I'm in the top 30 payouts again for the third week in a row and here's what I know.

Want to join me in the top of Steemit earners? Here's how you can get more votes, more followers and earn more SBD.

Write Quality Content!

That is all there is, there is no more. Now, once you've done this, you have to continue to do this until the cows come home if you hope to earn here.

• You have to seek out and find your audience and speak to them!
• You have to make yourself useful through voting and curating posts.
• In short, to earn a $1000 SBD+ each and every week, Steemit has to become your job.

@EricVanceWalton The top earner on Steemit this week, and two of three of the first weeks I was here, is in the enviable position of keeping his day job and saving his steem dollars.

If you read the interview with him (just search EricVanceWalton on Steemit, it's the first result, I think) You'll see that his plan is to save up the equivalent of two years salary, then quit and focus on his fiction. Good plan, mate!

So, why am I not doing this? Well, a lean year as a freelancer ($40k instead of 80) means I'm catching up at the end of the year and thi is a good way to do it!

So, let's talk about what it takes to put together a payout post!

1. First, I write, or select a section of something I've already written. I shoot for 1000-2000 words. Anything over 500 is better.
2. Next, I send my post through Whitesmoke editing, just to be sure I haven't left horrible typos. I don't spend a lot of time on this, and I don't get many complaints, just a few helpful suggestions, like, hey, learn to spell!
3. Next, I handcraft illustration using internet photos and Photoshop. Rather than risk that (even if I share my source) someone will make me take them down. I composite and add filters to create unique pieces. It's fun!
4. I dunp the post into Stackedit.IO and mark it up with bold text, etc, or, like now, I write in a program called Haroopad (It's free) It makes your post more fun to look at and easier to read.
5. I choose my categories. THIS IS KEY! I look for categories that are 1. Listed in the topics catalog on Steemit 2. Have action! (some categories are basically dead) so, look for good payouts, recently. 3. Fit my post (I've said this before, but people will downvote spam posts in the wrong category)
6. I add links to previous sections and a call to action asking for an upvote and follow to EVERY SINGLE POST!
7. I create a short link, using Bitly.com and share it through relevant channels on Steemit Chat, in Steemit and writing Facebook groups and on my Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus profiles!
8. I answer EVERY comment, unless it is obviously a bot, or an empty curator comment like "nice article" when the post is scifi.

Beyond this, I am experimenting almost daily with:

• Types of content, fiction, non-fiction, different topics, I try to use at least one of my four posts to try something new.
• Times for posting. I need to get at least one day ahead so that I can make posts happen at specific times.
• How many images, etc

*As I have said, time and again, I cannot guarantee that you will experience the same results. I am a professional writer, who was already getting paid daily and in the habit of writing. But, this is as close to a "formula" as I have at the moment. *

Here are things I am currently experimenting with

• Category placement. I'm thinking I may need to shake it up, try some new categories. Here's my theory, those with consistently high payouts have more whales watching them.
• Audience participation posts. I did one yesterday asking for contributions, it did "okay" got some payout but not as much as I'd like.
• Continued content versus one off, such as short stories and things like this. One offs tend to get more votes, but less payout. They also lead to follower growth.

In the past week, I've noticed a couple of trends I'm following in my posts

• Non-fiction posts, like this one, are good for garnering votes and seem to increase followers, but are not as good, for me, as my fiction. I think this depends on the topic, obviously, since the biggest payouts continue to go to non-fiction posts.
• I get the most comments on dolphinschool and inspirational type posts. I love comments, it lets me know that someone is reading.
• The first illustration in a post seems to have an impact. Something eye catching and colorful. I need to focus on this. Make it interesting, make them ask, "what is that all about?"
• Decent payouts are still coming in one big vote. I can have 100 votes with $5, or 50 votes with $200. While I'm glad they didn't change the vote limit, it does seem that the inequity is too vast still.
• Payouts, overall, seem to have dropped a bit. This may be due to competition, or perhaps someone was voting for me when I started that has moved on to another new writer in an attempt to raise up good content? Not sure, but I'm guessing this will get better as my followers increase. I notice Eric, again, closest thing to what I'm doing, gets 300-400 votes on many of his posts. I'm still under 200 votes most of the time.

So,that's it for me, love to hear your best tip! If you have one, share it in the comments. If this post reaches over $200 in SBD payout, I'll pay a reward to the best comment!