To all minnows, stop posting and start commenting!
I proof read my post ensuring that the grammar and spelling are up to scratch. Hovering my cursor above the blue post button I think to myself this is going to be the one. This one will be my stepping stone to blogging glory. I'm sure it is worth at least $200 and 50 new followers.
I confidently smack the button and wait for the views, comments and upvotes to come flooding in. 10 seconds in and the only vote is still mine, I tell myself it is fine give it a chance. A minute later I have accumulated a grand total of 2 views and 2 votes, one being myself the other my wife.
I begin to get that horrible sinking feeling in my stomach. I spent hours on this piece, taking the photos, editing them, doing my research, formulating the text and nobody has even bothered their arses to read it! What the fuck? I was certain this was the one.
I collect my thoughts and decide to leave it for a further 30 minutes, I close my laptop and walk away, the temptation to pound the refresh button is just too great.
Half an hour passes and I return, I tentatively open the lid and peer through half closed eyes, praying to see my desired results. 4 views, 2 votes and 0 comments. Fuck this shit!
I need to give it a boost so people know it is worth reading. I send @randowhale some SBD so he can give me some loving. A 2.6% upvote, not the best but better than nothing, we are now sitting on $1.26. A far cry from the $200 I thought the post was worth.
Ok we need more, I post it on the @minnowsupport discord channel to allow it to work its magic. The bots provide a wee boost, $1.91 but the upvotes have gone up dramatically from 9 to 81. This is better I thought, now people will realise this piece is worth the effort.
They didn't!
Two days on and my post hasn't garnered anymore votes or views. It has stagnated in the quagmire of steemit where posts go to die.
Here is the post if you are interested.
https://steemit.com/art/@munchell/the-marvellous-mural-graffiti-trail-of-glasgow
Meanwhile my wife sent me a screenshot of her efforts. She just received a $16 dollar upvote for a well placed comment. What the fuck? I rarely get a double figure post, let alone comment. This is more money than I have made for my last 6 posts combined.
This is my epiphany moment, why am I worried about producing excellent content that no one reads, when I can just comment on other people's excellent content and earn three times as much.
This is an essential piece of knowledge that most minnows should follow. Find some content from well established authors that you are interested in. Fully read the content and make a valuable comment. The key word here being valuable, no spamming! More than likely you will receive an upvote.
Keep repeating the process and you will not only be earning more money, but you will be gathering your own following and making a name for yourself amongst the blogging professionals of steemit.
So this is my new approach, I am going to write fewer posts and concentrate on curation and comments. Let's see how I get on in the coming weeks.
I think that a combination of both posting and curating is best as you have to consider the profit you make vs bandwith and voting power (www.steemd.com/@munchell). Overall if you aim to improve steemit with your curation and post good content that you believe in Steemit will payoff as you gain more and more followers and Steemit gains traction.
In theory I believe you are correct. However the trouble is if you try and post good content everyday and nobody reads it, it can be extremely disheartening, especially if you have spent hours writing it.
This is why if you can make a name for yourself commenting on others, then when you do eventually start posting some descent content then someone will more than likely see it, instead of it just being lost in the ether.
As I said in your other post https://steemit.com/art/@munchell/the-marvellous-mural-graffiti-trail-of-glasgow FANTASTIC CONTENT!!! CONGRATS
@bitatlas thank you very much. Going to see how well it works concentrating on commenting. Will report back here with my findings.
I think it's both. Keep producing some quality content AND comment around. Folks check your page out when you make articulate comments so then they like both your comment made on their post, may like one of your posts as they check out your page, plus may follow you if you have enough content they like. :)
That is definitely true, it is always good to have a couple of well thought-out posts on you blog. But my point was to not get disheartened by the lack of interest in them, because you can always interact and potentially earn elsewhere.