To all minnows, stop posting and start commenting!

I proof read my post ensuring that the grammar and spelling are up to scratch. Hovering my cursor above the blue post button I think to myself this is going to be the one. This one will be my stepping stone to blogging glory. I'm sure it is worth at least $200 and 50 new followers.

I confidently smack the button and wait for the views, comments and upvotes to come flooding in. 10 seconds in and the only vote is still mine, I tell myself it is fine give it a chance. A minute later I have accumulated a grand total of 2 views and 2 votes, one being myself the other my wife.

I begin to get that horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I spent hours on this piece, taking the photos, editing them, doing my research, formulating the text and nobody has even bothered their arses to read it! What the fuck? I was certain this was the one.

I collect my thoughts and decide to leave it for a further 30 minutes, I close my laptop and walk away, the temptation to pound the refresh button is just too great.

Half an hour passes and I return, I tentatively open the lid and peer through half closed eyes, praying to see my desired results. 4 views, 2 votes and 0 comments. Fuck this shit!

I need to give it a boost so people know it is worth reading. I send Hive account@randowhale some SBD so he can give me some loving. A 2.6% upvote, not the best but better than nothing, we are now sitting on $1.26. A far cry from the $200 I thought the post was worth.

Ok we need more, I post it on the Hive account@minnowsupport discord channel to allow it to work its magic. The bots provide a wee boost, $1.91 but the upvotes have gone up dramatically from 9 to 81. This is better I thought, now people will realise this piece is worth the effort.

They didn't!

Two days on and my post hasn't garnered anymore votes or views. It has stagnated in the quagmire of steemit where posts go to die.

Here is the post if you are interested.

https://steemit.com/art/@munchell/the-marvellous-mural-graffiti-trail-of-glasgow

Meanwhile my wife sent me a screenshot of her efforts. She just received a $16 dollar upvote for a well placed comment. What the fuck? I rarely get a double figure post, let alone comment. This is more money than I have made for my last 6 posts combined.

This is my epiphany moment, why am I worried about producing excellent content that no one reads, when I can just comment on other people's excellent content and earn three times as much.

This is an essential piece of knowledge that most minnows should follow. Find some content from well established authors that you are interested in. Fully read the content and make a valuable comment. The key word here being valuable, no spamming! More than likely you will receive an upvote.

Keep repeating the process and you will not only be earning more money, but you will be gathering your own following and making a name for yourself amongst the blogging professionals of steemit.

So this is my new approach, I am going to write fewer posts and concentrate on curation and comments. Let's see how I get on in the coming weeks.