Hi @jameslparis
I’d say welcome to the SteemIt bubble ;0)
The truth about SteemIt as it is now is that in order to make good money, you’ve got to have money, or you have to know the right people. No matter how good your content is, if you don’t have big bucks to promote it, your posts will be undervalued (unless you get curated by @curie, of course).
Most posts that are showing hundreds of Dollars underneath are simply posts of which most ‘earnings’ have been paid for by the author himself.

It is possible however to get a decent payout if you can attract the attention of the big guys somehow, or by building a huge network.

I believe networking is a very important factor in order to get your posts seen and upvoted.

It should be about the quality of one’s posts, but for now it’s more like a PPV system. I do think changes are coming, though. Not only is there an entire new generation of Steemians with a different mindset (which are now reputation 50-60, but will grow over time and gain more influence as their accounts grow bigger), but I’ve also noticed some awareness amongst bid-bot owners. For example, @sneaky-ninja is experimenting with an abuse policy, making sure no crappy posts are promoted with big bucks, which will hopefully lead to more rewards for people who post quality content.