A lot of new users get disappointed by low payouts and the difficulty of building a following that actually reads their work. The fact is, we are all content creators here, for better or worse. It's not like a publication where people come just to read your work. It's not like Reddit either because there is more incentive to share.
So if you want people to pay attention to you, you have to pay attention to them. This can be a rough ride for someone like me who came here, not simply to make money, but to share their art with others. But if we think about the future, AI is likely to reduce the need for human employees, leaving many of us with a lot of free time. That means more artists, more writers, more bloggers and vloggers.
Rather than just competing for the top spot, why not build some mutual support.
Leaving great comments is the quickest way to grow at steemit.
Now that Steem is at $6, it means a lot of minnows have upvotes which are actually worth something. 1 month ago I had a $0.07 upvote at 100%. Through powering up 200SP during the SBD spike and the current high Steem rate, I now have $0.50 upvotes at 100%. I'm not the only one. Many of my friends here were in the same boat as me. A collective upvote from around 10 friends was worth $1 and now it's worth $4-5.
image link cause I know you love pexels
1 month ago I recieved lots of upvotes on comments worth $0.02, a few worth $0.10. Now it's more like $0.08 and $0.22. Sometimes a write a comment that people really love and gets some attention. Last week on @firepower's post about India taxing crypto's I left a comment that got an upvote of over $10, for example. Actually I've had 3 or 4 comments worth above $10 in the last 2 weeks.
So even with some posts above a $20 payout, I'm still making almost half of my SBD through commenting.
It's not just about upvotes. You can gain a real following by leaving good comments around steemit. And you make people happy when you show them that someone actually bothered to read their work and leave a well thought reply ("Great post" is spam, not a real comment). Don't just do it for the upvotes. Do it to make friends and show support for posts that you read.
This is how minnows grow on the platform.
Comment on hot or trending posts if you'd like but make sure to check your feed and check in with your favorite writers and friends as well. I always put a priority on the steemians who I speak to the most in the chat rooms, both new and old.
If you think people don't notice your comments, think again. I have gone out of my way to check posts and get to know @yulem, @dedicatedguy, @not-a-bird, @builderofcastles (only to find that he doesn't post much),
@paradigmprospect and many others just these 2 week because they left good comments.
@blunderbabe and I have built a great friendship through her amazingly epic comments! @ryivhnn always comments to check in and let me know he's still reading my stuff which feels really great.
So commenting might make you SBD, but it's not just about making money and gaining followers, you will make great friends through commenting here.
Get to it!
Join the "Be Awesome" community
The Be Awesome discord chat, was created with the intention of making deeper connections with fellow steemians. Come talk about "deep shit" and make friends.
I’m also a language learning coach. Come find me if you need help learning a language.
Be Awesome discord channel
Confessions of the Damaged - a collection of short stories
—-
by @skyleap
I’ve been here less than a month and my upvote is already worth .02 and yes, I’ve made most of my income by commenting. I did get a couple of boosts by joining in on contests too.
Contests are great, I think that was my first real big boost. It was a greatest achievements and failures byy @anomadsoul I got a great upvote which gave me faith in the steemit community and prompted me to continue interacting in the community, when it paid out I turned it into steem and powered up.
You won that? Impressive, there were soooo many people who wrote an entree!
Lol No I wish, I didn't win it, I just got an upvote that got me some traction with others. It gave me faith that others would interact with me going forward.
@insideoutlet is right, contests help too, my first month I mustn’t have pulled together 50 sbd through tiny contests. Now there are lots of big ones.
Great post and very true, I am only a month in today actually I think, I have grown my following and steem power to 100 through mainly commenting.
I try to post once a day with a quality blog or a dtube video with details. I am still finding my feet and many of my posts don't get much of a look into but my comments generally get responded too and through those responses I have learnt more about my fellow steemians, the community, the blockchain and associated apps. There is a huge amount to learn and the best way to learn it is through your fellow steemians. Comment away I say!
Wow! I’ve been here a month too and have a much more modest beginnings. Good job 🤩
Thank you, I don't think you give yourself enough credit, you have done very well, you have more followers, the rest will come. Keep posting great content! :-)
One post a day is a lot in the beginning, if it doesn’t tire you out, go for it though. @dedicatedguy is also growing very quickly through lots of activity. Be thankful for your comments! They are what keep me going. When the payout was low it sucked, but when I got no comments I really wanted to leave. Good thing I stayed though.
Yeah sticking it out through the hard times is not for the weak. I'm glad you stayed too :-)
I most definitely reward good comments on my posts. It is one of my strategies. I go back on the 5-6 day to make sure I got the ones I wanted.
I had a 20 cent vote and now about $1.30 :)
https://steemit.com/created/fitinfun
I'm working on day 4-5 next time I go in.
I’m trying hard to get to everyone who leaves good comments and actually read their posts. I wish we weren’t so swarmed all the time and could “do well” at steemit while giving more time to a few people so relationships couldn’t be deeper but I take this as a welcome challenge.
I do that a bit, but when you get a lot of comments - Whew! At least if I give them the upvote and reply, it is a start.
'Swarmed' - too much and all the time
Overwhelmed again
Who has time for it all? Let alone have a life
Will Steemit be destroyed by its own success?
Of course it will. Like every good thing it will be flogged to death
OR . . . it will spin off as it has done already into numerous special interest satellite communities which have their own orbit of literati, glitterati and those holding on to the handrails for the ride.
Heyy bro!
You are right, I just mentioned that on my 1 month anniversary post.
Engaging by making good comments and being available on the chats is the proper way to start on steemit.
At the end, we are just people trying to have good time and having fun interactions with others so we can learn together and grow on this platform.
I’ll go check it out! I saw your dtube cause he internet wasn’t particularly good today, the sound of your voice was too low, song too loud. Good to see you though!
Yes! I've been embracing commenting lately and people seem to like it, rewarding with generous upvotes too! We might've forgot or not realized that commenting is as much of content creation as posting is, and it's essentially what keeps us all from talking alone to the empty walls. Let's show how Steeming should be done!
Yeah, it’s not that you aren’t memorable,cats that too much is going on at steemit and we forget, so it’s good to try and show support sometimes so we can maintain our relationships. Like I’m gonna go check out posts by everyone who leaves a thoughtful comment on this post.
Thank you for your suggestion.
So commenting might make you SBD, but it's not just about making money and gaining followers, you will make great friends through commenting here.
Well that title certainly caught my attention. 😊
I'm into my 4th week here and have gotten choosier about where I leave comments. I tried the commenting on hot and trending posts but it wasn't particularly enjoyable.
I've cleaned my feed so it now only contains people whose posts I enjoy reading. However, I found that I was still missing a lot of good stuff by only looking in my feed.
Now I've made a list of people I've had real conversations with and will make looking at their blogs a priority. That's how I ended up here. 😁 Then if there's time I'll check my feed.
It's a steep learning curve, trying to make the most of my time here.
The financial stuff is still unattended to which is why my SP is only 0.001 (That and upvoting "too much"). I have SBD in my wallet but haven't gotten around to powering them up.
Like you in the beginning, most of my earnings have come from entering contests and winning a few. Great fun!
Now, I just need to get to the bottom of the benefits of powering up and then go do it! 😁
Keeping track of all the people you want to keep track of is a task. The feed can be a pain. But yes, commenting helps people remember you. I comment on hot posts that peak my interest if I have something to say. I read my friends posts more carefully and give them more upvotes
Good plan!
I have focused my efforts mostly on Phtography and even tho I enjoy a lot of post that I read , like this one. I have neglicted to show my appreciation with meaningful comments. 2018 will be much different and I will find the time to do so. Thank you for your post.
Share the love!
This is so true!
Every penny counts.
Plus it's also important to reply to people that take a moment to comment on your blog posts!
I try to comment and reply on everything I read unless I don’t have anything positive to say haha, you know?
The flipside to the coin is that it's a bit more time consuming typing on a phone (as opposed to a real keyboard).
I use SwiftKey with my Android which does make things easier though.
Most of my shorter responses are done on my mobile device. I save the longer ones for when I'm on my computer.
Commenting and mutual support really helps, a lot. I have been absent from steemit for a three months, when I came back and posted for the first time after “silence” few people greeted me back and that feels gooood. I am not on square one but just like those who are just starting need to work my way back.
Yeah, you gotta be active here or people forget you, just too much going on. They won’t totally forget you though
True, but what if you are not good at making friends and no one pays attention to the comments you leave?
If you are really happy with yourself, someone else will surely be happy with you. You may have to dig though. If you are not happy with yourself, well, start there.
Very good point, It's like listening to my inner voice but it is always more helpful to hear it from someone else. You gave me food for thought. Thank you for that!
Although this post is after payout date already i still want to respond to it, to say this is exactly the way to go!
Like real work, nobody will give you credit for being the new guy. You have to mingle at the coffee machine, and help colleagues out. Only then you will get the respect. I will check out the discord channel for sure. I LOVE random chitchat :D
Thanks! We will be waiting for you!
this is an excellent post and I think I will save it and drop it as a reply to the many spammers who comment with vote for me type of stuff. It really explains well how to be successful. Are you okay with that?
No problem! :-D I hope it gets the point across.
me too!!
Yeah you are right mate, I had the same tendency as you said and I kept leaving thoughtful comments everywhere and it felt good getting some upvotes but after someone I realized there are some authors who always upvotes your comments and you know just like you put the effort to read through the post and comment on their post it should be like the authors should also check out all the comments.
I'm lately trying to find out those kind of authors and the interesting part is that all of those engaging authors always write amazing posts.
Just checked down there are 3 hilarious comments with improper grammar they are trying to do the same but in the opposite way!
Loved reading through your post.
Haha yeah, there is a temptation to skim stuff and leave comments, but it’s pretty easy to spot I think. I hope they figure out that I’m not trying to slight them.....I just know wat they’re up to.
diz is good comments
Haha don’t encourage them...
great post.
realy its a helping post. everybody will get help from your post thank you very much dear steemain
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:)
good postings, as well as inspirational, thanks
Sounds good to me :) I think I earned more on comments.
That's a good point. I'd been wondering before why some content, that in my opinion is not that valuable (and it is not, believe me) can be paid much better than the other one that shows so much great work, engagement, creativity and passion. Somebody opened my eyes before you but thanks for pointing it out anyway :)