I'm going to divulge some secrets how to make more money as an author and curator of steem. #5 of a 5 Part Series
LESSON #5: VALUE OF YOUR POSTS
15. BRINGING VALUE TO THE STEEM COMMUNITY WITH YOUR POSTS
First of all, what is value?
- the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something.
- a person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life.
It is very simple:
If you ask someone to spend the time to READ and UPVOTE your articles, or even your comments, you must deserve the time spent it took to READ them. You must also deserve the time it took to get an UPVOTE for them too.
How do you do that?
Let's value some comments:
- (1) Hi, good post! upvoted!
---> On a scale of 1-10, what do you think of that one? I rate that a 0/10
- (2) Hi, your post touched my heart, and I'll tell you why. I realized the same thing when this happened to me. I recently got pulled into the same situation, and this is what I did to fix it....[more details follow]
---> On a scale of 1-10, what do you think of that one? I rate that an 8/10
Let's value some posts or articles by people on their blog:
- (1) Since everyone is talking about the Mexico earthquake, I thought I would do it too
---> On a scale of 1-10, what do you think of that one? I rate that a 0/10
- (2) I did some research lately (took me a week), but I want to share the results of my findings. This will save you the trouble. Here is the results, and how it can save you both time and money on trying to figure this out yourself. I've done the work for you...
---> On a scale of 1-10, what do you think of that one? I rate that an 8/10
Most people can SMELL cheap posts. They can smell when there was little effort involved to create them.
Bots don't care, they'll upvote almost anything. PEOPLE do care, and your followers and audience do care. If you are just writing for the sake of writing... people will realize that is exactly what you are doing, and they won't upvote you.
Q: Ok @intelliguy, are you telling me every single one of your comments and posts gets upvoted? You said you know how to write meaningful things that take time and effort
A: Honestly, not all my writings get paid well. Many of them do, but not all of them. Does that mean I'm willing to cheapen my efforts? Sell out my soul and just publish crap I don't believe in? No!
- There is only one single @intelliguy on the steem blockchain, and that's me. I'm going to do my best to keep my work and time spent remembered.. my historical track record (like a driver's abstract) is important to me... because I'm real. I'm not real whether or not I get paid. I am real EVEN IF I don't get paid. That's why I need to take a breather every couple of days to build up a catharsis for my next writing.
- That link I just posted to catharsis is not just a definition, it's a good writeup with extra details that might actually help you. I invite you to click it.
Ask yourself these questions when you post a comment, or write an article:
- Am I the first one to post something like this?
- Does it help someone, or save someone some time and effort? Did it spawn emotion?
- Did someone read what I just wrote, and actually feel differently by it?
- Did I put my "all" in that post or comment? Did I mean what I said?
- Did I surprise myself, by the amount of effort I put into that?
- Did I surprise myself, by how blatantly truthful I was, and didn't mind sharing that?
- Did I surprise myself, and look back, and say... I was actually proud I wrote that. Didn't realize I was going to do that....
If the answer is yes to even a couple of those... then yes, that's a good comment or post.
If you write a comment or article/post and ask yourself:
- I did that to get upvotes, even just one. Was that good enough to get an upvote?
- You might as well go jump in a lake, throw in the towel, or give up now.
WRITING ON STEEM IS NOT ABOUT GETTING UPVOTES -- EVEN IF IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS
This is a community. A HUGE community. There are thousands of people here. Tens of thousands actually. Soon to be millions.
Every HOTSHOT new user of STEEM wanting money thinks they can write simple, quick content, and find some way to get paid.
You can fool us some of the time. You can't fool us all of the time.
Scammers, lazy posters, plagiarists, slackers, cheap effort contributors... they all make money in the short term. NONE of them make great money in the long term.
So look around. What users of steem do you remember and are noteworthy?
- (1) Do you remember the last recycled content you read found already on the internet?
- (2) Do you remember certain steemians who posted new, fresh, unique content you've NEVER seen before?
The answer is already in your hands. I just reminded you of it.
YOU REMEMBER VALUE. WE ALL DO.
You didn't need any of my steem tips from 1-5 to tell you the obvious. You might have just hoped there was an EASY SECRET to avoid hard work.
Or you might have hoped here was an EASY SECRET to change 1 or 2 "small" things, and get rich instantly.
None of what I've said from the 15 lessons I put in STEEM TIPS (1-5) is EASY, nor is it SECRET. It's common sense, but VERY IMPORTANT.
Don't cheat the system. It won't cheat you either long term.
Are you here to make $100, or $100,000 ? Your effort decides that!
- Now please do us both a favor. Write a meaningful comment below other than "good post" or "I like" - prove to us both you understood what you just read. Please take the time do to that now.
I'm on day 28/30 of my positivity challenge.
You can also read my blog to see Steem Tips #1-4, this is #5 in this series. I do these from time to time. If you want to see more of my writings in the future, you may know how to keep watching for them.
Quite frankly I'm just glad that there is finally an outlet/platform for my writing. Of course I do look at the monetary aspect of steemit because it is at the end of the day a business but all in all it's about the content for me. Also, just a side note but I never read the comments straight after reading an article, I write my comment first, if I feel the inclination too and If i happen to share a point of view with someone else, so be it. In fact their generally the people I end up following. It is common sense, unfortunately a trait not shared by everyone. Keep on steeming... djr420
Hello @intelliguy,
Myself and @rok-vilante feels the same way you do.
thought you would like his post to read, he is the best writer I have come across.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@rok-sivante/a-strong-recommendation-for-steemit-s-next-hardfork-anti-spam-protocol
I forwarded this post to him and resteeming to my 2745 followers.
Be well...
Well @intelliguy its crazy that basically the majority of what you just wrote is the reason I am even am apart of this amazing community because the way you conduct yourself as a member #steemit is how I live my life everyday at work and home . Im a trim carpenter in Naples Fl and wheather im in a 10 million $ high rise condo or a Single Story home in Golden Gate Estates My work is my reputation and I will never work any differently or cut corners , no matter how much im getting paid , or how important the customer is. I have morals and values I live by and I wont break them for anyone , I wouldnt be able to call my self a man if I didnt live by what I beilive in.
When you said its not about the money , and you are right , I have never had facebook , twitter , or any social media platform in my life . why ? its a Controlled propagandized messaging that is directed in one direction and they are not interested in providing a equal playing field where people can express themselves, share knowledge , or there philosophical opinions without being blocked, harassed , and shut down . #steemit is the best thing that happend to me this year besides my son being born !!! :) But This community offers something that very other platforms dont , intellectual people that can actually grasp the depth of this and where this could take us as a whole , #steemit is the future ... Once people realize that there are real people "@intelliguy " who are never going to stop spreading content that is 100% uncut real info that is in no way shape or form misleading in any way by only presenting the part of the article that he agrees with and vice versa , you will get the facts and the truth , not bias 1 sided version of events .
Sorry for rambling but your post just was like you wrote it to me , everything you talked about is exactly what I needed to hear right now , everythings crazy down here after the hurricane and being displaced just wears on you and that article just reinforced that is what I need to continue to do no matter what comes my way !!!
Thanks @intelliguy looking forward to future content , you earned my upvote/ and resteem , i wish my upvote was worth more .. haha maby someday right ?
Come see what I just wrote about you.
I can only upvote you 0.06 cents for your comment at the moment since the bulk of my steem power is donated to @voiceshares
But I will follow you, and when I get my steem power back, if you put this much truth, honesty, and bits of you in your comments and posts, you'll see more of me over time.
I am pleased to meet you
P.S. You're only 24, and father of two boys. You're soul and morals are intact at such an early age. Impressive. You lead by example from the rest of your peers. You deserve to be proud of yourself.
When I was 24 some time ago, even I don't know I was like that... I am now though. :)
Maybe they make money in the short term, but not much. Unless they're circle jerkers. Even then though, it doesn't last. I saw that kind of behavior kill Epinions.com back during the dotcom bubble.
Long term, probably few people will make great money (other than whales who bought in early), but I think that a surprisingly large number of people may well make decent money, a good supplemental income. I am convinced that Steemit has immense potential.
If you are tired of scrolling through posts of people trying to find cheap ways to get paid and contribute very little, please consider RESTEEMING this post.
...at the very minimum please upvote it, and don't forget. We need more people to realize effort is what makes this whole place work. This post will help stop the junk posts a bit more.
I made a post a few days ago trying say the what you just said, I think it's crucial, this should be revered as constitutional to steemit community.
I didn't put this much effort into my post, also i don't have the following base you have but i'm certainly glad this post got the attention this topic deserves though.
This post is mind blowing i read it over and over again because it is full of value.
You're actually a very new user, that never commented before. Reply to my comment and say the word GREEN. It proves you are just new (not a bot)... and truthful in what you just said.
GREEN
LOL. Upvote for being real. Last one though for color green. :)
GREEN
AWESOME. I kind of hoped (and then hoped you'd reply with that)...
Welcome to the steem blockchain. I'm going to follow you simply because you answered quite quickly about my human test.
(What you wrote, was the cause for a concern. As you can imagine, a programmed bot could run from post to post saying "This post is mind blowing i read it over and over again because it is full of value." because it is so generic, and doesn't indentify anything specific in the post itself)
It's Alright then i would also follow you and i will be expecting more posts from you,thanks.
Hmmm. I've learned a new thing. No generic replies. The smartest way to be human on Steemit.
Excellent post. I'm new here, and in my first few days of research / study, I came across a few posts / vids where some Steemers essentially stated "Upload any crap, and you can get paid for it." (That made me wonder ...)
Seriously, one of the first vids I watched said "Just upload anything and everything, without concern for style, content or format. You can start now."
While that may be true, let's hope that Steemit does not get swamped with sub-par material. I am a writer / editor / instructor, and I know (from experience) that only material that is well-conceived and well-composed will be effective. And excellent material gets appreciated. Crap, on the other hand, will end up on the crap heap of history. If some (many) people can make a few bucks from producing crap, that's fine. Let them do so.
But we should all strive to raise the standard of material on Steemit to a level where everyone can appreciate it, and where all the material can be effective in enlightening, informing and stimulating Steemit readers and viewers.
Over my first 5 days posting, I've made peanuts. But the pleasure of writing what I do and being able to upload it on this eternal forum gives me pleasure, and I already have plans for dozens of future posts.
Looking forward to reading your STEEM TIPS 1–4.
Thanks!
Resteemed. What you said is so true. Many people with their existing group of followers will upvote any content. Its not about quality posts anymore. Its quite upsetting. Need more community projects like curie to tell people dont worry we will identify what is good and have ur back bolstered.
Many people join with the idea of doing little work for great monetary gains. Not gonna happen. Put in the work and maybe get some rewards. I didn't join steemit to become a millionaire. I joined because I wanted to make a contribution. To share ideas with like-minded people. I wanted to learn more form others. If I make some money on the side, then bonus, but it is not my main objective. And please, don't spam me!
I completelly agree on your post.
The FREE internet fever, and now the GET RICH QUICK fever in the cryptospace makes people tend to believe it is just jumping in and getting easy Steem.
Nothing comes free in life, my posts get very low steem, some of them even give me zero, but still I have made some profit from posting and expressing my ideas and interacting with those users I consider valuable.
Just forget about the Steem. Enjoy the comunity, post what you know well and if people likes it, results will come. And even if you get small payments, you are just enjoying which is the best way to use your time!
Hey, appreciate the post ! I value this post because it offers me value by intelligent instruction. I didn't read it to make money, but to learn HOW to offer more value as I curate. As you can see I am not a "writer", (3 Blog post) but I do love to learn, that's why I came to steemit a year ago. I just got back on the net and steemit and am trying to be a good curator.
I am already following you and now that I have read # 5, I will go read all your tips. Thanks again for the value YOU add to steemit ! My feed is so chaotic, I'm glad I found you again !
Thanks again !
Read More, Reason More ... JTS
Great post, follow me @holbein81 and I follow you back
Only joking, it's Friday!!
This is a good post
I have seen others that are similar, so to your question "Am I the first one to post something like this?", I guess the answer is no.
But the answer to all the others would or should be yes, and the message is sufficiently important and useful to warrant repeating regularly, especially as more and more people sign up to the site
I have upvoted and resteemed
Cheers
Thanks for the resteem, and you're correct. Other people have posted similar things, but you're right, if a couple of the other questions the answer was yes then it becomes a post worth writing and sharing.
Thanks for seeing it the same way.
Cool, keep at it - seems like you have a good thing going on here!!
Cheers
Your writing made me aware that I understand that writing in steemit is not solely for money, but continuous hard work and staying in touch with the community to share is the most important. Thank you for your writing has changed my point of view about steemit, and this is my motivation to grow and develop in steemit.
All you've said in this post really is common sense. And I did take some time to figure that out. My early comments really were nothing but an attempt to please the writer, lol.
:) Honesty like that is appreciated.
You're welcome 😎
Hey @intelliguy
That's an awesome article.
Many people are getting upvotes for low quality content and there are many who are earning many more upvotes for quality posts.
As you have said we can earn $100 with low quality posts or we can earn $1000 with quality posts and leaves a legacy of quality content.
Intelliguy is intelligent. Well said man. I used to earn less than a dollar per post when I joined Steemit until I read a post like this.
Over time, I've been able to develop a good writer - reader relationship with my stories.
One thing I did was to write to meet my needs. If I needed to be happy, someone else definitely needs to be happy too. This works for me.
I've als learned that its better not to comment that to write unconnected comments.
ok, @intelliguy, I'm in awe! I'm a newbie here, followed some people who's posts I like, (like yours), been followed by a few people , posted comments on other people's posts that I liked and even posted a few posts myself - but - this post is awesome!
why is this post awesome? not sure why there are so many,many comments about your post but this post is awesome because of all the involvement it has generated, all the comments and the back and forth interaction.
now I'll go back and check your first 4 posts in this series. Thanks
Actually this touched me like you where talkink to me staigth.
When I open steemit I looked for valued post and upvoted it and wrote simple replies.
Thanks for opening my eyes hope to gain some more for the future.
Rightly said @intelliguy, I have spent about 2+ months on steemit so far. Frankly speaking I was in here to make some quick money, coz that was what I saw on many videos on youtube. Rest assured I didn't make any...
However, I have learnt, quality of content really matters without taking into consideration that it should make any money at all. I have never blogged before but do find blogging a very interesting approach to sharing life and all that is associated with it. I am still a newbie and look forward to be a better writer one day.
Appreciate your post, found a lot of truth in it. Upvoted, followed & resteemed.. God Bless...
I've been continually surprised with Steem and Steemians. I've copied some blog posts I wrote on my homesteading blog into Steem that I thought were educational, and entertaining...that got 2 up votes. I don't post a lot of day-in-the-life type posts on my blog because it doesn't seem to resonate with my following. But on Steem, I've gone past my realm of comfort and have starting showing more of myself - my personality, my face, my daily life. And those are the posts that make $100! It seems that Steemians want more than simply to learn, they want to connect and build a community. What better why to do that than get vulnerable and invite them into your day-to-day?
Yes, never copy/paste your old material and recycle it on steem. It's not good to do that.
I see you learned and gotten past it though:
Congratulations... That's great news and I'm glad you shared that.
Excellent post for new steemers .. when I start I did not know how to start a blog of interest and only shared recent news .. now with the help of person from the steem community like @intelliguy I have a clearer idea of how I should start my steemit account .. thanks you 😀
I like this article .. it gives me more motivation .. a few minutes ago, i find very sad because my post is always not appreciated .. hmm and i should give much dedication to a post perfect .. :(
Thanks @intelliguy. I have really found this series very insightful and I see the information as a solid guide in helping me, a new member to the Steemit community, in posting better content. I really look forward to constructive engagement with fellow members and your tips should prove very useful in this pursuit. Many thanks again for all your efforts.
As you say it's just common sense, this is the greedy attitude that is a wrong mindset. But people need also to grow in their skills as in their attitude. They must feel they are in the right place. I think i could get inspired by your post in my own work and that's make the difference. Touching hearts of people is not a common job.
Thanks for sharing your tips on producing quality posts. It's true, it would be a far more enriching experience if fellow steemians write posts that add value to the community. The topics we can talk about are bountiful!
Hello @intelliguy. Great post. Content is king, and value is necessary. If your posts solves problems, you are bound to make money.
That's what I learnt.
yes you are right bots don't care but people always want good and after doing hard work article
Good points, I think a lot of users bring over a mentality that word on other platforms....like Twitter. It seems like well thought out and even long format content can thrive here, more like Medium. I'm also a new user so getting some insight on best practices here is valuable to me. Look for to more.
Okay you got me and I was about to move on. Definitely good advice here. So what is the process besides thoughtful content. I have trouble choosing tags, don't yet know much about formatting and inserting... how/why do I need to use urls for profile pics... yes we all want steem I cannot blame myself for that... however patience and followers must come first. thx4 ure post
Do a lot more reading, before contributing, and you'll start to notice patterns and see helpful advice.
Another thing to try is go to www.asksteem.com and do some searches like:
how to choose tags
profile pic
Remember, this is a content system where there are non-stop articles being published on almost anything you can imagine.
They have been plenty of articles posted already on these questions (numerous times, by many different people, with many different perspectives)...
So you have a lot of answers to choose from. Find one that makes the most sense to you, and run with it. :)
Hi there. It looks like you have put a lot of know-how into this post and hey ... thanks for that. Not everyone wants to share his or her "secrets". Anyway, it is interesting that you write about the fact that people "smell" cheap posts. This made me think about false-positivies.
Some people maybe see a short post as not worth although it is dense and doesn't need much more words. Others see it as what it is so the length shouldn't be considered a measurement of quality.
Your post is not that long, not that short, just right and delivers all that has been promised in the title (which is also good for upvotes I guess)
Yes, but that's not really what the problem is...
It's Postlings. Deliberately created.
I wrote about the postlink problem here: https://steemit.com/steemit/@intelliguy/how-much-work-do-you-expect-from-your-followers-do-not-spam-your-followers-with-postlings
Hi, good post! upvoted!
Thank you very much @intelliguy for trying to correct a common wrong impression out there about Steemit. Those promoting Steemit out there in the wild lay so much emphasis on the money one can make at Steemit. They usually stress that one can get paid for nothing. They hardly emphasis the importance of value in one's posts and comments.
Steemit is a great community with huge potential for even more massive greatness. It should be the next BIG thing on the internet. But we MUST strive to ensure that we make the community a truly valuable one for everybody, whether rich or poor, smart or dumb, big or small.
We should all commit to it. Thanks @intelliguy for steering us along that route. You are surely one Steemian to follow. And, of course, I sure just did. Well done!
money money :)
Thanks for the perfect post! @intelliguy
My blog is best
This is something a lot of people can all work on when either new, or needing some help. I currently spend more time reading interesting posts I enjoy, then up-voting and commenting something about it and my thoughts etc.
I have never blogged before Steemit, but I know in time, I will create better blogs that more will enjoy and I am just happy to be a part of the community and how amazing it is.
The issue is that even good articles are hidden under whales... So sometimes I find very clever things and they'll remain unkown...
This problem is the same as every social network. Most of the famous user, started with bad value content, or clickbait articles, and now they are known, they can start the good value content.
And that's is boring because it's something very hard to solve and it seems there is no solution to fix this "human" issue...
The key is to be steady, and write good quality content regularly, but it's generally really hard to compete with whales already in place, and a lot of people are discouraged
You must not have read my blog post written 4 months ago, for people who are discouraged:
https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@intelliguy/if-you-re-new-to-steem-or-steemit-and-you-aren-t-making-hundreds-of-dollars-yet-let-me-explain-why
this article, really got me thinking......it is really it has really geared me to do the right thing
Just the kind of info I was looking for. Now I'm going to find Tips 1-4!
vote for my posts and i will do the same for you
I am interested to know why you set yourself the positivity challenge? It is clear that you want this platform to be of value to all users and I do appreciate that there seems to be a great effort to get rid of plagiarism and spam.
To encourage people to post quality can't be stressed often enough. However, I think there is very little new under the sun. But each of us will say the same thing a little bit different - and that does make it new. Thank you for your post.
Thank you for these tips. I try my best to follow most of them. When I write an article, I do make sure that it's not on the same topic, which is already being posted too many times. And most importantly, I give it a read as a critique to find those micro holes. And I can say, I am improving! :)
Very informative, thanks for sharing!
I've been here to make pennies since last year? Or more so to share value and finding ways to do just that! :D
I really appreciate this post because it helps to actually let the community know this isn't some BS instagram or Facebook account where you can just take old/stolen posts and get tons of likes. Here your content actually gets rewarded the way you choose. Yeah we don't all have a great following, I mean I don't think I have even 5 lol But today I finally got up my first post and I'm actually proud of it. Honestly, I'd rather be proud of my work and leave that legacy you were talking about. In the end, if people like MY hard work and reward me with upvotes and follows then I will feel happier knowing they like my work and not some sell out garbage. Thanks @intelliguy means a lot
You've got the right attitude I think money2crypto, just keep posting work you're happy with and you shouldn't go far wrong. I'm in the same boat, just starting my journey but already I know this place has more substance than the rest, by miles... Happy steeming....
Impressive, I hope I was more like u. But I understand it's a learning process and I would get there
Hello @intelliguy please follow me and vote @bilqis07 please
Really this post is amazing . Learn a lot thanks bro.
Very valuable! As you mentioned, I remember value, we all remember value! This post is a great reference for me today and one I can continue to look back on when writing future posts and comments! I have a lot to work on and am going to start now. People really do care. Thanks for your valuable insight and for sharing with us.