Stumbling your way around Steemit can get confusing when you're first starting out. This post will help you become a better blogger on Steemit.
I've been here for a while now and there's always something new to learn. That's one of the things I love about this place. You never stop learning.
One of the most important things I've learned is to forget about the money.
I, like you, came here because I heard you can make some money on this website. At least, the potential is there. I admit that was the reason I came here but what I soon learned is this place is not like other websites.
There's a community here that really cares about the platform and they love to contribute to it in their own unique way. How that takes shape and expresses itself is entirely up to you and the community.
Really, we're involved in an online social experiment unlike any other and it is constantly evolving into something new with each passing month. It's exciting to be a part of and a reward in itself.
I have never seen a social media site give anyone a personal stake in the shares of that entity just be adding content to it and giving it attention. It's a unique proposition.
Our attention has a lot of value and billions are spent each year to capture it through advertising. Billions more are earned each year by selling our attention to those looking to gain it.
Companies like Facebook, YouTube, and Google insane amounts of revenue from content we provide them with for free. They monetize it for their personal profits and share none of it with us, the content creators.
Steemit has flipped the switch and rewards content creators for their efforts.
How cool is that?
So, if they are rewarding us for creating content then I learned to forget about the money and focus on the content and engaging with the community. That is the value we are being rewarded for in the first place, right?
So what makes good content?
The topic is less important than how it is presented. Your voice and the message it contains is all you need to attract your followers.
What is more important is that you present your message in an easy to digest way and that is where formatting comes in.
Formatting? What the hell is that?
It's just a fancy way of saying having an easy to read structure to your post so it is, well, easy to read.
Look, people are busy and distracted and as good as your message may be readers don't want to have to work very hard to get your point. So make it easy for them.
Some main points to making your posts look readable.
Quality images matter
In a post with a lot of text, research has shown posts with an image every 100 words get higher engagement with readers and are more likely to be shared with others on social media.
There should be an image on every fold of the page. A page full of text is a turn-off and it will start to feel like work to the readers and unless you're a great story teller they will probably stop reading.
Format your text in markdown
To learn more about using markdown read, MARKDOWN BASICS FOR BEGINNERS (ON STEEMIT)
Don't make your paragraphs too long
Again, it starts to feel like a homework assignment to your reader if your paragraph is too long.
Forget about what they taught you in your writing class and break it up into smaller bite size pieces with lots of white space and images around it.
Post regularly
Facebook is a treasure trove of information that we Steemians can learn from and there's something divinely sinister in picking Facebook's brain apart and using it to get people on Steemit instead.
Posting regularly plays a big part in attracting real followers, building momentum, and engaging with readers.
Facebook has done some amazing research on how frequency effects online audience engagement that you can read about called, Effective Frequency: Reaching Full Campaign Potential
Read the FAQ
It is amazing how many people try to navigate this platform without reading the manual. When I started there was no manual but now there is so do yourself a favor and read the damn thing.
Or at least when you have a question have a look there first before asking anyone.
It answers almost every question a new user could have and it's right there on your menu.
You can also use this thing I've heard of called, Google. If you type your question in there and add the word Steemit right after the question most of the time you'll get an answer. That's how we did it before there was a FAQ section.
Here's the link to Steemit FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
It is a so helpful and an often missed resource.
Ask your readers questions about your post topic.
By asking your readers to express their opinions and to ask you questions they will engage more with you in a conversation. That's what makes this an online community.
Get them involved and asking questions works. Try it.
What posts and guides have you found helpful on Steemit?
Please share them in the comments below and if you have any questions just ask. There's always someone to help you out here on Steemit.
Related Posts
Do You Know What The 80 20 Rule Is Why You Should Make A Steemit Post Ever Day Regardless Of Your Rewards --- by @luzcypher
The Complete Guide To Steemit Success --- by @walkingkeys
How To Be A Steemweaver Tips For Getting Your Posts Noticed And Increasing Community Interaction On Steemit --- by @luzcypher
Where To Find Answers To Questions About Steemit Bringing Newbies Up To Speed --- by @luzcypher
Very helpful @lucypher thank you for sharing. I will follow you from here, because it looks like I could learn much from you here on Steemit - keep up the great work
Thanks.
You are very welcome @luzcypher I send some vegan hugs your way
This is really, really helpful post! Thank you, hope you are doing well!
That FAQ was just what I was looking for - thank you for pointing me to it!
It really comes in handy and is often overlooked.
You must be a bot.
hahaha
I think it's a bot because 10 seconds after I posted it they responded.
or a fast thinker
cool
So very helpful - thank you. Steemit is a bit of a mystery so an article like this is most useful.
You'll find a lot of helpful info in the links to the other posts too. Thanks for reading the post. Are you really a doctor?
I love this! Thank you for the tips :D @luzcypher
Just sharing a few tips that have helped me along the way.
@luzcypher: Really good insight, simple yet powerful.
I find few of my friends who were really good at writing blogs and some great articles on other social media, but they are in a bit of panic when they knew that the work they did for fun actually pays on steemit. haha, must be the story of many. I would just say just forget about money and just enjoy steeming.
Exactly.
That was the perfect post at the perfect time. I was talking to a friend of mine today attempting to explain this fascinating land of awesome. I copied some links for her to review, and I am sending her this post. Repetitive guidance is the backbone to growth.
Repetitive guidance. LOL. Sounds kind of like brainwashing. You're right though. Repetition is how you get good at anything.
I'm glad this post came at a helpful time for you and your friend. What other links did you share with them? Please share them here.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@andrarchy/key-to-creating-great-content-1-the-importance-of-vision-creative-constraints-and-persistence
https://steemit.com/news/@samstonehill/the-demand-for-international-steemit-tutorials-is-growing-and-so-too-is-our-youtube-channel
https://steemit.com/steemit/@dwinblood/curiosity-why-is-the-number-one-person-in-terms-of-followers-someone-who-appears-to-only-resteem-digital-archaeology
https://steemit.com/life/@jeffberwick/livin-the-dream-how-i-am-living-my-dream-and-you-can-too
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rok-sivante/from-the-shackles-of-j-o-b-slavery-steemit-has-set-thee-free-it-s-a-celebration-bitchezzzz
Cool. I read every one of those blog links you posted. Good stuff. Thanks
That is an affirmation that I am on the right path. Thanks...
upvoted and resteemed brother!
Thank you SO much for the resteem and upvote.
with pleasure my friend :)
Another very helpful post @lucypher
I have this post of yours bookmarked and use it everyday.
The above post is spot on and fortunately I had already made many of the changes, but there are indeed a few suggestions which I will definitely adopt.
If you'd like to check out my latest, here it is.
Thanks again for the help, upvoted @roused
Thanks, I really appreciate that you liked my posts.
May I make a suggestion? When adding links to your posts in a comment on someone else's post you'll get a much better response if the link you add has something to do with the topic we are discussing.
This is true all over the internet but especially on Steemit. Just so you know. An unrelated link will turn a lot of people off and doesn't really add to the discussion.
Sorry for offending & I gladly accept your constructive criticism. Pls. note that I first posted a link to another post of yours which was very helpful to me. Didn't mean to imply my post covered the topic, only that you, and only you, might be interested in how your advice had influenced me.
No offense taken. I just know that posting an unrelated link to the topic of a post is frowned upon on Steemit and will hurt your reputation if you keep doing it. A lot of new people are not aware of this so I thought you should know.
For more tips on Steemit etiquette read this
https://www.steemithelp.net/#/etiquette/
Thanks & your advice and helpful post are much appreciated.
In my time on here so far, I've found that posts with pictures tend to get more attention than posts with just text. I'm still working on laying them out a bit better. I've gotten to the point where I don't want to do a post without at least a couple of pictures to support the post.
I'll resteem this one for you.
good idea
Thank you for the resteem. Much appreciated. There's a great post about using images on your blog that gets into the best practices I think you'll find very interesting. Since I have made use of some of these tips my posts have done much better.
Thanks for the link, there's a lot of good information there. Now all I need to do is put some of the information to use.
Great post, very informative, I'm trying to get better at writing posts and these helpful posts are great, many thanks.
Sharing for the followers, upvoting for the content! Thank You @luzcypher!
awesome: quality over quantity
This post has been ranked within the top 50 most undervalued posts in the first half of Jul 21. We estimate that this post is undervalued by $17.59 as compared to a scenario in which every voter had an equal say.
See the full rankings and details in The Daily Tribune: Jul 21 - Part I. You can also read about some of our methodology, data analysis and technical details in our initial post.
If you are the author and would prefer not to receive these comments, simply reply "Stop" to this comment.
wow man, great stuff like always... I have to read in full later. Yeah I need to read more about how much Facebook, YouTube, and Google are taking because it seems like it's getting out of control... like their share price !! peace
Some very invaluable information. Thank you for posting this. I will certainly take much of this on board. I could definitely post more often. If I didn't procrastinate so much. 🙄
Facebook really did a lot of research on the frequency of posting that is worth a look which is why I included it in this post. Here it is again in case you missed it.
Effective Frequency: Reaching Full Campaign Potential
This information can easily be applied to posting on Steemit
I'll certainly have a look.
Ordinarily I wouldn't trust a thing to come out of Facebook these days. Although I don't doubt the research they've done. After all they've used plenty research against their own users.
However if it can be used for good. 😁
Facebook certainly has a lot of data and I'm sure they are using it to make money from our information. I get a strange thrill out of using their own research into social media posting against them and to our own benefit.
Thank you. This is very helpful to newbies like myself. Following and resteeming so more can benefit from this.
Thank you SO much for the resteem and welcome to Steemit.
Yeah this is a great post. Wish I'd seen it a month ago! Lol half my time on Steemit has definitely been spent learning how to make posts readable. So I'm def giving this a resteem and hope everyone gives this a read
Thanks for the resteem. Much appreciated.
ups!!!
Sorry this post did not get more traction, because it is a fantastic teaching post. I am mentoring a bunch of family members who after a year of begging them to get onto steemit, finally saw the big numbers in June and all jumped on. So, all the sudden I have about 11 unruly students constantly asking questions, and of course not listening to my advise. I sent all of them this post, because it's fantastic advice. I'm hoping they'll listen to you, LOL
Really helpful post for newbies like me, but still i face the problem of my aim to earn money
Sweet! Love that way of thinking. Share it people!!