You cannot write a great piece of work and then sit back and watch it earn money. Not in the beginning anyway. You begin as a minnow, but that's not exactly correct. You are on the very bottom of the ocean floor. Some would say you are plankton.
You have yet to learn how to swim.
You may produce your best work ever, today. But if no one ever sees it, it doesn't earn you squat. You need followers to vote and comment on your work. Yes you want to attract the attention of the BIG fish, but the big fish rarely go the ocean depths where your work is lingering. The big fish wait for a piece to get pushed upward by smaller fish. So that's who you need to think about attracting.
Yes you can join the various minnow groups, and garnish 10-20 votes from the group who never read it, therefore it gained 0 comments and sank back downward. There are also a steady group of the vote for me, and I will vote for you pages, but again, no reading, no comment. Am I saying you must have upvotes and commentary to move it upward? YES, I AM.
Whining
This platform allows you to whine to your hearts content. You can blame the founders, developers, whales and even God. Again, that doesn't earn you squat. You will get some upvotes and commentary, because misery loves company. However, larger fish have no interest in reading a whiny article blaming others for you inability to learn to swim. Moaning about how much whales earn is not going to help you get noticed and could potentially harm your earning potential. Ignore the whales, you don't need to follow them, watch them or even vote for them. They will do just fine without YOU! Focus on your own problems and learning to swim first.
Learning to Swim
Put out content even though it is not earning. Set a goal to put out at least one a day for 30 days. You need to have postings on your blog wall. Other fish will look at your blog posting wall, wondering who is this new minnow and having several postings up, lets them get a sense of who you are. They will check you out. Learn to use the formatting abilities and always include art or video of some sort. Get creative.
Due Diligence
Your posting goes out to the NEW wall where readers like myself are likely to see it and possibly read it. Many think that their work is done, which is why they can't swim up off of the ocean floor. Putting out your post is only 1/2 of the work. Reading, voting and commenting on others work is your due diligence. You have been given 50 votes a day. If you don't do it, why should others do it. If no one does it, well everyone down there just stays down there, unable to swim.
Comments
Every newbie seems to underestimate the importance of the comments section. You can also upvote a comment. I have found I often make more $ from my creative comments than from my creative posts. Comments count as a post in your posting count which can aid in raising your reputation. You should use your writing skills when commenting. Engage a conversation. A few examples:
@tracemayer -20 votes It is rather insane that some people think they can put other people in cages merely for moving, or transmitting, pieces of paper with pictures of dead people around. I suppose the insanity is only surpassed by yet other people strutting around in costumes thinking they can put people in cages for feeding other hungry and desperate people.
@ptmikesteem48 - 9 votes Dealing with much death in my life has made me learn that everyday is a gift, a gift that it is up to me to make the most out of. It is up to me to live a positive life in honor of all the people that I have lost in my life.
@albertfall52 · 24 votes- ($235.83) Thanks for the review @ozmaster. I've heard nothing but great things about the OnePlus 3 and for the price, this phone truly is the definition of bang for the buck.
Replies
There is a reason why you have a page on your account for Comments and Replies. Just as you monitor how your recent post is doing, you must also monitor your comments and replies. The quicker you respond the more likely a conversation is engaged. This is swimming. This is where you make friends, create community and gain a following. Those that you have engaged with, communed with, will be drawn to be favorable to your future work.
You could just say Thanks, but that's not swimming. An example
@ericvancewalton67 - You're welcome! This poem was inspired by my father who was in the US army and Air Force. He passed on a lot of what he learned to my brother and I. We all three keep our shoes polished to this day. Thanks for reading and taking the time to leave the thoughtful comment!
If you look at any top trending article today or over past 30 days, you will see the conversation below. ALL top pieces of work have this. You cannot skip this part and think you are going to achieve rewards.
Working it
- create content
- format and art/media and a title
- post and start reading
- vote and comment, you have 50 votes to give away
- monitor your post, monitor your replies, respond quickly
- engage conversation
After you have made a few friends you can count them and vice versa to make sure a conversation does get initiated. As you do these things your following grows, your reputation grows, your work is actually being read and liked. You are still a minnow, but at least now you can swim. The fish just above you are likely keeping an eye on you. You have their attention. THIS is exactly the place you need to be to get your work noticed. Keep posting and working it. You will find that the number of people following you has grown, the number of reads your getting has grown and with that, the number of votes your getting.
I pretty much follow this strategy to a T and it works decent. I learned that the key is to just put in the work and post great content and provide excellent comments to other posts. Over time you will get people following you and that is where the exposure comes from.
Thank you @velourex, I hope you don't mind my using you as an example. Notice the first commenter getting votes.
your diagnostic is very clever. But dont refer too much to trending. Personally I perfer to search gems inside "hot" topics, not necessarily with hundred of dollars. There you can find fresh and interesting content. "new" topic can also have some good ones, but there are too many "junk" posts.
Answered my whiny questions!
Great solutions-oriented post, very well thought out and relevant to the community.
and proof it works!
Here is my friend to make sure commentary gets underway. Blowing kisses your way.
Excellent suggestions and insights, jennsky! As an deeply experienced Facebook poster and commenter (and blogger), with several friends who have maxed out their FB 'friends' and even 'followers' capacities, I can definitely 'see' how helpful this article can be for people.
I just wish more of them could see it. There is no real "start here" feature and new users waste the 1st month figuring these things out, or leave failing to understand.
Thanks for the tips. I am new too to this kind of platform and am really enjoying the process as plankton. Got to get in the water to learn how to swim. oc
Just keep plugging away, always answer these comments- always. It takes a little time. It can work. Best wishes on your journey.
Thanks man great post i learnt a lot from you
Read the TRENDING top posts, the big $$ makers to get the hang of how they are using the comments section to drive their money up. Its a trick you need to learn.
yes @jennsky very valid points. The more people who are drawn to the platform the more work to learn to swim that will need to be done. I keep trying to learn more and more of how to help others succeed.
I tend to follow Zig Ziglar .. to paraphrase .. if you help others to get what they want.. you will get what you want.
Bravo! I couldn't have said it better myself. I wish we could get the importance of this included in the new FAQ coming out.
Well said and good points, I agree the comments and discussion are important. Interaction is what builds your following .
Yes, and when you build your following up and up and up, you find rewards flowing in your direction. It has been 2 hours and I have gained 5 new followers. Thats how it works.
I've been compiling links for an upcoming newbie faq article or list, esp for those whom I work with in person to show the ropes. This one will be very near the top!
Great! There is a Steemit FAQ page that should appear within the next week. Not a post, but part of the system.
How's this been working for you?
Actually this was all just explained to me, why I am not earning, a few days ago. I didn't know! So I figured many others didn't either. It would make a good post. We all needed this info in the beginning. So far so good!!!! Notice, I use bold in my commentary.
Excellent article. This is one of the few I've seen that makes me really wish that steemit had some capability for sharing. A true "must read."
One thing that I would add is that RSS makes it much easier to find articles to up-vote. I subscribe to the RSS feeds for new articles by @xeroc, from here in my RSS reader at theoldreader.com. (if anyone else is on theoldreader, my profile is remlaps.) In RSS, I can scan hundreds of headlines at a time and click into the ones that seem appealing.
The full URL to subscribe to for the new articles RSS feed is this - https://streemian.com/rss/
Thank you calling this a must read. I truly wished I had come to know this earlier upon my journey as a newbie here. I understand now why no one was seeing the work I had done. But I got it now- I am fired up and a roll.
Hey @jennsky I just recommended and linked to your article from my own on how I think I earned my first big payout. As everyone here seems to agree, your article is amazingly helpful and deserves to be in front of more eyeballs. Thanks again and hope it helps push you higher in the long run. https://steemit.com/steem-help/@ibringawareness/my-first-article-to-pop-over-usd300-here-s-why-i-think-and-what-you-might-try
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
About linkback_bot
I hope to learn to swim before the pool dries...LOL
never miss an opportunity to reply to another, like this.