It can be a tough job to be a newbie on Steemit. You write a post, upload it, and then watch it drift to the bottom on the New page garnering zero votes along the way. Do that a few times, and who wouldn't start having thoughts about giving up?
I am far from being an old-timer here, having been on the site for just under five months. But if things on the intertubes can be measured in anything like dog years, I have passed the puppy stage or, since this is Steemit, the guppy stage. And I've learned at least a few things along the way.
Many things that newbies do here simply do not work.
Begging for upvotes is a fool's errand. Stop doing it. It's beneath you, it makes you look like a dork loser, and it does not work. Just stop.
Follow for follow pleas are even worse. People who've been here any length of time are annoyed by them no end. And even if you do manage to pick up a few followers, so what? Having followers is very much overrated by newbies. Having readers is what you really should want. Somehow, I've gotten over 500 followers, but only a handful of semi-regular readers. Your readers are gold. Your followers are fluff.
The value of having followers is a bit like being VP. John Nance Garner, FDR's first Vice President, nailed it when he described the Vice-Presidency of the United States as "not worth a bucket of warm piss".
You want readers, not followers.
There's no easy method, no quick fix, no magic bullet.
You've got to post content that people will want to read. Sometimes, that means useful. Sometimes, that means entertaining. Sometimes, that means from the heart. But it never means taking shortcuts. Spamming and plagiarizing will earn you enemies rather than readers. You'll get flagged, your Reputation number will drop like a rock, and you will earn zero.
So write stuff that people will want to read. And not just posts, write comments like that. Avoid "Nice post!" comments like the plague. If you've got something to say, engage with the poster and the Steemit community at large. Lots of people read comments. I'd bet that there's a significant subset of folks here who spend more time reading and writing comments than they spend reading and writing posts.
Steemit is very much a community. And in the great scheme of things, not a very big community. Yet.
Look around your in real life community. There are people who plant flowers, work in their gardens, and pick up after their dog poops. And there are people who toss their cigarette butts onto the street, smack their kids because that's what their parents did, and piss in alleys after drinking too much beer.
Which would you want in your community?
Be that person at Steemit.
Photo credits: Pixabay
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