It can be a tough job to be a newbie on Steemit. You write a post, upload it, and then watch it drift to the bottom on the New page garnering zero votes along the way. Do that a few times, and who wouldn't start having thoughts about giving up?
I am far from being an old-timer here, having been on the site for just under five months. But if things on the intertubes can be measured in anything like dog years, I have passed the puppy stage or, since this is Steemit, the guppy stage. And I've learned at least a few things along the way.
Many things that newbies do here simply do not work.
Begging for upvotes is a fool's errand. Stop doing it. It's beneath you, it makes you look like a dork loser, and it does not work. Just stop.
Follow for follow pleas are even worse. People who've been here any length of time are annoyed by them no end. And even if you do manage to pick up a few followers, so what? Having followers is very much overrated by newbies. Having readers is what you really should want. Somehow, I've gotten over 500 followers, but only a handful of semi-regular readers. Your readers are gold. Your followers are fluff.
The value of having followers is a bit like being VP. John Nance Garner, FDR's first Vice President, nailed it when he described the Vice-Presidency of the United States as "not worth a bucket of warm piss".
You want readers, not followers.
There's no easy method, no quick fix, no magic bullet.
You've got to post content that people will want to read. Sometimes, that means useful. Sometimes, that means entertaining. Sometimes, that means from the heart. But it never means taking shortcuts. Spamming and plagiarizing will earn you enemies rather than readers. You'll get flagged, your Reputation number will drop like a rock, and you will earn zero.
So write stuff that people will want to read. And not just posts, write comments like that. Avoid "Nice post!" comments like the plague. If you've got something to say, engage with the poster and the Steemit community at large. Lots of people read comments. I'd bet that there's a significant subset of folks here who spend more time reading and writing comments than they spend reading and writing posts.
Steemit is very much a community. And in the great scheme of things, not a very big community. Yet.
Look around your in real life community. There are people who plant flowers, work in their gardens, and pick up after their dog poops. And there are people who toss their cigarette butts onto the street, smack their kids because that's what their parents did, and piss in alleys after drinking too much beer.
Which would you want in your community?
Be that person at Steemit.
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Well stated, and taken to heart. Now would you please sub to me? 😉
Thank you for the upvote crimsonsalvation
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Ok Im upvote 49 - @super-grand-ad - a newbie - and a follower - I see that you have not followed back, that's Ok because I can gleen some of the thing that you say and try to implement them in my next post. So I learn by example. If you and I set the standard of post. But there are are those out there on the interweb that have not got a clue how to string a sentence or like me have a go at anything just for the hell of making your mind work on a new and exciting chance of earning a bit to support what else I do and if you take the time to see what I am doing and have been doing for the last 10 years on the internet all for free, steemit is a wonderful chance to suckseed, so if I make the odd mistake along the way, that's life. so here is a link to a free mp3 song to down load if you like from not me but someone I support at no outlay by them - The free tracks are at the bottom of the window -
http://www.lonelyman.co.uk/products/amy-louisa
Well said!
I am not a person who 'falls' for the vote/resteem/follow shenanigans.
I want substance, open-ended posts that seek open-ended comments.
Doubt I'll ever fully understand the algorithm here, and I'm not here to 'get rich quick'. I am here to build a following and a stable platform.
So far the communities I have been following and a part of have been terrific, supportive and full of knowledge.
Thank you for the upvote goldendawne
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Yeah....but is it better to be quiet or say "great posts"? I'm more or less one of your "new" readers...but sometimes the post leaves no room to discus anything really. I mean...what you said is true....I agree with all of it and I have nothing to add. So shall I stay quiet or say"you nailed it"?
I sometimes write a whole essay if motivated....what sometimes happens is - it gets ignored. And sometimes I'm inclined to just say - good job.
Oh the pressure :D
Thank you for the upvote atopy
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I guess I have no problem personally with "Nice post" comments, but there are a lot of people who are annoyed by them. I have more than once seen such comments getting flagged. Probably not a problem for someone who's been here for a bit and has enough SP to weather the occasional flag. But for a noob, getting flagged can be serious. My advice to newbies would be to just avoid making such comments because of that, but people who've been her for a while probably shouldn't worry too much. Anyway, an upvote is pretty much a "Nice post" all on its own.
Thank you for the upvote preparedwombat
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What I'm REALLY hoping right now is that the Vice Presidency is ONLY worth a bucket of warm piss. This partisan bickering could lead to the removal of Trump. My fear is that Pence is much much worse.
Yeah, Pence is certainly an ideological true believer of many things that I find deplorable. But at least he's not clinically insane.
May you live in interesting times. 😉
I'm not sure Trump is Clinical..... Maybe just the useful idiot. There are those who are REALLY in charge. They CHOSE Donald, because Hillary's health is failing. I'm sure some men visited Donald shortly before the election, and reminded him how much he cares for Baron..... What a shame it would be if Baron had a tragic accident!
Thank you for the upvote goathollow
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I have found some I like and comment, only to find the writer uninterested in communicating. Recently a few have engaged me. I think I am getting better at finding stories that also interest the writer lolol. I see many submitting stories for submitting stories sake. So many are spending a lot of time just trying to make steem. I am a facebooker of 7 years. I and those around me did it as a way to share knowledge and work together on projects. These are the kinds of people I am looking for here in steem. Not on crypto projects and knowledge, although I need that as well, but current events stuff, WHICH includes the crypto world, as it has moved into the need to know knowledge basket. I found one of my fb friends/alies here and am working on others to move here. It's a new day dawning as the conspiracy truthers and cryptos merge together.
upvote number 1
Like you I - @super-grand-ad - Was and still am a facebook & twitter user
But because you can link the posts to twitter and facebook and earn some steem along the way, I try to get my Friend Follower fans and subscribers to join steemit, but some are blind to the big change that crypto blogging will happen and it a bright future for all that embrace it early.
I agree :)
thisisit - Thank you for the reply
@super-grand-ad - Here
As promised to anyone that upvotes me
I will upvote and comment back
plus a bonus
Now go download my Free to Download track on Dsound /stemmit
Just upvote my track please
Click the link -
https://dsound.audio/#/@super-grand-ad/sweetest-little-rock-n-roller-since-the-g-i-blues-by-super-grand-ad
Yeah, that might be marginally effective short-term, but I think it essentially destroys long-term potential for the member.
Appreciate this perspective and it's defintely reassuring to know that others share similar struggles/successes.
This recent post was really important to me; not based on what I wrote, but based on what the community provided in return. Shifted my perspective in a significant way - https://steemit.com/steemit/@tayken/steemit-roi-what-s-your-time-worth
Thank you for the upvote tayken
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thanks for the amazing advice. At times I feel discouraged then there are times that I think wow. I first started writing blogs because I enjoy writing and I thought one day my kids could look at my blogs and see what really matters to their mom. I'm going to keep writing because I enjoy it and I am going to keep reading because its interessting. Thanks again
Thank you for the upvote jolly-homestead
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REALLY GREAT post!
Follow me and I follow u back TWICE!!
THREE times if you upvote this comment!
You are so wonderful. So glad you share us your PHOTO!!
😇
Thank you for the upvote homescoolkidz
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Congratulations! You've been resteemed by my Cat-Bot because you posted in one of the followed categories (#steemit)!
You also get a small upvote from the bot (I'd make it bigger, but with so many great posts in the category I'd be out of voting power in no time) to thank you for your contribution.
If you're interested in this category, you should consider following this bot to see what other posts it finds!
Since this is still in Beta mode, I'm afraid the unsubscribe is manual... so I may be a bit slow, but just reply to this post with UNSUBSCRIBE and I will (sadly) leave you and your future posts alone. (I really don't want to spam people, I promise)
However... if you want to HELP make this service better, you can upvote this comment and add to the power these bots provide... or even be awesome and make a transfer donation or a SP delegation!
Or... you can do nothing, and we will happily keep on resteeming and upvoting you every time you hit one of our categories!
Whatever you decide, thanks for steeming and keep on being awesome! This community needs a solid stream of great content like yours!
Thank you for the upvote cat.bot.steemit
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having a mission or roadmap helps to avoid expecting much at the beginning and be able to follow through and not throw the towel.
Thank you for the upvote felipesuarez
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