Starting strong when writing on Steemit

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If you have read my post yesterday, I mentioned that I have been experimenting on different posts to write on Steemit. While it can be difficult initially to find one's niche, once you have decided to write on a particular topic, how do you go about writing it?

So to help my fellow Steemians, here are a few ideas on how to start strong on Steemit. Today, I will be sharing based on experience and as a second language English teacher. After trying out different articles, I have concluded that if you are new to Steemit, the best articles to write should be in the following order:

i) Articles on different hacks.
ii) Stories about personal experiences.
iii) How-to articles.

This is based purely on how many have viewed, upvoted and commented on my articles. These articles should be the types of articles you start with because they are relatively easy to write. Do note that they may not require you to analyze a particular topic in-depth nor require you to describe an experience like how Stephanie Meyer describes Edward Cullen. As such, here are a few ways on how to start strong and make great posts on Steemit.

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Adding a new perspective

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Everyone loves a shortcut. As such, while you would find many articles on Steemit that provide some hack or another, you may want to consider adding a little something extra to make your article unique. For example, take a look at the popular tags on Steemit such as cryptocurrency, life and travelling. There are many experts who travel more, know more about Steemit and have more experience in life than most of us.

Thus, if you are going to write about a hack that has been written before, add your perspective to it. So many people have written about how Steem is the future, the topic may not be new but many of these articles are written from the perspective of money, blogging and social media. As such, there are many perspective of Steem that are left unexplored. For me, I see the gap in terms of education and the potential for Steem and the Steemit platform to help in education.

Consider also talking about the things that people do not normally talk about. For example, if Steem fails to gain adoption and fails, where can a blogger go? In addition, you may want to also provide some solid evidence to support your statement if you are going to attempt such topics.

Emotions and Story

I was reading a story by @sharoonyasir and I was out running errands. You know those shows where you can't help but tear up, yeah, I teared up, yes, it was in public, no, I'm not ashamed, let's move on.

So my point is, it's good to write stories like that, painful experiences, happy experiences or exciting times. But you know what? I still think painful experiences gain more attention, especially the depressing ones. The evidence are clearly seen all around us. Sam smith's songs and Korean dramas are but a few good examples. As they say, sad sells. Wait, I think it's the other 'S' word =)

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However, if you really have no sad stories to tell, try an experience where kindness was shown. A good example is the 'chicken soup' series. It is a collection of books detailing stories describing primarily acts of kindness. It has sold many copies over the years. These stories are not long but rather short and they get the point across. That point being that warm and fuzzy feeling coupled with 'faith in humanity restored' feelings.

These are the stories that you can try writing and are stories that many love reading.

Steem time vs Real time

Of course, do bear in mind that time in the Steemit-verse passes quicker than real life. See, once an article is published, it is considered old after say about half an hour. Try scrolling through the long list of posts on the 'new' tab and you will have a sense of what I mean. So why is this important?

Well, if you find that a particular 'how-to' or even hack has not been touched on for a very long time, perhaps you can write about it. Do acknowledge previous authors if you are building on their work and give them credit for the foundation in which your post will be built on.

On the other hand, if you are writing something that has been addressed, do consider updating it with some new information. However, never ever plagiarize. Personally I have had my work plagiarized before and I was only on Steemit for two weeks. I found out through people who were following me and as such, do bear in mind that copying and pasting is not easy on Steemit. You may have much experience fooling others in school or on other platforms but on Steemit, the chances of you getting caught is high. The odds are not in your favor.

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Conclusion

I hope this has been helpful. It is nothing new, but it is something that I have discovered. To those who have been on Steemit for a while, perhaps you can help add on to this in the comments below. Let us help all those who are new create better content for the platform.

Until next time, happy Steeming!

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