I managed to finally reach 100 followers here on Steemit, and I am THRILLED! I've been posting content onto this platform for about 9 months, with a short hiatus around the new year. I worked (still do) pretty hard to create worthwhile content on topics that I have knowledge in (natural healing, plant medicine, foraging, gardening, very little on anarchy as better minds are tackling that), and so I thought that I would take a moment to share what I've learned up to now.

In for a penny, in for a pound. Quality content matters.

I've noticed that getting a big payout on a post is a little bit like winning at bingo, especially when you're new and don't have a big following yet. I've also noticed though, that content which does earn a decent payout is almost always of decent quality. If you're throwing together half-assed stuff, no real message or knowledge or news or what have you, it tends to get ignored. Posts on economy and cryptocurrency tend to pay out big and get a lot of attention, but these are just not my areas of expertise, so even realizing this, I focus on what I know. Because of what I felt to be a need for content that you can sink your teeth into, I started to spread around my original content between my website and Steemit so that both get attention from me, and hopefully build as time goes on.

You've got to get amongst it and ENGAGE!

I admit, growth has been really slow for me. I had an "if-you-write-it-they-will-come" approach. It hasn't quite worked, and I was beginning to feel like throwing in the towel. Then I had the great good luck to read a post from Hive account@shenanigator (great name by the way, original post here), and figured that I'd put some of the tips that he offered into action before giving up. One of them was to take a little time to "network!" Comment on posts that speak to you, and say more than just, "Hey, great post!" Be willing to engage and have a real exchange of thoughts. This can get people to want to learn more about you, check out your profile, and maybe give you a follow. Now, I know this can be hard for busy folks who need to work. I actually set time aside, and plan for at least 15 minutes to check out my Feed and my favorite categories, and just try to connect. And it worked! My following rate doubled (or more) in the last 4 days, finally pushing me over the 100 followers hump. In addition to that, I've honestly been having a richer experience here, way more satisfying than any other social platform that I've ever been on. It truly is more fun to get involved, and, though I see emotions run high at times (not always a bad thing), trolls are few and far between.

There's a ton more that I need to implement in my quest to create engaging content and have a rich, rewarding experience on Steemit, but these are the two focus points that seemed the most important for me to internalize as a Steemit newbie. With this mini-milestone, I'm feeling energized and looking forward to being a part of this awesome experiment!

Steemit rocks!!!!!