INTRODUCTION
The game has changed since I first joined steemit in May. Back then, I almost knew all the writers on this platform. There was no feed, no reblog, the number of users was really small and the competition for really big payout was quite low. These were "the good old days".
But now everything is different.
I have to hit myself on the forehead at this point. What I am going to cover in this article seems like blogging 101...it's stuff I should've known from the beginning and applied. But somehow, I failed at these fundamentals. It's so easy to overlook! I hope you can get some wisdom from my failures and that it gives you some insights on "how to do it right".
Enjoy the read...
The game has changed, ...and the way the game is played has to be changed
Not only do we have now blog functions such as a feed, followers and reblog but the competition is fierce to get votes. If you are blogging like you were 2-3 months ago...you are going to get eaten for lunch.
I've seen it myself. If I go through my personal blogroll, I see a constant decline of payout even though my followers count has gone up. Competition is fierce now. A new approach is needed if you are here to play the "long game".
Smart People Adapt to New Environment
“All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation”
Max McKeown
This morning it dawned on me that I was blogging like I was 3 months ago. I was blogging about everything under the sun. There was no rhyme or reason to the topic I was covering. There was no focus. I paid the price by slowly having my payout go down the drain.
So I sat down this morning in front of my journal and really pondered on what I would be blogging about from now on. What niche am I going to blog on and reblog on?
The Cost of a Make-Over
If you are in a similar situation has me, namely that you already have a few hundred followers, you've been blogging about random stuff and noticing your payout going down, then there is going to be a cost to refocusing your blog on a particular topic.
You might lose some followers on the short term.
But it might be a very good thing. What is the point of having a large amount of followers if they don't vote for you? Followers are not created equal after all. What professional bloggers wants are loyal even rabid followers.
The long game is about this: building a large and dedicated audience for your blog.
How to Choose a Profitable Topic For Your Blog?
Well, that was the exercise I went through this morning. There are multiple factors that need to be in play.
1. Knowledge
What are you knowledgeable about? Is there an area of expertise that may have come through hobbies, life or work that might interest other people?
For some people it's cooking, other it's gardening or like my brother in law @lemouth, science.
Make a list of topics that interests you and that you are knowledgeable about
2. Public Interest
Are people on steemit interest about your topic? That's the big question. Since we do not have advance market research tools on what people are most interest in yet, we have to guesstimate the interest. Demographics can help a lot.
For Steemit, so far it's been leaning towards the young male between 25-35. Also, because of the technical aspects, you have to think that people are interested in science and technology for example.
3. Longevity
Could you blog about this topic everyday for a year without running out of material or angles? That's the crux of this. It has to be specific enough for people to care over the long run and general enough so that you can cover the topic for years to come.
Great Example:
I have to give props to @ozchartart who's been right on the money with his blog. He is knowledgeable with price chart technical analysis. A large segment of steemit users are watching the price like hawks and this topic will never run out of content since the price changes everyday.
He has a formula and sticks to it...and it works!
My Blog and it's Future
Starting from tomorrow, I'm going to be covering a topic that I've been studying for years and that I am very passionate about. For now, I'm keeping it has a surprise. The first article will come out tomorrow. Make sure to unfollow if you have absolutely no interest in the topic I am going to be covering because that's what you are going to get for a long time in your feed coming from me.
Conclusion
I hope those tips will help my fellow steemians to have more success with their blog. I think that if more people did that, the quality of the platform would go through the roof. I'm looking forward to see what this platform will look like in a year!
Hey, your considerations are very rational. I chose very early on to focus on one main subject of interest and stick to it. It is all about having something to say, but also to cater to a certain segment and making sure that they get what they come for. Looking forward to your surprise :-)
Great post man. This is a lot of good info. Specially liked the convergence phenomenon. Keep posting @cryptoctopus
Thanks @funnyman :-)
Excellent information and insight.
Best wishes as you progress!
Hmmm... Octopus...
ever ate octopus?
octopus is a vcery intelligent animal. eating it is crime.
I know...it's such a badass animal. (cool video!)
Perhaps, but it is delicious.
Since it is already dead and on the menu, I have eaten it and enjoyed it. I'd rather grab some when I am at the buffet and put it to good use than have it be wasted.
Oh yes!
I love it.
One of my favorites is Baby Octopus Salad.
Never eat octopus, and always listen carefully to anything they might say!
A cautionary and very sad tale about a famous psychic octopus...
https://steemit.com/science/@matrioshka/fact-cannon-3-the-sad-tale-of-paul-the-octopus
Interesting... so you think posting about random things would ultimately lead to the death of your blog?
I may be in trouble as well...
Well, before there was a feed and followers, it wasn't a problem since everybody was competing against one another for the attention of 1 feed. Now it's different. We risk to alienate our followers if we don't give them what they want.
I disagree...personal blogs about whatever stuff without a niche are a thing. I think that the people that follow me come for me. I am my own niche. One that I can not escape even if I'd want to but also one that is reliable in everything I ever written or will write.
Your payouts went down for a bunch of reasons: steem down means the upvotes are worth less, the whales can only upvote so much, some people lost interest. I am not 100% sure it's about the quality of your articles, I don't think it is anyway.
The "good old days" sound nice.
This isn't an attempt at advice, rather just wanted to share my thoughts:
If not a niche, an overall thematic consistency is the next best thing. For 'big picture' thinkers, it's excrutiating to narrow things down that much. If it jives with your natural tendencies and brings out your best writing, that is better than forcing a niche. It requires being a real spin doctor and creative outlook. An example is an article I really liked by kyriacos about 'the dark side of leadership' (I dont recall the headline)
Managing expectations of the amount of interest it will gain is essential to keep motivation. Just accept it may get less. That's how I see it.
Also niche is easier for more experienced writers/bloggers.
thanks. you can always check my blog and give my your honest feedback in a comment there. no offense taken, always curious what people think. Sometimes it's hard to be objective :)
I really like your blog. But in my humble opinion, "the personal blog" are usually not the one that makes a lot of money (or steady stream of income) on the internet (outside of steemit). If your goal is to have a fairly constant stream of income by having followers clicking on every article you publish...I would niche down. If you are blogging for fun and like the random highs and lows, keep doing what you are doing. :-)
The price has had a huge impact on payout...but I won't blame it entirely on that. I think the competition is a lot more fierce and when that happens in marketing, we have to niche down to stay competitive.
For an example of incredible steady stream of income, check @ozchartart...it's fantastically stable.
ok, explain calaber24p then :)
a unicorn ;-) (point taken)
I'm two months in and for the first month I wrote excitedly about a range of topics, to get the lead out and get to know people. But eventually I gravitated back to writing and poetry, since that's my passion all my life. I can't agree more that things have changed so much just in these last two months, but since focusing, I've been able to connect, get followers and follow great authors who are similarly minded.
i still follow a lot of variety, so I'm not leaving your follwership anytime soon :) looking forward to your pivot and what the theme moving forward will be.
oh thanks @prufarchy...I'm checking out your blog now :-)
Awesome, I hope you find work that you enjoy reading :)
I guess that you are doing the right thing in finding a niche that you are interested it. I joined the party too late to enjoy early payments and I find it very difficult to be noticed.
Here is a few things I would suggest:
Super solid and practical advise!
Thanks for the tips ! I will also definitely check those headline generators. I was not even aware that they exist ;)
Yeah, it's been a while since I did one of my little info-for-noobs videos with the white-background. I'll churn one out later today and see what happens... you know, for science ;)
The art of the title or headline as you put it is something that makes a difference. I have been writing online for a pretty long time. I was a featured author for Associated Content (which was bought by Yahoo) and the biggest thing that I got feedback on from editors was my titles. I just don't have the knack. I have seen a difference when I followed their suggestions.
I feel this is the most important and best advice right here... top 4 advice tips
I've been asking this since week 1 being on Steemit, and I've been trying. I like the "boutique" topics that I talk about, but my hands are itchy to just post something casual every once in a while. I think i've settle to a general progression of 1-longpost and 1-shortpost, alternating most of the time. But that's obviously not good for botlists.
The posts that I really wanna write about are taking much longer these days..
I agree with your opinions but in start i have seen alot of stars who posted great for steemit but after some posting they disappeared they get huge on very post as i have seen some steemit users whales who get $20000 fro there just first post in @introduceyourself, But they have gone.... is there something wrong with them?
#introduceyourself was all the rage at the beginning. Combine this with the price of steem and the increase competition and you've got it all explained. Some people stay and some people dont.
well said dear @cryptoctopus
I just followed you because of this post and curiosity of topic :)
I look forward to your convergence topic tomorrow. Happy Steeming.
After studying the patterns, watching the likes on my blog and fed, that is my conclusion as well! Can't wait for your favorite topics, I have lots of hobbies and interests to write and create, I think I'll focus on four or five topics.
I'm sure your followers will dig it. Looking forward to it.
What's "reblog"?
I follow you from 2 months now or more and I can say that you are right about everything you said! I changed my niche and do what I like to do! You can check it if you want and you will see I had better results! I wait to see what's your surprise!
The game has changed alright on multiple levels. We can see just from the increase of users how more and more quality posts get buried in the pile of unseens. Thank goodness for the initiatives. Great post:)
Like many others- I've pondered this and asked about it. I have two niches that can be called passions. Completely unrelated. Thought about doing two separate accounts to split them, but that seemed inefficient.
Thus far all of my investment and financial posts have been titled "ScaredyCatGuide to Investing - name of post" and all of my poetry and creative stories just title whatever it is they are.
Hoping that will create enough divide to cater to my users. The creative stuff gets way more play. The financial stuff doesn't seem to have a big steemit audience, but I still want to write it.
I agree wholly with everything you've said, but I do think that as Steemit is rather versatile, you wouldn't be "forced" to write on the same topic every day. You make a lot of great points and give many wonderful tips to help improve a Steemer's blog. Thank you for taking the time to compose this clearly written article. :)
Thanks for the wink ;)
I think that as soon as you post quality stuff, you will get noticed. I am reading the science tag everyday (not all the most as there are too many of them), and I am sure others read other tags as well. Newcomers can be notified!
Thank you very much for mentioning my charting blog!
Really interesting post, thanks, and will consider niches over the next couple of weeks.
Do you think there is a kind of threshold level of followers when most of your votes start to come from them rather than from curation reward hunters and bots?
This is great advice for a newb. Thanks for posting.
I think your right and I am worried that more users could actually spell doom for this platform as a whole??