LSCOTTPHOTOS Fine Tuning your Photography Blog: Reaching the One-Month Milestone

Previous Article: LSCOTTPHOTOS Fine Tuning your Photography Blog: The Findings of a Fledgling Steemer

Woohoo! I’m feeling pretty celebratory as I've reached my one-month Steemit milestone!

Image from Pexels and used under the CC0 license

Over the past four weeks, I’ve been a very active member on this platform trying my absolute hardest to create a quality photography blog that provides beautiful photos, inspiration, and advice. After my first two weeks of making mistakes and learning, I wrote about my experience and listed tips and tricks to help individuals improve their photography blogs. This list included…

Quality is greater than quantity...
But quantity is still important!
Don't go Godzilla!
Be personable!
Don't plagiarize.
Study the trends.
Focus on your writing.
Type an exciting title.
Size really does matter.

All of these pieces of advice still hold true for me but I’ve learned quite a bit more that I am excited to share with you all!

Utilize outside sources: There are a lot of additional resources being created that can help you keep track of your stats and progress.

Steemstats by @jesta: Keep track of your voting power and other data with this handy-dandy website!
Steemstory by @roelandp: This website “enables you to enter a username, the app retrieves a shitload of data and outputs it as an animated story about the given user to you.” Screenshot from Steemstory
Steemdb by @jesta: Check out your account history and a bunch of other data at this website! Screenshot taken from Steemdb
CatchaWhale by @blueorgy: This fun website gives you an estimate of your potential chance of catching a whale! Check in to help you decide the best time to post! Screenshot taken from Catchawhale

Promote yourself: I don’t mean that little promote button at the bottom of your post! I’m talking about promoting yourself through both social media and Steemit chat channels.

Image from Pexels and used under the CC0 license

First, at the bottom of your post is a handy little share button! Go ahead and click that in order to send your articles to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If your article contains a great visual, go ahead and pin it to Pinterest as well! The more exposure = the better. Second, share a link to your recent articles on chat channels. Some channels are devoted to this sole purpose, such as “post-promotion-norules” and “postpromotion-moderated.” Others are more specific… for example, I am a part of the "Photography" chat channel as I aim to cultivate a photography blog.

BUT DO NOT SPAM! This goes hand in hand with promotion. Read the requirements for each chat channel and DO NOT GO OVERBOARD. There is nothing more obnoxious or rude than posting your links every other second when people are looking for multiple sources (not just yours). The rules are pretty straightforward most of the time. In “Photography,” keep all posts related to photography (obviously) and promote your post twice AT THE MOST. In “Postpromotion-moderated,” share your link(s) only once EVERY 2 HOURS. Follow the rules and you’ll do fine!
Stay positive! Nothing ruins the reader’s mood more than a negative post, especially when venting about irrelevant topics. Keep your blog focused towards whatever topic you’ve chosen and don’t use it specifically as an online diary. Negative posts can also lead to down voting and flagging so it’s best to hold off posting until you’ve cooled down :)

Image from Pexels and used uner the CC0 license

Create and keep SMART goals! I spent some time writing an article about “Creating and Keeping Steemit Photo Blog Goals – Being "SMART" about it” and though it didn’t receive much response, it has helped me personally to keep up with (and achieve) my own goals! Take a look into it to learn if your goals are “SMART” (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely).
Keep track of your stats and improvement. My previous goals included reaching a reputation of 60, gaining 100 followers, and earning over 500 Steem Power. I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve attained two out of three! This morning I reached level 60 (YAY) and I’m already up to approx. 642 Steem Power. I am currently at 99 followers so I’m crossing my fingers that one more person will like my articles enough to hit that button soon!!!

So, with all of these tactics learned, I am going to create some new Steemit goals (and I hope you all can help me)! I’m breaking them down into small chunks so I don’t get discouraged!

Goal #1: Reach a 62 reputation

Goal #2: Gain 125 followers

Goal #3: Earn 750 Steem Power

This past month has been a blast - thank you for sticking with me! Do you have any tips or tricks to add to this list? What did I get right and is there anything you would change?

If you liked this post, please upvote! I appreciate the support! Don’t forget to follow me as I continue to learn!

As always, constructive criticism welcome and feedback appreciated!

<3 lscottphotos

EDIT: 100 followers! YAY!

EDIT #2: New source found! SteemTools by @roelandp! Basically one stop shopping!