This post is excellent advice to newbies and I completely agree! Let me throw in my support:
The way to success on Steemit is to find some people who write something that you like, read it, and indeed engage with them in the comments section.
Even after months on this platform, I still don't make much from random visitors to my blog.. the retention rate is really low from randoms too. The main source of my income is definitely a select group of followers who are in fact the exact same group of people who I talk to a lot on this platform.
It's all about making some friends, and supporting eachother as friends and the very best way to do that is to make some great comments and get some conversation started!
The irony is that if you're doing this solely for the money, you will fail. But if instead you try to have some fun, make some friends and have some laughs, you'll find that it works a lot better and is a lot more fun! Stop handing out your upvotes to people because you think it'll make you money. Instead, give it to those who you connect with online and scratch their backs, so they may scratch yours. Community is key!
Great post @pandorasbox.
I am doing this for the money...well the SP....I need my SP to keep growing so I can have more VP. I gets addicting to get the reaction from someone relatively new when I give them a 100% upvote. You would think they won the lottery....that is where my motivation comes from.
As I was reading your comment, the thought of communities came to mind. I think that will really help eliminate the need for "randomness" since, like you said, it is low retention rate. Communities could well put together strong groups of like minded people who are interesting in the same subject. Even within their "community" they can keep upvoting and commenting on each other to the point where their accounts will grow nicely.
Hell, there might be a post somewhere in what I just wrote. I will have to give that some thought.
Yes! I'm so looking forward to communities! I'm doing okay now, but a few months ago I was really struggling and being able to stand out in smaller communities would've really helped me. I think this is key for small minnows and will allow them to exist, grow and even thrive perhaps. Right now they just can't get through the shouting match that is the Hot and Trending pages. All they can hope for is a random passerby from the New section.. and how many dolphins and whales sift through that? Almost none... But in communities the whales and minnows would easily mingle and meet!
Especially if it evolves like Reddit, where /r/btc is the go to place for Bitcoin news.. We need Steemit Bitcoin communities where people come to visit to read the latest news! Even a newbie could make a valuable contribution and get noticed, just like on reddit.
And yes, making money while socializing is totally addictive. I too kind of get a kick out of doling out upvotes even though I can't give too much yet. Sometimes I get hit by a whalevote and my mind is blown.. right now I have one comment that three whales upvoted to $10 and I'm like "Whoa!!" and even moreso with today's SBD prices. I mean, whoa!!
I believe that communities will be similar to Reddit, from what I understand. It might be supposition on the part of some but I believe I was reading a post by the developers who talked in that manner...in fact, it cited Reddit and their userbase...so I feel it will be similar...
It is hard in the continually moving stream to get noticed. Communities will eliminate that completely.
Steemit being the defacto news source for people would be amazing...you arent the first person who mentioned that to me...it is a wonderful idea.