Quality Is in the Eye of the Beholder.
You have probably heard it many times before... Quality is key. Get paid for good content. It has always been mentioned as the most important ingredient to become successful on Steem, and also to increase your overall chances of being rewarded for your contributions. The higher quality you provide, the more rewards you'll earn.
However, even though that might be the underlying "guideline", or the goal we strive towards, we all know that both spam and shit posts pays too. Blame it on bid bots, vote sellers, circle-jerk or greed. It doesn't really matter, as none of that will change these facts. You can be rewarded for all types of content, good or bad. High quality or not.
Another very important thing to realize is the fact that others might not consider your content to be of high quality, even though you think it's the best piece of article you've ever written. People have different taste. Some people enjoy long, in-depth articles meanwhile others might enjoy memes more than anything.
Some users might enjoy gaming related videos meanwhile others appreciate vlogs. Some wants memes and others short jokes. Quality is in the eye of the beholder, which ultimately can make it difficult for people to know what they are supposed to do. What to say and what to share. Questions none of us will ever be able to have 100% accurate answers for. It's a huge learning curve like many other things in life.
There are obviously other factors too. For instance the fact that users who frequently rewards your content, might not see it due to other authors they follow. They miss your contribution, leaving you with less rewards. They might also be running low on voting power when they stumble upon your contribution, so they might just ignore it.
These things doesn't necessarily mean that your contribution is of low quality or that your audience is looking for something better. It's almost impossible to get black or white answers for these things. It's usually never just a yes or no answer, so you shouldn't spend much time trying to come up with good solutions for these things. Most of the times, you won't be able to find any answers for these questions no matter how hard you try, so just forget about it and continue to grind. Also, even though some people might have been rewarding you 311 times in a row, doesn't necessarily mean that they will like or reward your future content.
That being said, I have tried various things since I joined Steemit. I have tried to please my audience in many different ways. I have tried to share content in various niches, I've gone outside my comfort zone multiple times in an attempt to score upvotes and to build my profile. I have spent anything from 30 minutes to 5 hours on articles only to be rewarded a few cents, but I have also been lucky and scored tons of rewards for some of my contributions.
What I realized rather quickly after doing a little bit of this and that, is that I need to share things I stand for. Things I want to be recognized with. I obviously want to share things my audience likes, but what's more important, is that I share things to build my profile even further. That's why I never "fight" with people, because everything stays on the blockchain. I don't do a bunch of stupid things out of anger or despite, because I don't want people to remember me for those things.
Whatever I do, whenever I do it, I try to squeeze out things others will find useful, interesting or benefit from in one way or another. As long as I do that, and the more content I produce, I also increase the chances of bringing people on board. Ultimately, I also build, increase and improve my own presence, profile and my influence at the same time.
- That is what quality means to me.
I briefly mentioned the importance of backlinks in my previous article, and that my older articles still generates traffic. I also shared an example of that using this image among other things:
Even though I've never tried to focus on any SEO aspects, I have experienced how certain articles ranks higher than others. They rank better or worse than existing articles and other content due to several reasons. This is not something I would recommend anyone to focus on and I don't spend time doing this either. But, I am aware of it and I know that certain things might affect the rankings both in a positive but also in a negative way. We're talking about in- and outbound links. We're talking about backlinks.
Everything I share on Steemit can and will be found, either directly on Steemit if you search long enough for it, or by the use of different search engines. Everything stays on the blockchain. Due to these facts and this knowledge I have, I decided a long time ago to avoid sharing things I believe can have a negative affect on myself or others.
I don't want to hurt or ruin my own chances of building my presence and my influence, and I definitely don't want to hurt others. If something, I want to contribute to a better platform and a better experience for others. Which is why I also share different types of content. By doing this, I know that the chances of gaining more traction and more recognition in the future will increase. Even though I still feel that I am just "dipping my toes" in this whole shebang, I want to set an example for myself to follow. Regardless of being native in English or not, I believe that anyone can, and should, do the same.
If I ever start to frequently share memes for instance, I will lower my own standards and therefore also decrease the overall quality of my contributions. That is based on my previous contributions and the standard I chose for myself from the get go. That is what quality is all about.
I'm well aware that some people enjoy some of my content meanwhile others might hate it. However, that's not important, even though I obviously would love to see that everyone appreciated my contributions. What matters is what I feel good about. As long as I am satisfied with my contributions and as long as I keep up with my own standards, I will also produce content of high quality.
