INTRODUCTION

The game has changed since I first joined steemit in May. Back then, I almost knew all the writers on this platform. There was no feed, no reblog, the number of users was really small and the competition for really big payout was quite low. These were "the good old days".

But now everything is different.

I have to hit myself on the forehead at this point. What I am going to cover in this article seems like blogging 101...it's stuff I should've known from the beginning and applied. But somehow, I failed at these fundamentals. It's so easy to overlook! I hope you can get some wisdom from my failures and that it gives you some insights on "how to do it right".

Enjoy the read...

The game has changed, ...and the way the game is played has to be changed

Not only do we have now blog functions such as a feed, followers and reblog but the competition is fierce to get votes. If you are blogging like you were 2-3 months ago...you are going to get eaten for lunch.

I've seen it myself. If I go through my personal blogroll, I see a constant decline of payout even though my followers count has gone up. Competition is fierce now. A new approach is needed if you are here to play the "long game".

Smart People Adapt to New Environment

“All failure is failure to adapt, all success is successful adaptation”
Max McKeown

This morning it dawned on me that I was blogging like I was 3 months ago. I was blogging about everything under the sun. There was no rhyme or reason to the topic I was covering. There was no focus. I paid the price by slowly having my payout go down the drain.

So I sat down this morning in front of my journal and really pondered on what I would be blogging about from now on. What niche am I going to blog on and reblog on?

The Cost of a Make-Over

If you are in a similar situation has me, namely that you already have a few hundred followers, you've been blogging about random stuff and noticing your payout going down, then there is going to be a cost to refocusing your blog on a particular topic.

You might lose some followers on the short term.

But it might be a very good thing. What is the point of having a large amount of followers if they don't vote for you? Followers are not created equal after all. What professional bloggers wants are loyal even rabid followers.

The long game is about this: building a large and dedicated audience for your blog.

How to Choose a Profitable Topic For Your Blog?

Well, that was the exercise I went through this morning. There are multiple factors that need to be in play.

1. Knowledge

What are you knowledgeable about? Is there an area of expertise that may have come through hobbies, life or work that might interest other people?

For some people it's cooking, other it's gardening or like my brother in law Hive account@lemouth, science.

Make a list of topics that interests you and that you are knowledgeable about

2. Public Interest

Are people on steemit interest about your topic? That's the big question. Since we do not have advance market research tools on what people are most interest in yet, we have to guesstimate the interest. Demographics can help a lot.

For Steemit, so far it's been leaning towards the young male between 25-35. Also, because of the technical aspects, you have to think that people are interested in science and technology for example.

3. Longevity

Could you blog about this topic everyday for a year without running out of material or angles? That's the crux of this. It has to be specific enough for people to care over the long run and general enough so that you can cover the topic for years to come.

Great Example:

I have to give props to Hive account@ozchartart who's been right on the money with his blog. He is knowledgeable with price chart technical analysis. A large segment of steemit users are watching the price like hawks and this topic will never run out of content since the price changes everyday.

He has a formula and sticks to it...and it works!

My Blog and it's Future

Starting from tomorrow, I'm going to be covering a topic that I've been studying for years and that I am very passionate about. For now, I'm keeping it has a surprise. The first article will come out tomorrow. Make sure to unfollow if you have absolutely no interest in the topic I am going to be covering because that's what you are going to get for a long time in your feed coming from me.

Conclusion

I hope those tips will help my fellow steemians to have more success with their blog. I think that if more people did that, the quality of the platform would go through the roof. I'm looking forward to see what this platform will look like in a year!