Strategies to Getting Bigger Payouts on Steemit
Strategies to Increase Your Payouts on Steemit
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, let me mention that if there are Steemit questions you have that I don't hit on, take a look at Pied Pipers Blog. He one of the best I've seen in both quantity of topics and quality!
Sort of a Slot Machine
Now I know it's been said over and over to not focus on the money and that is absolutely correct. Do you go to the casino, place your bet on a slot machine, and get upset when you don't win on the first spin? NO! It's great and exciting when it happens, but it is by no means expected. Steemit is the same way in that you need the mind set of making multiple spins of the wheel to increase the payout probability, which is never guaranteed.
More Like Blackjack
Now we all know there really isn't a strategy to slot machines outside of the bet amount and spin, spin, spin since the game is essentially randomized without a way to change your odds. Steemit is a bit different in the you DO have ways to change your odds of payout. Let's use blackjack as an example. The basic card counting method in blackjack tells you to keep a running total in your head, starting at zero, and every time you see a low card (2 through 6) add +1 and a high card (10, J, Q, K, A) a -1. The main idea without getting to in depth is that when your count is high, there is a higher chance of the dealer busting, hence increasing your chance to win. So when the count is high, the you would make higher bets and when low, lower bets. Again this doesn't guarantee that each hand is a winner, or even a set of hands, but you are still effectively moving the odds for payoff in your favor.
Psychology of Others
Steemit is similar in this sense that YOU have ways to increase the odds in your favor. For instance, you've just spend days working on your masterpiece article, and you post it up with the headline 'My thoughts' with a pretty sunset picture. What were gambling on here is the likelihood that someone will click your post, read and upvote it, and have enough steem power to make a monetary difference. Do you click on things titled 'my thoughts?' No? What about the headline of 'My most profound AH-HA moment,' with a profound Alex Grey image. Grab you a little more? My point here is that if you put yourself in the shoes of other general users (not just whales) you can begin to see what could have a better chance at grabbing your audience. If someone doesn't open your article, the quality of content inside is really moot.
Strategic Marketing Your Self and Your Article
1. Think hard on the Headline and the first picture in your post (since this is what shows in the thumbnail in lists.) You want it to grab your target audience based on the topic you discuss, such as 'How I became a better person without religion.' Look for something that either answers a question or shares something honest and personal. We are all human beings on here (outside the bots, but they help you) so try to connect with people through your writing and find a headline and image (with a labeled for reuse commercially licence) that invoke some sort of intellectual curiosity or emotional response. None of this changes you content, just how it's presented to entice some one to click and read further, maybe even comment or upvote.
2. The first rule of fight club is to never talk about fight club! That's how I view the money aspect on steemit. When I produce, it's something I honestly care about and want to share with the world or get feedback on. My niche concepts such as utopia, or psychological betterment are really important to me. I think and discuss these things regardless of making money or even prior to hearing about steemit ( @winstonwolfe @jazzyfish @giftedgaia and other can attest to this since I've talked their ears off over the years.) If something is truly a passion and important to you, you're going to do them anyway. So why not take that mentality and if you make money off it, great, if you don't, well, you were going to do it anyway in some form, so why should it bother you.
3. After post marketing is an important piece many users seem to miss. Just because your article has been posted, doesn't mean that it will even get seen in the new or active lists. There is so much content posted every second that it is IMPOSSIBLE for everything to be seen this way. Things can snowball once your post garners some attention but to get the ball rolling I recommend a few strategies.
--When you run across someone else with a post that you like on a similar topic, include something such as 'Hey, I was just thinking about the same thing! I'd love to hear your thoughts,' and leave a link to your post. You're not asking for money, you're not just leaving a business card, but rather actually made a connection with someone and want to continue the discussion or get feedback. You do need to make sure that you preface this in your reply with a meaningful, genuine response to this other persons post. Simply putting 'I upvoted you, so upvote me' doesn't get you very far and is honestly quite annoying. DON'T BE THAT GUY!
--Share your post to other social media platforms to try drawing them in. Not only are you potentially furthering your own post, but the community as a whole by bringing in new users.
--Goto steemit.chat! You are automatically included in the general and postpromotion channels there. The general channel (which is just for chatting, not posting your article link) can allow you to make that personal connection with others and let you look at their blogs, sometimes finding interesting topics to reply to (and include link to your post.) In the postpromotion channel you can leave the link to your post for exposure. You don't need very much attention to get the ball rolling and get into on the hot or stay in the active pages. Try not to re-post your link more than once every half hour, to not be spammy.
--Try to start discussions with people. While the comment of 'great post' is supportive, there's really not much to say in response other than 'thank you.' Try to add some value to the topic by giving your take, or better yet ask a question. When talking about things your honestly passionate about, it is about being BETTER rather than RIGHT. And after all your connecting with other people that are sharing their thoughts, passions or souls.
Conclusion
Remember that all of this is like the black jack analogy. Every post you make is a GAMBLE on generating money. You won't win every hand but by enacting some strategy you can increase the odds in your favor over time
Excellent article! I really need to work on my own self-promotion skills. Any tips how best to approach this?
I took a look at your blog and it you seem to write in the area of steemit and psychology. Each category/topic has it's own hooks, grabs and buzz words so the specifics need to adapt to each post and its target audience. (If you have a specific post you would like me to talk to, just toss the link in a reply.)
Let's use your post "We do not know our own minds" as a case study. Personally, I love this topic and it calls a lot of things we take for granted into question and I would expect that many others do too.
Target Audience: I see the target for this post being people more in the psychology and philosophy realms. There may be others, but recommend starting with the top two. Otherwise the specific words needed hook someone vary too much.
General Thoughts: While it's important to have sources in your post such as the NY Times article you are talking about, there needs to be a little more of your interpretation of the source or at least specific questions that it's causing you to ponder. Some suggestions that come to mind are including a paragraph or two summarizing your interpretation article or an implication of that finding such as (How can I trust what I think?, How can I know what is objectively/subjectively real?, or a realization/AH-HA moment like 'I realized that I couldn't take certain 'facts' for granted anymore.') You've only got a paragraph, maybe two, to hook someone into reading further (for websites, the hook has to happen in about 3 seconds or they move on.) With this in mind, while it's great bringing the article to the attention of others, focus more on adding value, such as providing a short summary and reaction the article so the reader doesn't have to read the article itself.
Tagline hooks: Some first thoughts include, "I don't know if I'm real anymore" or "The day everything I thought I knew flew away." This is still being absolutely honest and still explains the content. Just little buzz words thrown in and situations people can relate to from their own life/perspective. (Again remember, this is targeting psychology and philosophy categories, my suggestions would be slightly different. If we were focusing more on the religion/spiritual realm it could be "How I connected with the universe by unlearning what I knew.")
Photo hook: With philosophy/psychology being the target, my first thoughts are to look for images with people emoting either a pondering/confused state (like the statue of the thinker, or a silhouette of Socrates with a question mark) or something that shows emitting energy or connection attempting to visualize what is going on behind the scenes (like the one I used in this guide under the heading 'psychology of others.') I do recommend filtering google image searches for usage rights: free to use or share even commercially. This can be found by clicking the gear in the top right corner, selecting advance search, and you will see the usage rights filter.
Things to do outside the post: Some of this was touched on in the guide, but if you have difficulty, you might try searching for articles akin to the same topic and have a discussion. Once you begin to connect on a more personal level they are more likely to follow your blog. Another trick, if you have friends (online or irl) simply ask them to upvote it for you so it can gain some traction. Even 2-3 people upvoting and leaving good comments will help tremendously.
Call to action: Try to keep the conversation going. Ending your post with a question drives the reader to respond.
I hope this is helpful :)
This reply alone could stand as an article. Wonderful response.
Thank you!
I'm also more than happy to give anyone about a more specific reply category or post if wanted.
I just like helping.
Thanks, some very well-written, in-depth and actionable information there! Like @quantumanomaly said, that could be an article in itself!
Great article sykochica. I'm definitely rubbish at marketing myself. I get so caught up in producing the art, then editing the videos and uploading photos that when it's finally done I post without always thinking of putting a 'hook' in my title. I name it for what it is, but that's not advertising or marketing! Your article has really made me think about this.
I don't know if Steemit posting is a bit of a gamble at times but I am definitely and addict to Steemit :)
This is more geared towards those that have trouble gaining traction, which you don't seem to have a huge issue with what I see. But yea, just some insight from my psych/marketing past. I like to think about 'What makes me click things' and try to reverse engineer it.
The gamble analogy is purely in the sense of getting noticed, upvoted, etc. For some the goal is to just put something out there to share, which is definatly no problem. It just got to me over the last couple of days seeing all the posts complaining that they aren't making money, but when I look at their blog it's all posts complaining about not making money. Lol. Who really wants to read that.
I agree with you. People should blog because they have ideas (original ones at that) that they want to share, not with the expectation of making money. I'm doing really well today, but my first couple of weeks I made very little ( but that was ok), but I kept at it to build my reputation. My earlier posts look a little healthier now because I've had people go back through them more recently and upvote them. People give up too soon. Work out their style first, build their reputation , then get the followers.
I love reading your posts, always well written.
Thank you! I think I've been needing this platform, let's me quietly get up on my soapbox.
But you hit the nail on the head, it's a process to refine over time.
Not that this is something new. But the presentation and your view point is fresh. I could feel that you genuinely wanted to help. That is a sign of good written post.
I wish you good health and great success. All the best.
I will absolutely admit it's nothing new, just wanted to provide my humble take. We all stand on the shoulders of giants!
I agree. Hey, by no mean I meant to belittle your effort. I liked the way you presented this with reference to blackjack.
Your humble take took a great shape with your idea and craft.
See you around.
No worries, I didn't take it in a bad way. Thanks for reading and the feedback! :)
The pleasure is all mine :)
I think a lot of times it's more of who you are and can you bring people to steemit that gets the big rewards not necessarily the content. If your a whale are you going to vote on a so-so post by someone with a lot of followers on another social media site that might bring them here or for some unknown person that makes a great post?
I'm not quite sure I understand.
This is purely a focus on psychological and marketing strategies to get your post noticed among the ocean of posts generated each day. The suggestion of sharing to other social media platforms is with the assumption that the person posting would already have some connections and/or following on other sites, that could sign up to steemit and upvote the post. It doesn't take a whole lot in less saturated categories including psychology and philosophy to be in the active or potentially hot lists, which then allow you further exposure.
If your a whale you have the incentive to grow the platform and make even more money. If you make someone that has a lot of following a success then they are likely to spread the word of that success to their followers. That means it's more beneficial for a whale to vote for the person than the content in many situations.
I just see these strategies being distinct. This post is really more a focus on the slow incremental growth, building direct connections and methods of adjusting what is seen in the listings to be more appealing for a click.
An increase from nothing to a few pennies is progress, a few more, still progress.
I kinda see the strategy you mentioned of the whale being more top down versus what I talked about being bottom up. The hope is to give users options, within their own control, without changing the message of their content, to effectively reach others.
Just my take. I do appreciate the feedback :)
From the standpoint of whales voting, I see what you are saying. These strategies aren't really with a focus on whales. Either way, that's a good point to make.
Enjoyable read, but let's not forget option number 3 in the steemit casino - invest for a big share of steem power toward being 'the house'
The house always wins.
Very true. Lol.
I just doubt that someone looking to get increasing payouts on posts would have the money to invest and those with money to invest wouldn't focus in post payouts (versus curation.)
In my opinion. (E-prime powers activate!)