the current post by @jerrybanfield about the Steemit meetup in Florida
There are many good points from a professional.
Wish you the best! My upvote!
animation from giphy.com
Awesome reply and so very true. Writing from your own experience is something I intend to do. Also as you say be patient, its not about focusing on money, instead focus on quality. You are wise and will do well, I hope i can do well also. Im learning every day :)
i'm with you, let's keep going!
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