“Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out, to emerge with new discoveries, to unearth original answers.” ― Ester Buchholz
Quite some time back, I created a Facebook group for bloggers to share their blog links - and the other day I decided to run a poll to find out how many of them were on Steemit, how many of them had no idea what it was and how many would like to know more.
Plenty had never heard of it, many went off to explore it and some joined – but most simply begged the question “how much do they pay” and went silent after realising that they weren’t going to become overnight millionaires.
I attached a very lengthy and useful YouTube video to the poll and directed people to go and watch it in order to get a better understanding of the platform and how it works.
For those that are new to the platform - I am sharing it here again... (but please note - you actually need to watch it in order for it to be useful - hehe!)
What blows my mind the most is how so many people actually fail to read something from start to finish. I don’t think many of them even got as far as clicking on the video link because they kept throwing the same questions at me – all of which were answered in the video.
I didn’t start the poll so that could suddenly fill the shoes of Steemit Tutor – No, I posed a question and offered an introduction so that those who were interested could go and explore it themselves.
People “want it all” but they don’t want to put in the spade work that comes with acquiring that. If you are not even prepared to watch a video to gain a little understanding of something, then how are you going to manage with the amount of effort that is required to build a profile that people actually WANT to read?!
One of the remarks made on the poll actually made me giggle…
“I joined but I got a low upvote”
You did? Really? What a shocker! Lol
Well perhaps that is because you joined 24 hours ago and have offered absolutely nothing of real value to the community yet – just a thought! (No, I did not say this – but I was thinking it. Lol) and you very clearly didn’t bother watching the video shared either.
It never ceases to amaze me how people expect to click their heels together three times and suddenly be at the top of the food chain, but are simply not prepared do anything of any real weight to get there.
Steemit is NOT a “get rich quick scheme”
Let’s say it together again now… Steemit is NOT a get rich quick scheme!
People REALLY need to get this into their heads – including many who are already members of Steemit.
I am specifically referring to those that repeatedly copy and paste content from elsewhere… and expect those around them to buy it as original content. Surely your lives cannot be THAT boring that you could not think of one single authentic piece of content to share with the rest of us…
Oh wait, sorry… what is that you say? Oh you’re too lazy to do that?!...it’s easier to copy other people’s work, or to insert 10 pictures of nature scenes taken by somebody else and slap in a one liner on how beautiful they are…?
Yes, that most certainly is a lot easier… but you know what they say… easy come… easy go.
Yes, you might earn a few cents or even dollars for such posts, but after a certain point you are going to realise that there is no true appreciation for what you are sharing – and people will generally lose interest eventually.
We all make use of certain resources out there to add to our posts, such as pictures, quotes, facts, graphs etc. but the difference comes in where people who are exercising the avenue of quality content will credit the sources of what they have used as well as the fact that such items are used in conjunction with original content – it is not a verbatim copy and paste routine.
If I visit somebody’s feed or read several of their posts and discover that again and again, nothing they post is actually “theirs” then I completely lose interest because they are simply not adding anything to this community that I couldn’t have searched on Google myself.
I think this type of “sharing” is both lazy and greedy.
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. - Erich Fromm
As I have mentioned before too, first impressions last and once you gain a reputation for posting regurgitated rubbish, you are not going to be able to rid yourself of that very easily – so why venture down that road in the first place? Your rating here will only drop and you will have to work three times as hard to build it back up (if you ever do).
It would have made a lot more sense to put all that effort into creating authentic and original content in the first place.
There are many amazing contributors here on Steemit who put out some BRILLIANT content, so if you are new to this platform or are looking for a little bit of direction, don’t just start spitting out random, copied rubbish… go and look at what some of these amazing writers are publishing and take your guidance from them.
Personally I am more of an “off the cuff” writer and whatever I share with you needs to have some kind of emotional connection to me, so that is where my inspiration comes from, but if you struggle with finding content to write about – it is as simple as doing a Google search on “interesting blog topics”. I can assure you that there is no shortage of suggestions. There are even sites that offer you suggestive blog post titles.
Here are just a few sites with blog topic and title inspirations which I found in less than five minutes…
101 Blog Post Ideas That Will Make Your Blog “HOT”
103 Blog Post Ideas That You Can Write About Today
100+ Blog Post Title Templates That Grab Attention
Start with those and build from there if you have to – but PLEASE STOP watering down your potential with bubblegum!
Trust me - you have a LOT more to offer than you probably think you do...
Finding the time and energy to create quality content might be a little challenging in the beginning stages but the more you do it, the more naturally it will come - but first... you need to put in the effort - and if you do... it will stand you in far better stead than ANY and EVERY copy and paste job you have EVER done! (even the good ones lol)
So on that note - I hope I have detoured EVERYONE from becoming a BUBBLEGUM BLOGGER ;)
Until next time...
Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
