Please Don't Confuse The Monkeys

Right now, there's a problem with Steem that is repelling new users.

It's a quick and easy fix, but I wanted to draw attention to it from the perspective of someone who joined the network less than a week ago. I've been hawking products and services on the internet for over 10 years, so I do know a thing or two about user psychology.

It's not that new users are monkeys. (OK, maybe they kind of are.) They're just heavily influenced by their first impressions.

First Impressions Matter Most

The adage about first impressions is true. Users who click on a link decide in literally a fraction of a second whether the page they just clicked through to is the content they were looking.

This happens instantly - it all happens in the subconscious.

Now let's take the example of new potential Steem user, Joe Blow. Joe has no idea what cryptocurrency is, no idea what Bitcoin is, no idea what Steem is.

But, boy, does Joe love fishing for minnows.

Joe sees a comment on his favorite fishing website. It's completely outside of the Steem ecosystem, but the comment links to an article about catching huge fish.

Joe clicks, then he sees this at the top:

Steem? Blockchain? Money for posting?

And Joe clicks away.

Joe Just Wants To Learn How To Catch Huge Fish!

He doesn't care about anything that he just saw on the upper 2/3rds of his computer screen.

At worst, he thinks that he's clicked the wrong link or possibly downloaded a virus. (Seriously - I've had a lot of customers and have been accused of some very weird things over the last 10 years, sometimes due to poor explanations or marketing on my part.)

Confusing your users is a surefire way to get them to leave.

The problem is even worse if you're on a mobile device. The header literally fills my phone's screen, and the first time I saw it I genuinely thought I had clicked the wrong link or that there was a popup window from the link I had just clicked.

This is, in my mind, a big problem. But again, a big problem that's easy to fix.

Steem is a Content-Driven Social Network First

The more that Steem acts like a blogging, content delivery and marketplace platform - and LESS like a "make money by posting!" complicated economic scheme - the more users we can attract.

To be clear, I'm NOT saying that you don't mention the fact you can earn a profit by posting on Steem. If you visit the main Steemit page, your heart will skip a beat at all of the $1,000 and $10,000+ posts.

It's almost unbelievable how well the system works to earn a profit for all stakeholders involved - so the less you hawk the money-making benefits and the more you enhance the publishing features and put the content first (in terms of the way the site is designed), the better the platform will come off to new potential users.

Many users can figure out the economic benefits and how it works later, on their own time, AFTER they read the content they were originally looking for and they decide to sign up.

How To Hook New Users

Once the user is done reading the content they were originally looking for, they're going to wonder what to do next. This is the time to invite them to tour the Steem platform.

It doesn't take much! Just add a link at the end of the post if the viewer is not registered:

"Interested in earning a profit by discussing this post? Click here to see how it works and register for free."

In addition, until the user is registered, instead of a header, you simply have a floating bar on the lower part of the screen that says something like:

"Your Opinion Matters. Earn Profit Through Participation On Steem. Click Here To Register Free!"

The text that appears inside this floating bar should be split-tested with other variations of the same sort of phrasing to determine which variation yields the largest number of new users per page view.

As you test new phrases, track to determine which phrase performs the best, then show that phrase the majority of the time as you split-test with new variations.

Rinse and repeat to increase the conversion rate of new visitors to new registered users.

This is a simple change that will benefit everyone. I hope you agree.