Sure, one vote from a whale can be worth dozens of votes from plankton like me. Since it's hard to gain those votes, a less stressful and more fun approach is to just try to network with Steemians who interest you. Nice to meet you!
If you don't know about steemworld.org, it's really helpful to check your account there. For example, your reputation actually goes up by fractions of points, but it won't show here until you cross a whole number. You just enter steemworld.org/@youruserid
Did not know about that tool, have been looking at steemd. Thanks!