Feeling like your posts aren't getting attention?

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Most people when first starting here on Steemit have a hard time getting their posts seen and hence getting votes. Often there is that one post that seemed to 'pop' for you with many others seeming to have a rather lackluster response. The goal for most of us in the end are to consistently improve our payouts and there are some strategies you can try to help move you towards this.

Q: Being brand new to Steemit, is there something I should start with?

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Short Answer: Make an introduction post using the introduceyourself and introduction tags about who you are (what you're comfortable with), what you're interested in and what you think you'll be posting on. Make sure to add at least one picture to the post and ideally a verification photo (showing yourself holding a paper with your username and the date on it.)

The introduceyourself and introduction tags are when many Steemit users watch for new members. So making a post to introduce yourself (that have these two tags in it) is a prime place to start. It's important to remember that your post shows up among lists of other posts, so make sure to add at least one photo in there so it has a thumbnail picture when in list form. Posts that have thumbnail images get more attention that those that do not.

While not absolutely required, including a verification picture in your post is helpful. This lets us know that you are who you say you are. The verification picture just needs to show you holding a piece of paper that has your username and the date on it. You don't necessarily have to show your whole face, depending on what you're comfortable with, since we know not everybody like putting things like that on the internet. This is also an opportunity to mention what other web or social media sites you're on, especially if you plan to share content from there. You can also always verify (instead of or along with the picture) by simple putting a post or link with your Steemit username on those other sites.

Q: I did my introduction post, but I still feel like I'm not being seen. What can I do?

Make people WANT to click on your post!

Work on creating titles that grab peoples attention. Think about what makes you click on things. If you find yourself stuck checking out a Title Generator Websites might be helpful. A lot of their suggestions are overused or cheesy (in my opinion anyway) but if you scroll through, there's usually one or two that stick out above the rest. You'll find that phrasing things in more active versus passive terms help.
Have an attention grabbing thumbnail photo. The first image in your post with always be used for the thumbnail (800x480 proportions work best.) Keep this in mind when choosing which a picture start things off. Again, think about what grabs your attention.
Advertise your posts in steemit.chat, post-promotion channels in various discord channels and/or various facebook groups (just search steemit inside facebook.) All you'll do is copy the link address for your post (which is the url as the top of your screen when it's open) and paste it into the various places. Some places have rules such as not posting more than once every 2 hours...so try to keep an eye out for things like that. You don't want to spam these links or it can backfire on you.

Building relationships / Branding yourself

With Steemit have so much look and feel of a blogging site, it's easy to forget the social networking aspect here. This means meeting others that share your interest and building relationships.

You can accomplish this in many ways:

Respond to comments on your posts
Find posts that interest you and leave good, engaging comments. Let them know you actually read their post!
Join in conversations on steemit.chat or discord communities (there are multiple of these)
Build up your reputation with others by consistently putting out good/interesting work, being friendly, helpful, etc.

Include a CALL TO ACTION at the end of your posts.

These are things that help to prompt others to leave a comment and/or continue the conversation.
Examples might be:

I'm curious to hear your take?
What would you suggest?
Any other good reading/video/etc. material you guys know of?
I'd love to hear your results.

Q: Are there things I SHOULDN'T do?

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Don't Randomly Ask for Followers! You want GOOD followers!

I see a lot of people leaving comments asking for follows, or looking for a 'follow for follow' arrangement. Sure, it's fun to watch that follower number go up, but what we're really wanting here are people to read, comment and VOTE on our content.

Random people who follow you don't often care about you or your content, meaning it's unlikely they will read your stuff, let alone vote on it. If you instead build relationships with people through conversations, engaging back and forth comments, giving honest feedback, etc get net you WAY more votes.

Don't spam your posts in promotion rooms! Try to avoid posting there it's not allowed (like steemit.chat's general channel.)
Don't randomly private message people asking for votes.
Don’t plagiarize others work. This will get you flagged here.
Don't be an a**hole. There are plenty of ways to disagree with others and their points of view.
Don't expect instant success! Don't be afraid to fail on some things.
Don't use copyrighted images. Since we are making money on our posts, we have to be more careful than on other sites.