So, you're having a tough time getting through these days? Join the party! So, why is gaining attention on Steem getting so hard these days? After coming back from a hiatus, I've been studying the situation, and I've come up with six reasons I can see that this is happening. I'm sure there are others, but here, in no particular order are some things you're fighting against.
New Users
We all want steemit to grow, or do we? As long as the price of steem, the coin at the center of our universe, rises, the rewards pool will grow, making it possible for enough steemers to make bank for us to maintain an active community. But, at the rate we're growing, that's becoming difficult.
Why do I say that?
Well, according to @exyle on this Vlog post yesterday, we are setting huge new records for opening new accounts! That's a good thing, but, it increases the competition for eyeballs, while simultaneously adding eyeballs.
We are adding up to 50,000 new account every day!!!
So, the equivalent of a small city, are walking into steem land and setting up shop on a daily basis. Wow! That's going to cause some ripples, but that's not all folks!
Amount of New Content!
The number of eyebals is increasing, making followers easier than ever to find, but the number of posts being added to our ecosystem is enormous! The blog post you worked so hard to create this morning, is going up against tens of thousands of others. It's hard to stand out from the background!
Just how much competition do we have?
I'm glad you asked! Are you ready for this? No, wait, guess....I'm serious. Just get a number in your head before you read any further. Okay, got your number, great, drumroll please!
According to Bloctivity, our one day record to date is....
250,000 POSTS!
That's right, your post is going up against a quarter of a million others. To put that in perspective, the record number of transactions on the block chain is only 1.9 million. And that includes everything! What do I mean by everything?
- Starting new accounts (50,000 a day)
- Transferring coins
- Powering up
- Powering down
- Posting
- Upvoting
- Downvoting
- Resteeming
- Following
Everything. So, if that 1.9 million transactions were all upvotes, that would leave us with a total of 7.6 votes per post. Think about that. But, like I said, upvotes only account for a tiny fraction of those transactions. If, for example, upvotes accounted for 1/4 of all activity on the steem blockchain, that drops it down to less than two votes per post!
So, if your post got more than two votes, you are above average!
That's right! The fact that I'm averaging 15 votes per post, puts me so far ahead of the curve, it's staggering, but my wallet doesn't know that!
Varying content types
This one is a killer for us writers. While we spend our time meticulously choosing the write words to share, other steemers (read slackers) are getting paid to share memes, like this one, on Dmania
While it may seem like cheating, two services in particular make it possible for users to create content rapidly, or share content from other sources, such as YouTube accounts, that are featured in smaller circles on offsite platforms. One of these is Dtube for video, another is Dmania for memes and funny short video, and yet another is Steepshot, lifestyle posting of single images with a title and a description.
Leading posts in these venues are not reaching the heights of top trending posts on Steemit, yet, but they are making multiple hundreds in payouts for short, easy to craft, or curate content.
Upvote Bots
If you've been reading my stuff for very long, you'll know by now, I'm not a fan. I'm not saying I won't eventually break down and use them, but I think they're hurting the system.
Right now, it's virtually impossible to compete without them. Unless an author builds their own active audience of upvoters, their best shot at getting content discovered, is the "hot" and "trending" tabs in any category.
Here's why
All of us are competing to earn our share of the prize pool, and that competition is increasing. In addition to giving the best curation rewards, the hot and trending posts are where the action is.
The have thriving comment chains. They get resteemed and mentioned. If you manage to attach yourself, in a solid comment, with a ink to your content, one good trending post could take you places.
But, the holy grail, is to hit trending for your own content! Right?
The algorithm is too simple
In my opinion, the algorithm that feeds us steemit content is too simple. Rather than include things like reputation score (based on number of replies to content and comments) number of comments or resteems, two things matter, vote count and payout amount and we all know that payout amount is king.
That's where the bots come in
Content that achieves early attention (votes and rewards) is moved to the hot content list. This list seems to roll pretty consistently with how fresh content is, so things don't stay at the top of it all day. However, the top "hot" content, if it continues to garner support, moves to "trending" where $$$$ are king!
A writer like me with no bots is at the mercy of his fans. If they come in early and place votes on his content, he used to have a shot. But, when a bot can provide an instant upvote, or even group of upvotes, it's unlikely that I will beat that post out for that spot.
And, because of this, most of the top posts that don't belong to whales, are bot voted.
Curation trails
With one of the latest hard forks, code was added (as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong) to allow for outside apps to auotmate voting from accounts that volunteer to be a part of a curation trail.
In other words, you sign up, you give them a percentage to use, and they place votes, while your account, like a bot, follows them and upvotes right behind.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, on its face.
A well managed curation trail could do a lot of good for the system.
- Focused on specific types of content, curation trails can bring them to the forefront, getting it the attention it deserves.
- Well curated trails can move around, "sharing the wealth" as it were, over a wide circle of accounts.
- This type of support can give developers, artists and even journalists, the support they need to develop their content.
But it's not all fun and games!
Since a vote for you, pulls reward power from any votes cast for me (remember, limited prize pool generated daily) these groups can make individual votes less powerful by consolidating the rewards power.
- Curators have a lot of power to decide who succeeds and who will be ignored.
- With 250,000 posts a day, no one can see them all, many good things still get skipped.
Imported audiences
This phenomenon started happening right from the beginning. Stars from a hundred different platforms, bloggers, streamers, YouTubers, all saw the opportunity on steemit, to increase their earnings in a much less stressful environment, with fewer competitors.
While it's impossible to convert an entire audience from one platform to another, a YouTube account with a million or more subscribers would bring more than enough following to do quite well in our simple rewards system, and they have.
It's all part of the world we live in.
If you haven't heard me say it, you're new to my stuff, welcome. We live in an attention economy. Anyone that can build an audience can make their fortune and I don't fault these entrepreneurs for doing what they do.
On the one hand, it brings a lot of attention to the platform, including investment dollars on the exchanges, which means more coins in my piggy bank. On the other hand, many of their followers are just here for them and don't engage on the platform to help build useful content.
Most of them also tend to mine shallow veins.
While they share great content, they tend to stick very close to the surface, following trends to get their audience engaged. That's great, but I'd love to see more of them challenge their audiences to dig a little deeper, build something of value. Some are. Accounts like @Jerrybanfield are developing new apps on the blockchain.
So, if they get a little off the top for the attention they raise, it makes it possible for me to write my stories and keep the lights on for another day, all in all, not a bad payoff.
Killer Whales!
If you haven't witnessed the epic battle between Haejin and GrumpyCat, you're missing out. On one side, you have a self styled crypto commentator, flush with alt coin cash, buying his way to the top. Then, posting up to ten commentaries a day, with varying levels of quality content.
On the other hand, you have GrumpyCat, AKA, I believe, BernieSanders, king of the little guy, in a flag war to the death. While I don't agree with everything Bernie says, and I've told him so, he's right. One account taking that much of the prize pool daily is a detriment to the project. But, we play into it.
Much like in the real world, we like to complain about the 1%, while in reality, we build our own "Killer Whales"
Who would invest in a crappy home daycare center their neighbor was running, hoping they didn't lose their capital, if they could invest in fortune 500 companies at a nearly guaranteed 12%? Nobody. But, to break the cycle, it might be time for us to consider giving up our short term gains for a bigger principle.
- Consolidating wealth by always voting for the biggest posts, creates more of the same and hurts your own odds of attracting an audience.
- More, smaller payouts, would increase stability on the platform, while still giving a large number of steemers a chance to stick around and build
- Community, not flashy posts, will be the long haul solution to building wealth on steemit
So, Mark, What do you suggest we do about it?
I'm glad you asked. First, upvote this post and resteem it. (joking/not joking) we need to start a big conversation on this theme. Write your own post and mention me in it, or don't, but spread the word! I've got a lot of suggestions of steps you can take. I'll give you three big ones and a list of bullets.
Build community
Just like Dmania, Steepshot and DTube, creating community spaces where a curated feed of content can be enjoyed with less competition and noise, any smaller group inside of steemit can help you get more votes and followers.
- Take the time to comment, reply, upvote, resteem and @ mention other accounts to help start conversations and build relationships.
- Promote other users, even beginners, to gain loyal followers. I'll be sharing how you can find out who your fans are in the next few days, you need more!
- Produce good, helpful content. If you don't want to teach people to steem, teach them something. Use part of your energy to help other users.
If you can't beat them, join them!
Sites like Dmania and Dtube and Steepshot, might seem annoying. They're getting paid for smaller bites of content. But, it might be worth putting up one or two posts on these sites from time to time. Also projects like @adsactly and @utopian are designed to give opportunity to individuals in a group context.
- Sharing other content will put you in front of a new audience!
- You'll also discover some amazing steemers you didn't know before!
- You can fight the future, or you can join it. This trend is not going away, it's an open source blockchain and more Dmanias are being built as we speak!
Focus on New Users
The platform is growing so fast! The new users represent untapped resources! If you want an audience, there they are. There are some challengs, such as the fact that many of them are ESL learners who don't have great English skills, but you can help them fix that.
One quick story here. I had a young African author ask me for tips. His post was amazing, but his English was atrocious. I suggest Grammarly.com, a free editor, to help him. His vocab was great, but his syntax was janky at best. Two weeks later, he posted a comment asking me to take a look at his new post, the improvement was AMAZINGG!!!
- Planton grow! That grateful plankton will soon be a profitable minnow, and maybe a dolphin some day, all while upvoting your content!
- The odds are in your favor. If you attracted 1/10 of one percent of the newcomers in one week, that's 350 accounts! The possibilities are staggering!
- They are ready to be shown the ropes. Give them a little help, and they will bring their friends to you.
It takes time to develop talent. I've been in that business my whole life and I love to teach. I know that some of my own biggest fans here are people I encouraged to share on steemit. You never know what that person may achieve. Give it a try, what have you got to lose?
pro tip: you can find newcomers in the "introduce yourself" tag, look under new and leave them a link in a comment.
Now, here's my bullet list of short suggestions.
- Post daily, stay in the mix, increase your odds of getting seen.
- Experiment with different tags, get into new audiences
- Try different styles of content. Stick with what works, but add new stuff
- Support your supporters! Upvote them, do unto others and all that jazz
- Brand yourself, either develop a visual style, like @meesterboom, or start a regular feature, like #dolphinschool
- Comment, comment, comment. This is probably the most powerful tool for attracting attention, always leave your link, like this @markrmorrisjr
- Avoid spamming people. Don't hijack comment threads. Don't piss people off.
- Ask questions. This is a huge way to get people to talk!
- be patient and consistent. It can take some time.
- Join contests and projects
- buddy up to "curators" like @naquoya who post list articles, they'll mention you eventually
- Stay positive. This place is really cool. Be grateful for what you DO get.
- Share other people's work, it makes them feel good.
Well, I could do this all day, but I want to enjoy some time with my family, so, if you enjoyed this, please...
This is some good advice. This system as I have come to see it is really amazing and it only works for those who take their time to read. I think this post needs to reach my followers. Especially, those newbies in a community I'm trying to put up. Great work.
So, did you resteem it? That's the best way, or take a look at my blog and do what I did for @steemgoblin. I put a post with a link to his post, didn't take rewards, but that way, my followers are more likely to click through. Thanks for the comment! Come back often!
I think getting seen for newbies is equally hard in any blogging site. Actually because of the curation reward incentives, seem power holding and paid post promotional services, getting a quality content noticed and climbing up the ladder, I would say, is still much easier for a newbie on Steemit rath than any other site.
yaah dear steemit is much easier then other site as great soure of income as well as sharing of knowlege!
familier with people from diffrent part of world! i really love the steemit!
Glad to hear it. Where else did you blog before Steemit?
i working on blog now a day ! but after hearing steemit so leave the social media like facebook etc and now i m addicted to steemit!
Good for you. I'd recommend you take a look at Grammarly.com for writing in English. You're doing great, it can help you with your grammar and it's FREE!
Another cool tool you may want to look into is Text Help's Extension, Read&Write for Google Chrome.
Great advice! I have trouble finding decent tools, globally available and free to recommend. That's a great idea, I will check it out too!
yaah i want to improve my english! i have a lot of grammer mistake !
Well, most of us English speakers can barely write in one language. You're awesome to be out here sharing in a second language like this. Good for you!
That could be true. It's kind of designed to help you. But, I'll tell you that getting past the base level is tougher than it's ever been. I've been here 18 mos and still go through days with very little attention.
Hello @markrmorrisjr. I don't even know where to start commenting about this post because it contains a truckload of informative content all rolled in one. Also, one has got to love the steemit community most especially because it supports different kinds of content creators like dmeme, dtube and the likes. This is what makes the community amazing and interesting because of the different kinds of content. Also, as you mentioned its truly difficult to get a new bie's post seen but truly there are so many other users here willing to provide assistance to others in one way or the other either by contests , upvotes and the likes. In short, this is a great article which should probably fetch you more than a thousand SBD but as you said, the steemit community has different way of working. Notwithstanding, we the little fishes inside this big river appreciate your amazing contents and stories. Keep up the good work.
THANK YOU! That comment just made my day. I can't upvote it with 100% or I'll run out of vote power before I get to all of the comments I need to upvote today. Thanks. That meant a lot.
You're welcome. I'm looking forward to reading more of your awesome contents. Thanks for sharing constantly.
There is nothing worse then to try your best to write a quality post and in the end you don't even get 20 views. I found this very frustrating but if I try hard enough maybe I will have breakthrough some day
Okay, don't tell anyone I said that though. This is a work smarter, not harder equation. I took a look at your account, and relax, your brand new. Not even a month yet. One thing I'd suggest is to check out the #dolphinschool hashtag in search to get some good ideas about what to do. Comment more. I see you've not been very consistent in that. Are you upvoting? The more you engage with other authors, the more you will get love from them, on that note! THANKS FOR THE RESTEEM!!!! I'm launching a bootcamp for plankton this next week to help you become minnows and hopefully move on toward dolphin status. Your content looks okay. (secret, the "writing" tag has the single highest average payout per post of ANY category, use it when you write as your first tag)
I literally took a screenshot of your reply( it has some really nice tips) . It was really hard for me to do anything these days because of my exams( med student) , I know it will maybe sound like I am talking nonsense, but making money is not even in my first 5 reasons why I joined steemit, my main goal is to write something about things I truly love and to be noticed , to discuss with someone about my post theme , and in the end to have a community that will comment on my posts and it does not matter if they have 1 dollar on their account or 10000 dollars . Firstly I was flooded with bot profiles or profiles who clearly beg on steemit so it was really depressing , but now I will give all of me to build some following community for me . Next post will be really top notch I will write about how our "Past Memories create future us " . Sorry if this was to much but I am really glad that someone genuinely notices me . Best of luck
No, it doesn't sound crazy. I've followed a life in the arts ever since I was 14. Most of that time, I was not focused on money at all. Now, in my older years, I'm looking at money as a way to do some of the things for myself, my family and in service to others, that I have not been able to do. And I love your post idea, our ideas become our realities and we get more of what we focus on, our memories are part of that. Steem on!
Thank you for writing this. Just earlier today I was debating whether I was making a mistake sinking the amount of time into Steemit that I have so far, but I’m feeling encouraged to keep trucking along now.
One question....I’ve been advised both to only post a few times a week, and once a day. Is “once a day” solely to keep your name out there on a regular basis?
There is so much action on steemit that once a day is minimum. Not many of your followers are reading every single thing you post, or upvoting it anyway. But, break it up. Try using Steepshot, or Dmania, or doing a video on Dtube to break it up. I'm doing a giveaway you can get in on, if you look down my blog roll a day or two, and the hashtag #dolphinschool has lots of good stuff. Come back often!
I wonder how many of those accounts remain active. I'd bet many people give up on the idea of having an account by the time they are even approved. Takes weeks for people to receive their account.
A friend of mine here in the states got his in four days. I think it depends on activity on the platform to provide the SP loans to generate the accounts.
Great tips & ideas.
We (the minnow mass) can beat the whales bots re the rewards pools.
We just need to ensure we look for and vote for good content rather than chasing $ on a whale/tending post
I agree, if we could spread the word on this and support each other better, we might have a chance!
Large numbers of new members may make it harder to attract eyeballs to any given post but, in the long run may well put dramatic upward pressure on the price of Steem. So a post that might have earned 1 SP = $6 now might in the future earn 0.1 SP = $10.
This is true! Let us hope that is true! It's a tightrope, because as I was thinking, that means accumulating steem gets harder the higher we climb. Should have stuck around when it was ten cents and share and stacked coins, doh! LOL Thanks for the great comment, come back any time!
cool man for your valuable guidline!
its help us in steemit community to increase follower and view our post by many people!
thanks for your valuable post!
Thanks!
Thanks @markmorrisjr I am resteeming your advices.
Bye
Thank you! I appreciate your support!
Steemits a joke and Dtube is the most inferior video posting site on the entire internet. I’ve posted internet content and videos for 12 years, yet for two weeks cannot post even a 30 sec clip on the shit that is Dtube. Steemit won’t exist in 3 years time.
Well that's one man's opinions, they're like assholes, everybody's got them and they all stink. This joke has paid me over $90k in the past 18 months. So, why are you here?
To troll nerds like you and trigger your sensitive, steemit defending fanny. Funny how anyone who calls out flaws in Steemits joke of a system is marginalized and profanely accused via inaccurate assumptions. Good for you and your 90k, you must be a hell of a kiss ass to the big whales. Thumbs up bruh.
Hi. I’m one of the 50,000 newbies to join Steem. Sorry to saturate the community, but I did give you an upvote and you got yourself a new follower. lol.
Great post. Good tips. Interesting facts. My brain is overloaded with the enormous amount of info here.
Thanks for sharing.
LOL, nope, not saturating anything. If everybody curated their own votes, many, many more could earn good money here. Welcome! Unfortunately, due to bandwidth restrictions and other issues, 90% of the people who started on the same day as you, will be gone in 90 days. That's why I'm doing this, to help. Glad you found me. Ask questions, engage, and I'll help if I can.
Will do. Thanks!
As a fairly new newby (August baby here) I can say this post is helpful and generously sprinkled with helpful tips. Thanks!
@jeejee
Absolutely! You might want to look at my giveaway post a little further down the blog from either yesterday or Friday and get involved in that. Also, when I started, I wrote a bunch of stuff, on the hashtag #dolphinschool, you can read those too. Good luck, come back often.
Great post. What really sricks out is that you cannot get too comfortable on Steemit to make it work, if you are looking for financial gain. You have to keep on trend or wait to strike it lucky with the support of a whale or too. You can have a framework of blogs in the normal blogging world but Steemit is a different beast.
Yes, it's harder to promote your own work here, without resorting to the BOTS! What grinds my gears is that when promoted posts came out, everyone yelled SPAM and relegated it to it's own tag, but they don't seem to have that same reaction to upvote bots. Sigh
Entire shit show is run like medieval serfdom with barons and kings (whales) feeding peasants with thumb up crumbs. YouTube is at least egalitarian where content and your work stands out and all are standing on level ground.
Youtube is authoritarian and cut out ALL of the little people from revenue share. You come off like you're so confident, but you don't much to be so loud about it. Guessing you're on a lot of mute lists, well, here's one more.
Cool story bro, changed my life. I get plenty of revenue share from YouTube, Adsense and Google metrics. Never made it on a mute list, thanks ! You know what they say, when you start taking flak you’re over the target. Yeah I am confident, if you had my resume you would be also.
My frustration in original post was directed at Steemit, not you. Using the quip about A-holes escalated the discourse. I merely was using the post here as a sounding board of flaws I’ve seen in steemit. Don’t take it so personal.
Well, maybe with those 24 votes in 50min it will put you on the HOT.
Also with a $5.60 payout you have a chance at hitting the trending...
I did it because this is a SUPER IMPORTANT post and the content is outstanding. Thanks for posting it.
Also you confirmed my suspicion that the 2 factors that matter are the only 2 factors that matter when it comes to who sees what in the hot and trending. If it was up to me this would change immediately.
I was also unaware of the war of the whales. I never liked BernieSanders much although I did thank him in the way of a gift at one point. Now, he is fighting for the little guys and using his power to do it.
I wish that more people were a little less selfless and had an ounce of good nature. :P
Thanks for the post Mark and I wish ya continued good luck and fortune.
and THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
Problem with Bernie is he's not as Robin Hood with Grumpy Cat, He's slapped me a few times because another whale he doesn't like likes my stuff. That sucks. I didn't pay them to promote me.
All I can say is the more haters you have the more you know you are doing something awesome. :D
Well, there is that whole, be wary when all men think well of you thing that Jesus said, so...LOL
Hey amen to that for sure brother!!
There is a lot of things I pick up on that keep me going different routes then most men... and women. Glad to know you have a few as well. :D
Great post, as usual. I agree with most everything you've said. Not that I disagree with anything, I just feel like I'm too new and still to ignorant of some of this to even have formed an opinion yet :)
Love all of your tips for us newer steemians!
@byn <learned that from you and I'm trying to get better about using it!
Hey thanks! You're doing some solid work yourself! Keep it up and thanks for the comment.
THanks for sharing all this info, yes some I knew before and some I needed to be reminded of. And some was completely new. I joined in desmembre. Have gotten about 540 followers and try to post everyday. I have posted comments, joined contest and following everyone I when I read I post or get upvote from. For me this has been a success. Yes of course it could possibly be better and it will, but I’m learning new stuff ever day and love that @gyldenhorn introduced me to this community. I have not used the bot yet. Not sure about how to use or which is best. I get more then 2 votes on every post I write but not on my comments, but guess that is normal. I will follow you and hope you will continue sharing your extremely good advices :-)
Best regards @everydaycoach
Thanks Coach! If you search upvote bots, there's an article you'll find that shows you how to determine which bots will pay more than they cost. I would suggest people only use bots to get a piece started. If you have to depend on it every time, it's going to be expensive and possibly unreliable. A solid audience is the best way to success.
Thank you will locate and read the article:-)
Hi @markrmorrisjr! I found this interesting post thanks to @steemgoblin. It really is very useful especially for very small fish like me :) Thank you very much! Isa
You're welcome. If you check my blog, I've got a contest on right now for anyone that wants in, If you find that post and leave a link to your latest, or greatest post (I prefer one that is getting a payout still) then I'll follow you, reply to your comment, and stop by your blog and leave at least one comment,or more, and possibly find something to upvote, or resteem! Thanks!
That's nice to know and reassuring even if our wallet doesn't know it. Lol. It is very hard t o be seen but from what you have told me im on the right track and its just about consistently and time. I find comments are king and a great way to increase a following as well as engage in the community.
Well, if you want to find ways, stick around. I'm about to unleash some great opportunities, including posts with co-authors, that will automatically share the revenue with that other person! So, it's possible! We just have to stick together.
Excited!!! Followed so I don't miss a thing. 😁
This post was resteemed by @steemvote and received a 40.31% Upvote
As difficult as it can be to get seen here, I think Steemit has better and more workable options to deal with that. You've listed most, of not all the strategies that I can think of off the top of my head. Genuine interaction and thoughtful responses make the world of difference. Consistent quality posts add to that. And the various groups that offer network support help take it that step further.
Great writeup for newbies (and even us not so newbies) for pushing ahead with our Steemit strategy.
And thanks for the mention :)
When I write how tos, I try to give as many actionable steps as possible, knowing I never cover them all, that's why I never run out of things to say! Thanks for the comment, come back any time!
Lots of good advice! Resteemed.
Hey, thanks! I appreciate you spreading it around.
Glad to.
Thank you for this wonderful post and the many very useful tips!
The only thing I´m not so sure about is your recommendation to look for new users as followers. The thing with this obviously is, that their votes are worth nothing and we all know, that you won´t grow as a fish when you hang around even smaller fish ;)
Well, here's the thing, they grow. And as they grow, the can continue to follow and upvote. It's a numbers game, but in the end, one in five or ten will be a decent sized dolphin in a couple of months, I bet, with the way things are going here. I've been doing it for a year and a half and several people I helped when they first came in, come back and visit me a year later, with $5 upvote so, I know it works. It's a long game, but true sustainable success always is on some level, right?
I agree and I´m also seeing Steem as a long term investment - the only thing is, that this approach will really slow down your growth in a way. I mean, as it is a numbers game, it´s also about time and the time I spend with Plankton, I can´t spend with Dolphins. It would be otherwise, when I´d already be a dolphin myself, then I would spend more time supporting minnows to catch up. I guess it´s just a different strategical approach to the factor of time.
Votes, comments and resteems. Those are the ammunition you need to get attention. Yes, $$ in the rewards column are king,but if you get those things, your posts will spread. Take a look at my giveaway post and how many people are engaging there! Also, I'm about to add some co-authored posts with automatic revenue splits. There's a lot we can do, even with the little people, to spread the word. Every time someone adds "@markrmorrisjr" in a post or comment, my name gets spread. The whales will find you, if you're doing good work. The big projects will support you, if they see you're getting results. I ran a 6 figure social media marketing firm for three years. One big thing, when finding an audience, is discovering an area with a lot of people, and not that much competition. But, check in with me in a few weeks, and see where I'm at. @markrmorrisjr
Cool! I totally support you and don´t doubt your experience - I´m just unsure about the timing aspect. I will check in with you and your style in the following weeks for sure. Thanks for sharing your approach! :)
Hey, no pressure. This is anarchy, right? You do you and if you come across something that works, throw me a bone! LOL
Thanks for this. Great advice! I can tell your really trying to help the community.
I'm definitely feeling the pain of not being noticed, between the flood of new users, taking a couple breaks, and @minnowpond not resteeming, I kind of feel like I'm back to square one after all my progress.
Here's a warning about dmania though. It looked interesting and I love memes, so I tried it once and lost three followers almost immediately. I actually asked one of the people why he stopped following me and he said he's weeding out anyone who primarily uses dmania, he said he was overzealous with me and followed me back, but I decided then not to use it. It may cause you or anyone else reading this to lose followers. By the way, hi! I'm @snowpea, upvoted, followed, and resteemed! 😊
Meh, I've been in the social media game way too long to cry over losing followers. They come and go. Very, very few of your followers visit every post, let alone upvote every post. Go to the top right corner of your dashboard, open the menu there and go to Steem Apps. Find Upvoter, put in your account name and see who your real fans are. I've gained followers every single day I was active on the platform, since I started 18 mos ago. When I'm dormant, they drop off, but if I'm posting , on the whole, that number always goes up. If you stick around, I'm going to start a ten post boot camp in a day or so. Also, look for my giveaway post on my blog, follow the instructions there and I'll see if I can't get you free promotion! Come back any time.
Woah! 50,000 accounts per day!! Guess steem is beginning to hit mainstream finally
Well, we shall see. There's a crypto craze wave following that $20K Btc thing. That will eventually die down. People have short attention spans. I expect it will continue to grow, but not likely at that pace for long.
Truly speaking, its articles like this that should be trending and in the hotlist. Am greatful for steemit because am learning everyday, what works and what doesn't, like you have said, its getting harder and harder as more users join, which I have seen it demoralises alot of newbies who join post for a week or two and leave all because they are getting cents, for some the big break comes soon, others it takes times but for most it never happens, so it takes work to reach a comfortable level.
@markrmorrisjr keep the content coming and steemOn!
Don't you worry my friend, I had been to the top of the mountain a long time before most of the current top authors were even here and I'll get there again. I had to take some time off. Thanks for the great comment! Come back often!
This is one of the best post I have seen on Steemit. Very well said. The post is full of valuable information. Which is exactly what Steemit needs!
Hey, thanks, if you check out my blog, I'm having a contest for people like you. Find the giveaway post and follow the instructions. If you do, I'll follow you, reply to your comment and come by your blog to comment, and possibly upvote and resteem if I like what I see and feel it fits my audience! Thanks again, come back any tmie!
Thanks for directing me to that post. I'm thankful for this opportunity.
Wait. Did you think I did that for you? Heck no! It's good for business! LOL! What a great place. I get to do good things for others and see the rewards almost instantly. Of course, the more people that get involved, the more I can do the next time! I hope it really helps.
Ahh very true. That's a good way of thinking.
Thank you for all the useful tips - from a newbie @andysantics48 :)
Absolutely! I'm also preaching to myself as I figure out to regain my former audience after being gone for several months. We are all in this together! Stop by often. I'm launching a ten part course for minnows in the next couple of days.
Thanks I'll be sure to check it out :)
UPVOTED RESTEEMED FOLLOWED & COMMENTED
Very thorough and helpful post, I think the growing Steemit "universe" of websites is really the future of Steemit not Steemit itself. Which is kind of unfortunate if it means less focus on improving Steemit.com.
Well, maybe, maybe not. I think Steemit.com will continue to be the heart and soul, since it is still the repository for the content that share it's rewards pool. What I'd like to see though, is a dashboard, that would allow for swapping between these various apps from one screen! I'm going to do a post about some things I think dev might want to look into. I may wait until I can fund the initiatives myself, though. @markrmorrisjr
"One Dashboard to rule them all."
Steemit.com is a long way off from being usable for the average person. Maybe they have something big planned that I don't know about. From a marketing point of view: having users join and have no idea what to do or how any of it works, is a real failure I think. It's a part time job learning how this thing works in the beginning, that is a big expectation to have for new users. I am optimistic due to the super helpful and passionate people on steemit that make learning and growing your account fun and rewarding. People like you, who make an effort to respond to nearly every comment.
@Ozwald
Thanks! And yeah, it's a nightmare, but, nothing compared with Ebay, trust me. What a nightmare. It's getting better. It's less than two years old. We're still in Beta. But, a dashboard that included the best of the Steem Tools and a good editor, would be amazeballs.
Yes. I think I am going to "drop" the dropship business lol and focus on Steemit & making great music. Platforms like DTube are going to take this thing far. The Dashboard idea would definitely change the way people steem - it's certainly a direct marketers dream! Add some analytics and you got a real work-horse of a dashboard.
I presume this post deserves recognition than it has gained..l personally have some great people who their absence could have caused a mess in my stay here...everyone needs a coach to progress...this post is a coach in disguise..thanks for sharing @markmorrisjr ...l surely have to direct this to many new users such as @zicodee @ben @amagloria and @mrkark ..
Oh, I'm not in disguise, I'm unabashedly a coach. It's my biggest passion to help people unlock their potential! Thanks for the great comment @mcsamm, thanks for contributing to the conversation. If you want to spread it further, come back and resteem it! @markrmorrisjr
Words from a wise Steemian. Thanks for the tips and info on this issue about being seen in Steemit. As an early adaptor, I still have issues getting seen and actually getting upvoted. I consider it a challenge. This simply tells me that I need to do better and consistently.
So decided to reinvent myself and made an initiated my own personal project: to travel the Philippines, my country, and showcase its beauty to attract tourists and, of course, to share and provide quality and original content about my travels. I barely started and I'm hoping Steemians will support my project through their upvotes so I can continue to my next travel destinations.
I'm getting there, slowly and consistently.
Thanks for this very nice post. I learned a lot. Cheers!
That's awesome! May I recommend, curate some of your photo content through the Steepshot app. It creates a slightly smaller community for people to see and promote your work! My dad spent the last decade of his life in the Philippines, now his widow is here and I've loved getting to know her, what a wonderful woman. (my mom passed 20 years ago) I'd love to visit some day, maybe we'll meet! Also, I'm going to launch some posts with co-authors that allow for auto revenue sharing. So, stay tuned for that opportunity, maybe we can write something together! @markrmorrisjr
Nice post - a few thoughts on new users.... they could be tomorrow's Dolphins (statistically <1/10 is likely to make it, but a few of them will), so by building community with a few like minded little guys, you're setting yourself up for earning a healthy second income here on steemit!
I'm just as interested in understanding the platform (as a sociologist) as I am in using it to post material that's 'not about the platform'. Nice stats - 2 upovtes per post makes you above average.
It must be horrible, just horrible at the bottom!
"Horrible at the bottom" right? But, on the other hand, not sure where you're from, but some of these folks in Asia and Africa, a few SBD a week is LIFE CHANGING and it costs us nothing to help make that happen. Here is a stat from the direct sales world, a person who signs up with an MLM company and makes ANY money in their first 30 days, is 90% more likely to be in that company 90 days later. So, I think that would hold true here too. If we can train plankton to get their first reward within 30 days, more of them will stick. @markrmorrisjr
In fairness I was talking from a Eurocentric perspective, so fair point. Although, given then 90% attrition rate (as evidenced in the 90% of dead accounts) I'd interpret that as evidence of people not liking it here, probably put off by the sense of injustice at mediocre posts getting huge rewards compared to their own meager rewards. (Of course I'd need to research this further to verify, at the moment it's just the best hypothesis I've got.)
Fortunately this is something which does seem to be changing over time.
On the combating attrition rate that doesn't surprise at the MLM stats: @curie put out some stats a while back on how much their upvotes aid retention, and it's significant.
Cheers!
Amazing what tucking even a few dollars into your wallet will do for your attitude on fairness, eh? LOL
Thanks for the post. I've been on here a few weeks. Just finding my feet. My philosophy so far has been just keep it real and post stuff I think is interesting. So far, so good :-) @positiveninja
Good for you! As you learn, I encourage you to begin sharing that as well. There are a ton of people coming in behind us and helping them is gold! I've got a giveaway post on my blog. Find it and share a link to your best post, and upvote and resteem that post to help share it, you might get some SBD, and I'll stop by and give you some comments on your blog! I'm also going to be looking for some co-authors soon, to do posts that will have automatic revenue splits! So, there's that. Maybe it will help. @markrmorrisjr
I scan a lot of posts like this but this one is better than most and I actually read it all the way through. I am a newbie looking for community and good content, and at this point I want to see, partly for the social experiment, if I can build a community without using bots. So, if you think we are on the same page, feel free to follow. Following you.
Great! If you'd like to engage further, I've got a giveaway post on my blog. Find that post and follow the instructions, I'll help promote you and you might win some SBD! @markrmorrisjr
Cool. Thanks. I will check out contest.
Good advice, @markrmorrisjr - trying to put it all into practice, 2 months in, minus upvote bots (which make me uncomfortable).
I’m up to around 350 followers & my poetry has won many prizes, here, which helps - as well as having being Curied & promoted on ocd.
Still figuring it all out & tagging my wife, @dianarpo, who just joined, so she can benefit from your fine tips :)
Wishing you continued success, Yahia
That's awesome, Yahia! I'm not totally opposed to upvote bots, used sparingly. But, in the rare case I use them, it's when a post is stuck. I use a resteem bot, which seems to help more and that, to me, is part of the system. I'm a capitalist at heart and those that use the bots/upvote themselves are merely putting their capital to work for them. It's just my concern they are bleeding the system and preventing the growth of new users. @markrmorrisjr
Good points, Mark. While I'm not a capitalist at heart, I do believe in my work as an artist, and upvote my posts from time to time, so I agree (in principle) that one should support their work if they expect others to do so. I've still much to learn, but as with the real world, I see here those who are altruistic, community-minded and others who are greedy and merely self-interested. Cheers, Yahia
Please understand, there is a huge difference between being a profit monger and being a capitalist. A true capitalist understands that public, voluntary investment in their community and fellow man, is essential to a strong economy, which is required to have sustainable successs in business. I say I'm a capitalist,but understand this, I've spent 25 years supporting my family in the arts, as a theatrical director with my own studio, and a writer. @markrmorrisjr
Oh, how wonderful, forgive me, for being obtuse and presumptuous. One more question, since you are generous with your time. Why is it you do not upvote those who comment on your blog - from what I've seen, it seems common practice, here?
I do, just not everyone. I have more than one account and I get a LOT of comments. I reply to all of them, which I think is more valuable, anyway. To me, the word "capitalism" has become synonymous with greed, but in reality, the capitalist system gave the individual the power to own property and govern their own fate. It is the only way we are able to rise above our "Station" in life and I think it's time men and women of conscience reclaim it for what it could be.
Okay, good to know.. Perusing your comment section I did notice you have a lot of responses and that you take time to answer, but I also was struck by how few upvotes there were. Different folks, different strokes, I guess.
I won't take up much more of your time, and we'll have to politely differ on capitalism and greed since, I'm afraid, I view two as synonymous, as well.
I believe in 'stations' in life, and that we rise to fulfill them when we lead a life of service without too much concern for personal gain. A mixture of socialism and faith.
Wishing you all the best, Mark _/|_
Thanks for the information, you got my vote.
Keep up the good work
Thanks, Sunvaar! You might also scan down my blog a couple of days and find the giveaway. I'm giving away some SBD and following blogs that follow the instructions there, and commenting on them, and upvoting the ones I find interesting and valuable. @markrmorrisjr
I'll give it a look see.
Awesome post Mark! you’ve collected of alot of thoughts that I have gone through while trying to establish my presence on Steemit, this should be required reading for the new steemit users lol @ninjad -check out this post
Well, thanks. Ironic though, having "required" reading on an anarchic platform. LOL
Right haha Ive found that the learning curve is steep even for friends that or code excel in digital media tho
Wow! Thanks a lot for this huge informative list!
Absolutely, stop by any time.
For what this is worth, coming from a lowly plankton (I've only recently even learned of these terms, hehe), this is one of the best posts I've read on the subject of helping others here on Steemit. @brandonfrye also does a great job at helping others (I found him through his Youtube channel).
It really is so discouraging, knowing the stats you mention. Especially when time is factor. I just can't post quality content every day. But I'm determined not to give up. My plan is to make up for that by doing my absolute best with the posts I do manage to get to. If you have the time, you might enjoy my recent post about this... My intentions as a beginner steemit member, entitled What to do on Steemit...? I've finally got it!
Your post here has gone a long way in hardening my resolve... Knowing what one is up against is always important if one's to succeed. So thank you. For the tips, too.
Absolutely! I strive to be "the guy" I wish I'd met when I first showed up. Here's a tip from a pro writer, get an offline markdown editor, like MarkdownPad2, then next time you're working on a post, prep a second one. On that busy day, just pop it in real quick and post it. Maybe that helps? When I was doing a lot of ghost blogging, I'd spend about two whole days week writing client posts. (I'm very fast, though, I can write about 2500 words an hour when I'm on a roll.)
That was great advice.
I must agree, it's really frustrating to see all those terrible knock-off memes getting upvoted to the $100s. Sometimes I wonder if my sense of humor is a bit off so I don't lose faith in the system.
I could care less about the memes, its the crap group's like adsactly publish half the time with 799 votes that bugs me.
Just to throw a question out there- why do you guys think Steemit refuses to let you resteem a post after one week? Sometimes I find really great posts like this one that deserve sharing, so why can't we do that? It would be nice to build a platform of posts with more lasting value instead of a truckload of "relevant today, forget it tomorrow" posts.
Pretty much everything dies at 7 days. It sucks. Originally, the platform was supposed to allow residual payouts on posts every 30 days. They need to find a way to extend the life of the content. And, with no way to revise old stuff, we can't even link it to our newer stuff , so.... I'm working on a solution to this problem, but it's not happening like I want it to.
Well, I have found old posts in Steemit search that I really liked, & I was able to upvote them. I can also go back and edit any of my old posts & do when needed. But I was just annoyed that I can't share old posts from others by resteeming. However, I guess it's a good idea to maybe just do a curation post once in a while with links to all the really good old posts- like an indirect re-steem. And I guess those upvoted on old posts must still go through eventually...
Once a post pays out, I don't think you can edit it anymore. I know you used to be able to. But, your upvotes don't give anything to that author, btw. Better to go forward and give them a vote on something recent. There are no payouts past seven days, on anything. I know that for certain.
So why do we still have the option to upvote old posts if the author isn't getting paid when we do? Where does the money go when someone upvotes an old post? It has to go somewhere.
Just do a curation post with a link in it. I can't get paid for it anymore somebody might as well.