I've got a few things I've noticed and I tend to be verbose, so please don't take this as anything other than trying to help out. :)
Topic selection: Your main topics seem to be assessments of steemit and/or other social sites and tech such as the Internet of Things (which seems to have brought you the highest payouts.) Steemit comparisons with other social sites can be a viable topic here, especially with some of us (like myself) not really having experiences with ones I've seen you mention like Tsu, bitlanders, etc... The Internet of Things topic has an audience, no doubt..you even got @ned to vote on this one.
[Note this is in no ways saying to stop your pushups for vets posts. That is something you are posting because it's important to YOU to do and is outside of this marketing writeup]
Expand on your topics: Steemit users tend to vote for longer articles over shorter ones. Using this post as an example.
I realize you linked this article to provide the background to your post, but I don't want to read another whole article. I want to hear what YOU have to say. Provide the link like you did but give me a 15 second explanation of what that article says and why I should care about connecting sensors and devices. Give me examples of cool things or programs that I can relate to. Sift through the info so we don't have to. Attention scarcity is an issue for many on Steemit, admittedly myself included.
Same things at the end of your Internet of Things post. Tell me about the product that Google shut down. Again with your last paragraph, tell me what all is/was included in your home automation system. If you have pictures of your own great! If not, find some, even it's from an ecommerce page for that product (give source and of course only with license allowing.) If the turning lights on/off was as far as you have gotten, tell me things that you plan to do next, like turn on your computer with Steemit opened up when you open the front door and turn the alarm off (as a cheesy example.)
Follow for Follow: To be blunt, this doesn't work to convert meaningful upvotes. I follow the people who I have a desire to see their posts and/or have build a personal relationship with because this is what I want in my feed. All follow for follow does is increase the number at the top of our screen, while filling your feed with to a ridiculous degree, with articles that more than likely don't interest you, let alone have the ability to sift through and keep up with. It's the whole point of using the feed, to get a sifted down list of things YOU want. That person following you is more than likely in the same boat. In my opinion your efforts are better spent elsewhere in the search for upvotes. Along this path organic follows will come naturally and be better rewarding, if not in steem dollars, in conversation and relationship building.
Tags: Tags right now are extremely important, especially for those in the 'building stage.' I highly recommend finding 1-2 ideally larger tags from this list steamsquad, minnowsunite, and 1-2 of whatever you want. With the example post, I'd recommend swapping the iot tag for minnowsunite...opensource and linux are the bigger tag in this scenario. There may be better tags, though depending on the article. Many things can apply to the life tag for example.
Other things like grabby headlines and photos. I don't mean meaningless click bait. These are merely ways to accurately frame your content meaning to draw people in. Remember you're among lists and lists of other posts, why should they choose yours.
Come by #steemprentice in steemit.chat anytime. All we do is analyze, give feedback/suggestions and try to help. :)
Thanks for that. All valid points. I need to make some notes of things I should try to do on each post. I'm not a marketing person. I just do this for fun, but I can see it's worth applying certain principles to get good results.