When I arrived on Steem, just a short month ago, I was pretty ignorant of how the whole system worked. I thought I could just show up and because I had some interesting stories, I'd be racking in Steem like a madman. Boy, was I dumb.
I was lucky enough to have met an individual who I think embodies what Steem is and how to use it to become "successful". @inquiringtimes scooped me up on my introduction to Steem and has guided me along during this month for which I am very greatful.
I don't have any professional writing background, I'm not that smart, and I'm not that great of a storyteller. I was hoping the content of my stories alone would be enough, but I soon had to realise that there is more to a story than just words.
@inquiringtimes provided me this article he put together a few months ago and after reading it, things began to fall in place. Here I'll outline a few takeaways from the article that can help anyone who is just arriving to Steem or has been here a while and things aren't what you've expected.
This article is packed full of information. I had to read it at least three times to get everything out of it. It is very well written and can give help to reveal what you might be missing, need to know, and hone what you are already doing.
First, @inquiringtimes suggests that the Title, Preview Image, and first words are the key to getting attention to your article. This makes so much sense! People are attracted to things that are interesting and visually aesthetic. Without an eye grabber or intriquing title, you're not going to attract the potential readers who might see it go by on the screen. The first few words should be clear, and hopefully inspire me to read more.
Layout
Steem has a simple layout guide and can quickly be referenced with the Markdown Styling Guide.
Content
Content is the meat of the article and where you are going to foster engagement from the community, cultivate friendships, and gain upvotes. If you are here to make some money, as well as write about what is interesting to you, then you must also consider your audience, and what they want to read about. It's fine to write anything, but you have to find the people who will pay to read your blogs, or you have to write more blogs about what people will pay for.
References
References are important because it gives credit for the information provided in the content. It lets the reader gain additional information, and even follow another steemer if they like what they see. Lots of links are very helpful, and improve post payout. Especially if every link is also listed at the end in a handy "references and further reading" section. @inquiringtimes goes much deeper into this so I suggest reading the above article for some spicey information.
Comments
I want to draw attention to what I consider to be a huge part of the Steem puzzle, gaining visibility, i.e friends. Comments are the best way to fullfill this. By actively engaging in the community, you will develop friendships (followers) which turn brings everything into sync. Comments should be well thoughtout and complete. They should be nice, friendly, and supportive. In @inquiringtimes' article, seperating each idea with a line break is reccommended. This way, your comment with be able to be better understood. The article below is great for how to cultivate some really good comments.
Lastly, I would like to highlight the upvote. @inquiringtimes says that by paying attention to the biggest and most frequent upvoters you can foster better relationships by visiting their pages and showing appreciation. This goes a long way into fostering friendships and creating a better Steem environment. It is also a way of making NEW friends and establishing new relationships which may open new doors or opportunities.
I could go on all day about this article and there is a ton more in there that is super beneficial. I would suggest heading over to it and bookmark. Don't forget about the guide to helpful comments.
Thank you so much
@cmtzco has voted on behalf of @minnowpond. If you would like to recieve upvotes from minnowpond on all your posts, simply FOLLOW @minnowpond. To be Resteemed to 4k+ followers and upvoted heavier send 0.25SBD to @minnowpond with your posts url as the memo