I realize I will probabaly get some hate for this post and be classified as a pompous ass, but oh well.
When I started on Steemit almost a year ago with this post, it made mere pennies, as you can see. This was at a time when other anarchists and Steem-Os were taking in tens of thousands of dollars on single posts. I was frustrated initially, as my very first posts made almost nothing. Go and see for yourself.
I got a lot of help from a friend, who encouraged me, saying that I would get back--generally speaking--what I put in. He inspired me, urging me to leverage the platform and put my heart into the content, saying he would support me where he could. It wasn't just him. It was a lot of people here and there, not just upvoting, but showing me how to use the platform.
Well, after a lot of penny posts, I put my heart into this one, and saw my first real, significant payout. "Elation" is not quite the word for it. Since this time I have been Steeming, high payout or not, like a madman.
So, without further ado...
Some general guidlines for "making it" on here:
1. Don't beg for votes.
It really isn't what this platform is about, and is gonna damage your reputation in the long run. Asking for someone to upvote, follow, read your post, or give you advice is totally understandable, and I did it in the beginning quite often. But here's the catch:
People upvote because of a connection. It could be a connection with you in "real life" ("meat space" as some call it), a real, pronounced interest in your content/topic areas, or a return favor for something you did for them. In other words: BE GENUINE. Not reading someone's post or even mentioning it in your comment and then saying: "VOTE FOR ME!" really is bad form. Where's the relationship in that?
2. Pour your heart into it.
I cannot tell you how much "steeming" has taught me about myself and helped me to grow as a person. The financial incentives--contrary to the cries of the Communistic "altruists"--help with this. If you want to make money, you have to put forth something of value. What is value? Well, that takes a different shape and form for everyone. One thing is certain, though, the market seems to prefer honesty, passion, and rigor over non-emotionally invested attempts at "getting followers" or "getting rewards." You should want the rewards. You should want a fucking ton of rewards. And the reason you should want them is BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF IS GOOD, and valuable TO YOU.
3. Embrace the Community.
I made a post just yesterday about the importance of community. It's no different here on Steem. The more value you put in, the more you will get back, and then some. Beyond the monetary rewards you will meet new people, be exposed to new and challenging ideas, and really start to understand the beauty and nature of your own unique and individual tribe. The community who is drawn to you via your passion will be there for you more than you can imagine when it comes to encouragement and support, and this includes financial support via resteems, upvotes, and the like.
Well, I guess that is about all I have to say.
Sometimes I have (reluctantly) been flagging commentors who repeat post "vote for me" comments several times on the same post, without once mentioning my post's content. I think a verbal notice about the nature of the platform as a kind of heads up for these users is a good thing to do, prior to dropping the "Flag bomb." The ones who are really here to dig in will understand, and as they are rewarded for putting out higher and higher quality content, their content will improve, and you will have a new community member backing you with more and more Steem Power, in the future.
Get in there, fucking pour your guts out (even to the point of scaring yourself, at times), and Steem on.
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)
I concur with your advice @kafkanarchy84. I almost stopped using steemit.chat because lots of newbies there begging for upvote and asking you to follow them when they don't even have a content that I am interested in. Posts like this will really help many newbies.
Thanks for sharing
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Disclaimer: I am just a bot trying to be helpful.
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Verry well said my friend.. When I can't write anything I'm better off not writing honestly.. Just commenting is good enough by itself to some extent of you are a beginner.
Great post and much love :)
-Goldie ❤︎
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I did on my anti follower-for-follower post a few days ago, still stand behind it though! I'm glad people sometimes share these kind of things. Some newer members really don't know any better and actually appreciate these posts.
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As a newbie to this site, thank you for the sincere advice. You mentioned community and that's one part of Steemit that I love. It's extremely positive and support-minded here.
Regards,
Eitsky
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Nice. UPvoted
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Good article thanks, as a new member I'm realising it's going to be a very long road but am prepared to stick with it , and I'll be the first to admit I have to improve A LOT cheers mike
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Great article @kafkanarchy84 I couldn't agree more. I'm fairly new, 4 days in as of now and even I'm already starting to get annoyed with people shamelessly begging for followers and upvotes without providing any value in their content.
Growing your following organically is tough and slow moving at first but I think the only way to really "GET IT" and maintain. Plus it guarantees that those following you are actually interested in what you have to share/say.
Awesome article!
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Couldn't agree more. Thanks for this comment!
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I love this. I am a super noob when it comes to steem. Still learning the ropes and what to do , as well as what NOT to do.
I'm honestly LOVING steem. I find interesting people all over the globe who have the same or similar world views, and they are posting quite often, so every time I login, there's something of value to read, to think about and to discuss.
There's no ad or other kak you don't want to see that has been shared by someone your only "friends" with because you were in preschool together.
There's no distant aunt asking when you're gonna have kids on your photo of whatever.
It's great.
I like your vibe 🤘🏽
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Cheers, @princessmewmew, glad to know ya.
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🤘🏽pleasure. I really like your posts
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Hello, kafkanarchy84!
Can I translate your post to Korean and share it with the link with my KR community?
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Sure, feel free. Thanks✨
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i don't feel you are being pompous at all. i've only been here for 2 days, but i'm already annoyed by people who do this. still, i understand how tough it is to start from scratch as many are just looking for ways to get more exposure.
but there are
rightbetter ways to do this, which don't make you look like an ass to the authors of the posts you are plugging on. at least read through their content and leave some feedback on it, and then if your own post is somehow related or relevant, then go ahead and share it. or at least try to build a connection first instead of going straight for the jugular.thanks for the tips!
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good advice
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Very worthy post my friend
I can imagine the big players are spammed regularly with Please this and that replies.
Must be a pain in the ass but, ( that's what the mute button is for ).
Thanks for sharing this Important information to the eager beavers LOL
Cheers
P.S. I Love the begger photo, LMAO :-)
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I agree a 100% with you. Although self promotion and promotion in general are very important to get a bigger audience, begging for votes or 'trading' your vote for others' votes will harm your image and shows you're not genuinely interested in contributing to the community.
You should upvote what seems valuable to you and you'll have to accept that succeeding on here takes effort.
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Yep. That's it. And also, like you say, it is great to promote your stuff and ask for help. It just won't work by cheap follow trading and not engaging others, while asking them for favors. I am really, really grateful for those who have helped me.
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I admire and respect your honesty in voicing out about the less desirable behaviour of some steemers! I'm a 2nd day steemer here and I totally agree on the importance of original and genuine content of value. I think no matter which platform people go, it's important to remember that people and connections are at the crux of everything which goes here. Kudos! 🙏
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I am in the community for about two weeks now. You are probably right about everything. But sometimes when you put a great effort on writing a decent article with your personal experience doesn't mean you will be liked. People tend to reach mainly the so called "whales", and sometimes an article with almost no info and written with no passion gets a huge amount of upvotes and comments, while the ordinary people's ones stay with no interest at all.
Anyway, I agree with you! Best wishes :)
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Yes, that's the free market here on Steem, and it can be extremely frustrating at times, I agree.
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It's all new to me, including the putting the "passion" into a written article.
I guess we have to step out of our comfort zones --- a little.
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I try to bring forth real information to the Community whether i get paid or not. It's all about going back and read your own post and be comfortable with the information you put out, imo. I'm now working on getting more original materials out so i'm taking notes and following more experienced Steemers like yourself. Thanks for the advice bro. One Love.
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This is so true.
The greatest way to grow on steem is to be passionate about it and not purely do it so you have any financial gain. That is just a bonus of interacting with a great community.
Thanks for this post!
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Is very real what you write, and I do not see what would upset somebody. And I receive requests from time to time to vote or pursue someone. For me to vote or watch someone is something that comes naturally if I'm interested in something and I like watching and voting because I feel like doing it. Success does not come overnight, though for some it seems easy, it's not easy. Here on the platform as in real life the value counts.
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well said...
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I'm new here too, but, from my experience on 500px.com (where i was there by more than 3 years, and where there is a voting system, that don't differ to much from here, to gain popularity), i have to say that i hate too who begs for voting just because, thank you for this article, i will use it in case someone, will ask in my articles, things like that.
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Man, I admit, you are right! Is important to keep your self-esteem!!'
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I am glad that someone wrote this article and emphasize on begging for votes. This platform will only be successful in the future if we balance the monetary part of it. Otherwise it will be just any other social media platform.
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Good posting for steem users!! Pour your heart into it!! I will follow u~
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Great article. However, I see a problem that new users face, myself included. As more and more people join the platform, your posts get buried in the "New" because so many people create content. Standing out is extremely difficult in my opinion, so it's totally understandable why so many newbies ask for upvotes, resteems, etc. Nevertheless, I do believe that perseverance and hard work will land you some followers, and ultimately, rewards, in the future. That's why I try my best to come up with something that is valuable to the community.
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I don't think asking for votes or follows is wrong at all. I just think there are good and not so good ways to do it. I hear you. There are a lot of new users. There was an influx when I started as well.
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Thanks for sharing with us!
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I completely agree with your post. As I am also a beginner on Steemit, but I have never asked for any upvote or following by commenting on other people's post. I know I have a lot to work on and I am determined to do so.
I am day trader of cryptocurrency , I have skills, I have knowledge and I have patience. Most important I have content in which people would be interested in. I would never ask for upvote because I know if people would like my content, they would definitely upvote for me. I have faith in my abilities.
Anyways Thanks anayways, it was really a great post.
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Your words totally make sense. I love #2 most. Cheers
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I fully agree, there's nothing more off putting than someone begging for upvotes or spamming low quality content. What made me stay on this site was the caring nature of people here, it's a world away from the majority of social media. I've been trying to be genuine (even if I can be opinionated sometimes) and it seems to be slowly paying off.
Really love your steemit confessional post, it resonated with me a great deal.
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I am extremely grateful I started creating content a looong time ago and I made a lot of mistakes back then, because that taught me pretty much how you can build a community and get something out of that on almost all the websites.
It's a simple recipe that you posted on your article too:
Creating high quality content and try to put as much value in it for the user as you can.
Treat well your users and followers, and care about them, because they are the core of your content.
Mind your business, do your job, and don't beg for rewards. Money will, eventually, come.
I love your post, and other posts like this because I always get a "yeah, so I'm doing the right thing" feeling when I read something like this.
One you learn that content is what matters, and that the value you put in it is the thing that gets you the rewards you seek, things get way easier.
You'll understand all you have to do is to spend time creating and working on something great, instead of begging for upvotes, likes, comments, followers, etc.
It's funny how there are so many people online, even here, on Steemit, that post a few times a day "articles" that contain only a picture and maybe a little bit of text, and they complain why they don't make any money.
Great posts, really like it, keep up the good work! :)
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Amazing post friend, thanks for sharing. But actually, I still wish I could get a fucking ton of rewards on my posts because they so damn are fucking good :)
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Thanks for your sharing, I started could of weeks ago, it's absolutely amazing web ever that I could talk with all around the world.:)
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Absolutely agree with the first point (well, I agree with them all but...); it get's real old when people comment on your post just to advertise their own post. I don't mind if it's relevant to what I was sharing or talking about, that's actually pretty savvy cross-advertising in a sense, but when it's completely unrelated, it's just shameless peddling.
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Your worth to the community is where it's at... You want steemdollars? Then contribute yourself to make it happen.
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i'm new to the community and i really appreciate this kind of advice. it's good to know and respect the etiquette.
thanks
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I actually got a vote beggar to upvote this hahahaha
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You and I seem to be on the same wave length Graham. Posting about similar topics around the same time frame. This is how I phrased it https://steemit.com/steemit/@intothewild/guidelines-for-new-members-my-suggestions-minnows-listen-up but yours is maybe even better said. Nice work!
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Yes I see your point but, is there really a right way? I would never beg for a vote though.
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Just my opinion, of course.
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Of course! Everyone is going to blog and post in different styles. It's nice to see different types of post so it doesn't get boring.
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Nothing like a candid post !!
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