Here's how I wised up and stopped wasting time clicking a mouse all day for pennies. When I started curating $1 was a good week.
That's me on the left after weeks of curating. Guy on the right just read this post.
The Basics and the Bottom Line
25% of every blog payout is split among upvotes and comments. Curators that upvote first get paid more than curators that upvote last. Comments with more upvotes get paid more. Upvoting and commenting costs you nothing except your time. If you don't use your curation time effectively you are wasting time. Wasting time is bad for your bank account and your personal hygiene.
The basics, the bottom line and good hygene.
All in the Timing
You probably already know this, and if you don't you're probably going to pretend you do cause it's in the instructions (whitepaper) you're supposed to have read already. But for those not in the know (and willing to admit it) this is really, really important:
If you upvote a post that is less than 30 minutes old you loose some, most or basically all of your curation reward. Do not upvote any post unless it is at least 30 minutes old.
I didn't realize this when I started curating and would try to be first in line to upvote the next trending post, thinking I was the Flash of the Steemit Universe. Turns that was not smart and I was not the Flash. Don't be me.
Now, if you want to get technical it's true that the penalty is a sort of sliding scale (100% penalty at 0 minutes dropping to 0% penalty at 30 minutes) and you can gamble that some amount of penalty is profitable if the post goes triple-platinum, but I've tried that too. You will lose more than you will win. Wait 30 minutes and you will win more than you lose. Life is better after 30 minutes.
Upvote when a post is exactly 30 minutes old, or as close to 30 minutes as you can get. Camp out at 29 minutes and refresh refresh refresh. It's fun in a really lame, sad sort of way. And it works. If you want to maximize your curation rewards you need to curate younger posts starting 30 minutes after birth. This is not a coincidence... but you'll have to read that whitepaper to understand why.
Also requires expert timing.
Commenting is Curating
Do not upvote without commenting. If it's worth an upvote it's worth a comment. If it's not worth a comment it's not worth an upvote. See how that works?
Comments pay much, much better than upvotes. Most of your curation income should be coming from comments. You may be able to do 10 upvotes in the time it takes to write one comment, but you will likely be paid 50 or 100 times more for your one comment than your 10 upvotes. Not every comment makes a lot, but on average they make a lot more than upvotes. I speak from experience. Check my curation history and save yourself the learning curve.
True story.
Discipline, you must
I spend 2-4 hours per day, 6-7 days a week curating. Yeah. There's that thing about working hard and getting out what you put in and it applies to Steemit as much as everything else. No one is going to give you a bunch of money for doing very little. Well, unless you're a Playmate or go jungle hiking in a bikini. But we won't go there. I want to, and I know you want to, but we're not going to.
For anyone that wants to do the math I'm making about $2.30/hr. It's not much. But then again, how much is Reddit paying these days?
Yea, it's like that.
Routine is as Routine Does
The best life hack in life is to use your inner mammal to create routines that make repetitive tasks automagic. Here's my curation routine, and if you want to copy me I'll consider it flattering:
Step 0: Login to Steemit and do not look at wallet balance. I repeat, do not look at the wallet. This is the most important part of the routine and you're just going to have to trust me.
Step 1: Set the post filter to "New". I usually start with "New" and then repeat with "Hot". YMMV.
Step 2: Scroll through all posts that are less than 60 minutes old in whatever categories/tags/topics interest you. I personally go through Steemit, Steem, Money, Life, Photography, Bitcoin, Bitshares etc.
Step 3: Open posts that are interesting and/or have a lot of votes/comments using a new tab or browser window for each post. Don't read, comment or vote on them yet. Collecting a bunch of posts to curate en masse seems to be more efficient than trying to curate individual posts as you go - you get into the curation zone when you don't have to scroll and search for the next post each time. I try to collect 20-30 posts per session.
Step 4: Once you have 20-30 posts opened, read and comment on each one. Start with posts that are closest to 30 minutes old and work from there. Upvote after you comment, and try to upvote as close to 30 minutes as you can. Camping out at 29 minutes is not weird.
Step 5: When, and only when, you've finished curating all posts open your wallet and look through all of your rewards and account balances. They will have increased and it will make you feel good. Savoir it. Roll around in it for a while. This is the super-critical reward phase of a routine. You've just rewarded yourself for curating and your inner mammal now wants to do it again. A small reward at the end of a routine is like cheese at the end of the maze. You are the mouse. Your balance is the cheese.
It's pretty simple. Find posts, curate, reward yourself. I do it two or sometimes three times a day. Hourly wage is awful right now but I enjoy reading interesting things. And getting paid anything for your social media time is way, way better than getting paid nothing.
Even Teddy has a routine.
Know Your Voting Power
Don't run your voting power down. Keep it at 80-100% at all times. If I'm talking Greek and you're not Greek, go to www.steemstats.com com and punch in your Steemit account name. You will see your current voting power on the left. If it's red, please go directly to meatspace for at least 24 hours.
Voting power drops when you vote and increases when you don't. The higher your voting power the higher the reward you bestow with an upvote. It takes about a week to go from zero to hero.
If your voting power is less than 80% you are probably spending too much time curating or not curating effectively, or both. At the time of writing my voting power is struggling to get over 50% for the first time in weeks. I was spending too much time curating and not curating effectively. Don't go there.
Not enough voting power means no pickles.
Go Forth, and Curate Wisely
There you have it. My three weeks of curation frustration distilled into the sweet liquor of wisdom. Drink deeply, and profit!