Posting for Steem
This is not my first rodeo. I'm no expert by any means but I'm not totally unfamiliar with the concept. Back in the Eighties I was on Fido-Net. In the late nineties technology advanced. I could get internet in my TRUCK. (kinda sorta) I spent a LOT of time in Chat-Rooms on AOL, mostly 'Widows and Widowers. (but that's another story). Then came FaceBook. When I saw how FaceBook worked I bailed out of AOL and never looked back. I'm not even sure AOL still exists. Since then I've been on FaceBook for YEARS, many years, perhaps more than a decade. I've lost track. I spend hours and hours each day forwarding, posting, and chatting.
Over the Road Trucking is like solitary confinement with a view. I'd most likely go to sleep at night (when I didn't drive it through) in a different STATE than I woke up in. I'd go weeks, months, perhaps over a year and never seeing a familiar face. I lived in my truck. I was a gypsy trucker, a nomad. I had no fixed residence. I had no place to call home. Technically I suppose that I was a homeless person on wheels, for over a quarter century.
Over the years FaceBook changed. In the early days it was a lot of fun. Lately, not so much. It became aggravating. I didn't like the way it was changing. I didn't like the censorship, the Political Correctness and the anti conservative attitude. I especially didn't like the Ads. I DETEST the new policy of inserting advertisements in my news feed. If I want to buy something I'll go look for it. Until then leave me alone. Don't bother me and don't interrupt me when I'm reading or watching a video. In short FaceBook embraced the suck. I didn't like the way it was treating me and decided to move on.
A year or so ago I found Tsu. The Tsu network had a new plan. It claimed to pay users to post. Why post on FaceBook for free when I'd get paid to post on Tsu?
I spent hours and HOURS posting to Tsu. All for naught. I didn't make a dime.
I heard about MeWe and checked it out (meh)
Then about a month ago I discovered Steem. I lurked for a while, off and on, then joined up.
These were NOT just one line posts or half a page or so. The majority was NOT "found on the internet" . The vast majority of my posts are original content. I'd spent literally YEARS writing this content. Sci-Fi mostly. I posted short stories and portions of books. I posted links to Amazon where my books can be bought.
I didn't just post. I attempted to involve myself in the community. I read and voted on a great many other posts. (I'm a fast reader)
In other words I tried. I tried HARD.
For what? After a ten-day of diligent effort I have what?
The question raises it's ugly head and asks itself.
Actually I've been doing a LOT wrong. In fact I may have made every mistake it's possible to make.
First off I didn't (and still mostly don't) understand the system.
In a nutshell what that graph tells me is that the first four posts that I make in a twelve hour period are paid at full value. (how the value is counted is a whole 'nuther ball of wax, the value of everyone's vote is a variable...very complex.) Post number Five pays at seventy five percent. Post number six pays at half. Post number eight pays at a quarter of what the first one did. After eight it just get's stupid. The value never declines to zero, not quite, but it gets close enough not to matter.
Almost 24 a day, after the fourth one they become less and less valuable.
But WAIT. It get's worse.
I stay on the computer for LONG stretches at a time and don't sleep for very long at a time. It'd be an unusual day for me to go four or five hours without being online. Twelve would be unheard of.
But WAIT. It get's even better.
The way that you write matters. The style in which I write is to write something down. Post it. see how it looks. Then edit. I keep 'tweaking' until I like what I see.
Edit's are considered to be 'posts'.
In other words.. after the tenth 'edit' on my FIRST post the value of my posts was zilch.
So what that tells me is that I've most likely NEVER been paid full value for any of my posts since day one.
This has got to change.
New Resolution.
From now on I will write posts offline on Google Docs. Do ALL of the editing and tweaking there, NEVER edit on Steem.
From now on I will ONLY make four posts per day.
That is incorrect. Edits are not considered posts. They do not penalize you in posting rewards at all.
I hope that you are correct. That will make it easier.
I always write in a wordprocessor and even get the links for the images ready. Then I post. Cuts way down on the Edits in Steemit.
Make sure your tags are accurate and align as much as possible to the top Tags. Makes a big difference. If you want to know the top average payouts for tags, look at a chart like this one: https://steemit.com/steem/@ultimus/top-100-tag-categories-for-highest-average-payouts-sept-1st
For your comments, recognize authors who upvote good comments. Not all do. It makes a big difference. See if that author recognizes and rewards thoughtful additions to their blogs. Follow the best authors which also are appreciative and interact with their readers.
Do the same for people who upvote your blogs. This builds a rapport and they are more likely to Follow you.
Hope that helps.
Really interesting, I knew about the 4 posts cap but did not know that editing a post counted as making one. :S Thanks!
Good post @everittmickey. I would try and use some basic markdown code to format your posts a little better. You had your headers centered and in between each point you were trying to make. It looks good, but it would just read a little easier if they were larger headers and left justified.
Here is a link to basic MARKDOWN CODE. Just take a look at this method and see what you think? Good luck.
http://github.com/adam-p/markdown-here/wiki/Markdown-Cheatsheet
Sample:
Here is a sample of a large header
Here is a little smaller
that was a Horizontal Rule
Anyway, those are just some samples... Try the link and see what you think.
I tried using markdown code in my first post on steemit, and it failed miserably to function (I was just trying to make links), so I had to go back to using HTML code instead. I have used the bold code, but thats it. Not really impressed with markdown yet.
I learned from this! Thank you! Followed and upvoted.
I hope you earn a good deal with this post.
Even throwing one SBD to promote!
This is a thank you for the interesting information!
Maybe you and my post will be interesting. Also very useful information!
https://steemit.com/new/@viktorrabec/how-to-withdraw-money-from-steam-the-answer-is-here-instructions-and-guidance
Thank you.
"Promotion" is something I just discovered the other day.
Thanks again.
I think different things work well for different people, or to use the familar - different strokes for different folks.
I personally have limited myself to just a few posts trying to focus on what I feel will at least get read by some people. In other words, I probably have over researched, over thunk and spent way more time than I probably should have.
In term of rewards I feel I have been rewarded "fairly" over all, however some posts I thought would do really well bombed and ones I thought "meh" did pretty well.
It is a little bit of gamble right now on Steemit, with several factors, I think at first most of us should just focus on writing what we enjoy writing about and building up an audience for it, than later on looking at the rewards and figuring out if it is worth the time or not.
One last thing. You are prolific which is great! You are contributing to Steemit and yes, you will eventually make money. But I would guess the money is not the only reason you are online and on Steemit. Do this for the enjoyment, relish in the interaction, and don't worry about your post payouts in the beginning. Eventually you will get followers, a whale sighting, etc. That is great, but people like you are get a benefit by just putting your ideas, thoughts, and insights out there. Relish that too!
Money would be nice.
I'm retired/unemployed but not by choice.
I'd like to contribute more than just SS to the family income.
Edits count as fuckin' posts?
Shitgoddamn. I edit like a bitch too. Damn :( Thanks for the heads up
Sometimes I think that these are my posts ))) But I am not so good in narration. Thank you.
Excellent post. Informative! Thank you!