3 Things Minnows Should be Doing to Build Audience and Rewards, Dolphinschool is in session!

So, you're new to Steemit and you're not happy because you haven't gotten your first $1000 payout yet? Well, that's okay, there's still time. With Steem still riding at all time high prices, (well, shortly under them, but still, wow!) you'll have plenty of opportunity to snap one up. In the meantime, what should you be doing to get ready?

First, Establish your "Brand"

Whatever you think about the top paid posters, notice one thing. All of them, to a profile, are branded. What do I mean by that? Well, many of them have had design work done to make all of their posts appear alike. That's smart. Here are three other things to consider.

• Choose a topic, or style and stick to it! I found that my fiction did best here, so I share it consistently.
• Build rapport by responding to comments and upvoting and commenting where it makes sense.
• Keep the platform in mind. It does no good to insist your audience should love something they don't. Create your content to suit the audience.

Next, put up your best content, each time, every time

Give your best. I had a comment yesterday asking if we should consider saving our best content until we have an audience. No! Give your best every time. Don't hold back. Unless you're publishing on more than one platform, and some of your work is dedicated somewhere else, bring your A game to each post.

• If you're not a practiced writer, take your time. Revise and rehash until it's just right.
• Edit for spelling and grammatical errors as best you can. Even if English is not your first language, programs like Grammarly can help.
• Use quality images and do some typesetting. I use a program called MarkdownPad2 to set up my posts in HTML before I paste them into the site.

Finally, promote your work

You can use other social media sites, find other users willing to resteem you, tag your work with @ mentions to attract other users, whatever it takes. Do it often and early. Don't worry about cries of "spamming" unless you're inboxing, promoting on other users posts, or otherwise doing things that would annoy you if someone did it to you, keep on.

• Steem chat has channels to promote all types of work. I've gotten votes there before.
• Discord is a great place to connect with other users.
• Facebook has many groups dedicated to Steemit users.

Follow this pattern with every post and you'll soon see your rewards growing. Like what you see? Share it, upvote it, follow me for more, but mostly, leave me a comment, especially if you have questions.