Steemit is brutal. @SteemCleaners is operated by some very influential people. They are friends with the people who are always at the top of the trending lists.
Who will make the most rewards is often already decided before the post is even written.
If anyone wants to make a living here they need to make friends with the leaders of the trails and well organized groups. Then it doesn't matter what you say.
Steemit isn't growing much and almost everyone who tries it quits. I have been here as long as you and I have seen many great author disappear after they learn how steemit really functions.
The value of Steem isn't going to go up the way things are, the only thing that keeps it from hitting rock bottom is the is that fact is already it pretty much rock bottom.
There is actually only hand full of people you need to impress here to make money. Of the 10,000 active users, seriously there are less than 50 people that matter for a post to make over $20.00. And that $20 is very misleading as once it's cashed out it's only a few dollars.
Getting a lot of votes doesn't even mean people like what you wrote because of the bots. Getting views doesn't mean much either since bots can open windows too and I have heard some people say they open tabs without reading.
it really sucks if you want to reach the world outside of Steemit. And tougher to know if you make a difference.
View counts are only views of people logged into Steemit. So the good news maybe many people read your post but are not logged in.
I have always liked you posts, I voted for many. I'm addicted to Steemit. The rush of waking up to see my post made money is very unique even if is a dollar.
The best revenge is success. And you got that online much more than most others here who clear $50 or $100 often.
It's like the trails have their fav's who without steemit would be nobody and they mostly do good things for the people already comitted to the platform.
While they ignore the authors who actually have a real reach outside of the platform.
Just keep writing. You never know when a whale will read you post. I do.