Hard Work Eventually Does Pay Off On Steemit

Just a few weeks ago I was feeling defeated on Steemit. I never intended to give up, but it was wearing me down seeing low-quality content make it to trending and make hundreds of dollars, whilst the content I was writing languished.

I kept asking myself: Why are poor pieces of content making it and my content isn't. The answer to that question is bots (something I am still learning about), if you have the money to spend, you can get any poorly written or unoriginal piece of content to the trending page. You could post a picture of poo and get it to the trending page.

Recently, things have started to turn around for me on Steemit and I am feeling motivated and positive about the platform. I wanted to share how I got to where I currently am, and how I feel about the future.

I wanted to share this story specifically for any newbies aka Minnows who are feeling like I was only up until recently: defeated and filled with questions about why everyone else was getting somewhere and why I wasn't.

I only joined in January 2018, so I have only been a member for four months. I never expected to get rich quick and really what brought me here was the opportunity to write about whatever I wanted to, and build a new audience.

I am not successful by any measure, compared to the other more success Steemit authors, but I am determined to get there. I only just broke the $10 barrier on one of my posts the other day.

Use a spellchecker, check your grammar and use formatting

This is frustrating to witness. I encounter so many posts riddled with simple spelling mistakes, simple grammar mistakes (non-capitalised I's or use of full-stops) and improper formatting.

I can tell you right now, nobody wants to read a post with 12 sentence paragraphs. It's exhausting to read long paragraphs and it's the biggest mistake I see (besides spelling and grammar). Keep your paragraphs to a maximum of 5 sentences (I usually stick to 3 or 4 sentences personally).

I understand English isn't everyone's first language and let's be honest, grammar can be friggin' hard. Even just putting in some effort using freely available tools (I highly recommend Grammarly) can take your writing from a 3 out of 10 to a 6+ out of 10.

Putting some effort into the presentation of your content can be the deciding factor as to whether or not someone is going to read it (and upvote), or move on because it was just way too cognitively overbearing.

Write almost every day

This is easier said than done and I haven't religiously followed this rule. I try and publish a post per day, but sometimes life gets in the way and you can't publish anything, or maybe you have writer's block.

Publishing often is a great way to flex your brain muscles, get you into the routine of visiting Steemit and engaging. Make sure when you do post that the majority of your content is medium to long-form, with the occasional short post thrown in.

You don't need a niche

It was only recently that I realised that I don't need a niche on Steemit. For a while I was trying to find out who I wanted to be on Steemit, what content I wanted to write about and I ultimately realised that you don't need to put yourself into a box and slap a label on it.

Steemit is a dencentralised platform with democratic roots, write about whatever you want to write about. Write about your hobbies, your opinions on cryptocurrencies, interpretations of news stories, post photos and talk about life.

I've written content covering a broad spectrum of categories, if you write about the same thing over and over again you'll just get board.

Engage in the community

I failed to do this properly for the first few months, but to succeed on Steemit and be seen, you have to get active. Comment on other peoples posts, upvote, resteem, follow people you like and tell people when you like something of theirs.

Under no circumstances should you beg for a follow, beg for votes or resteems, it's desperate and it puts people off. When you upvote or comment, do so selflessly. Even if the author doesn't reciprocate back with an upvote or follow, you've just made the Steemit platform a better place.

One of the most important lessons in life you should learn is: give without expectation of receiving and you'll eventually be given something back.

Look and ask for help

I only just discovered recently there are micro-communities within Steemit, many with the sole intention of promoting high-quality content and authors who are making Steemit a better place.

Beautiful community efforts like @curie and @teamaustralia have been immensely helpful to me reaching new heights on Steemit and I am incredibly grateful for these existing.

While it's easy to feel like you're this small and those at the top of the Steemit foodchain are this tall, there are people here who legitimately want to foster Minnows and see them succeed. You have to seek them out and learn all you can from them.

Voting bots do work (just don't expect to get rich)

By using voting bots, I've only invested maybe a max total of 5 SBD into experimenting with bots, you can have some success. To get to the trending page, you'll need to spend upwards of 150 SBD to get anywhere but to bolster your reputation and reputation, a few SBD can go a long way.

If you do use a voting bot, make sure you're voting on a piece of content you are proud of. Don't upvote a poorly taken blurry photo with no caption or effort put into it, you're just degrading the Steemit platform and not gaining anything from it.

Bots will always cost more than they generate in revenue. You don't use bots to make money, you use them to get new followers and visibility, bots that resteem your content are also a great way to get followers (although the quality is a bit iffy at times).

I feel like I am starting to move on the Steemit platform...

My self-confidence here has grown tremendously, and it's primarily due to my persistence. Even when times got hard and as demotivating as it was seeing content I was proud of, only receiving maybe one or two upvotes, I never stopped writing.

There is hope for Minnows. If you're new or been here a few months, keep at it because I promise you that the only reason people fail at Steemit is because they give up, not because they're being held down by the system.

I also want to extend my gratitude to anyone who has ever upvoted my content or supported me with a resteem or encouraging comment. I want to make Steemit a better place, I want to see high-quality content thrive and authors putting in the hustle and effort to succeed. I want to be part of the solution.

(image used above is from Pixabay src