I have only been on Steemit for less than a week and have already made over $30,000. But, as I pointed out in my last article, the great majority of that success on Steemit has come from decades of work and being a well known writer (who knows how to write things that people will want to read) and a large worldwide following.
I've since seen thousands of people joining Steemit after hearing my story with the expectation that they'll make a fortune from just one post... and then I've seen dozens of people posting that they didn't make anything and are disillusioned.
I've asked a few of them to send me their post... and when I see their post I immediately see why it received no traction.
For that reason, I am writing a list of tips I have learned in my short time on the site to improve your post earnings. And many of these are tips that I have learned over 20 years in the internet publishing industry:
1. IMAGES
I recently spoke to a whale whisperer. A whale is someone with a lot of Steem Power (a person who can make your post go from a dark alley to the shining lights on Broadway). I call him a "whisperer" because he is not a whale but is what they call a "curator" and he directly communicates with many whales trying to let them know which post deserves their attention.
He told me that a post with no images will likely get passed over unless it is written by Kanye West, himself. You know, Yeezy... he's the best... or so he always says.
Steemit is still in beta and so functionality is still fairly lacking, although they seem to improve it daily. There isn't even a "preview" option before putting up your post. So you should spend some time researching how to use the "Submit a Story" feature.
I've personally had numerous problems figuring out how to post images properly. But, I think I've got a short term solution until functionality improves.
Images are NOT uploaded directly onto the blockchain (probably to conserve space), so you need to upload your image somewhere else first.
For now I've been uploading images to https://postimg.org. Once uploaded, copy the text in the "Hotlink for Website" field and paste it into your post (if anyone has a link to a better image tutorial please place in comments below).
[EDIT: @cryptoctopus a Steem veteran says Steemimg.com is the best place]
Take time to figure out how to nicely add images to your post and choose images that add to the story, not just for decoration. And, even better, create your own custom images that directly relate to your article.
If you have no images in your post, don't expect it to do well.
2. FORMATTING
One person complained that their post got $0 and I asked to see the post. It was one big long paragraph of scrawling text that went on for pages like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls or something. It didn't even have a paragraph break! I almost had a seizure looking at it!
Posting something like that to Steemit and complaining nobody liked it is like going to an art museum and throwing a box of crayons on the floor and then being upset that no one (except super avante garde people who will think it is genius) liked it.
Notice how my post is quite easy to read? Notice how the paragraphs aren't massive and won't scare you from even wanting to read it?
Ya, do that.
3. BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE
Many people come to Steemit and don't know anyone here. They haven't been on the site for a period of time and have cultivated a following or even posted good comments to other's articles to gain exposure.
And then they post and no one sees it and they get sad.
This, again, is like deciding you want to unveil your new sculpture, walking out into the desert and unveiling it and being shocked no one saw it.
Just like anything, you have to cultivate a following.
And the best way to do that is to use your other social media to tell all your friends, family and followers that you are now on Steemit and ask them to come over and join you and upvote your posts.
And, if you are already on Facebook, and only have 50 friends, and when you post on Facebook you get 2 likes, why would you think it'd be any different here?
4. WRITE SOMETHING INTERESTING
If you write a post entitled, "I Painted My Fence This Weekend" and it, literally, just tells of how you painted your fence this weekend...... why would you expect anyone to care?
Now, if you were painting your fence and you nearly electrocuted yourself and you realized life is precious and it changed you... there you go!
Nearly everyone has some interesting stories. And, if you don't, you should really get out there in the world and do something interesting. Really.
Girls won't even like you if you have never done anything but get a high score once on Halo 5.
5. CONSISTENCY
I began writing The Dollar Vigilante in 2010. My first blog post was seen by NO ONE. The next few were basically the same. But after a few weeks of writing daily it began to slowly grow. I remember saying once, in late 2010, to my wife, "Wow, 15 people subscribed to my blog today!"
Now, after six years of writing EVERY DAY, hundreds of thousands see each blog. And now, those 15 people per day who signed up to my free blog are 15+ per day who sign up to our paid service.
It was a slog for years but I knew I had something important to say and I knew eventually people would catch on.
It did and now The Dollar Vigilante is the fastest growing financial newsletter in the world and, when I come on Steemit, I get instant traction.
6. WHY YOU SHOULD BE ON STEEMIT EVEN IF YOU CAN'T WRITE AND HAVE NO FRIENDS
If you've never written so much as a blog post and don't have the aptitude for it then you probably will never make a lot of money on Steemit. You may make money in other ways, by upvoting good posts as a curator. Or making good, added value comments on other people's posts.
However, that still should not keep you off of Steemit.
Steemit has the potential to absolutely revolutionize social media. I will be making a future post about all its potential.
But, let's just say that of all the people I have introduced to Steemit so far, the most common comment is, "I don't see any reason to even go on Facebook anymore."
And we are still VERY early. Hardly anyone even knows about it yet... but they will!
Once people on Facebook and Twitter find out they can do the exact same thing they are doing there AND make money doing it (as opposed to FB and Twitter making all the revenue from their following), EVERYONE will be here.
I give it 6 months before this place is massive. I even think at some point Facebook will have to adapt and pay users for popular posts or die.
And you can be here before 99.9999% of others, already understand how it works and already be doing all the right things to increase your Steem and Steem Power so when the site gets really big you will profit even more.
And, not to mention, Steemit is virtually censorship proof. That's why we've seen so many liberty activists move here already. They've been shut down on Twitter (Milo Yiannopolous), on Facebook (@lukewearechange) and Google Ads has made it so places like antiwar.com cannot generate revenue from their large following.
At the very least, you can say, 1-2 years from now, when Steemit is bigger than Facebook and Twitter, "I was one of the first there."
CONCLUSION
If you follow the simple tips above you should generate some good income from your work over time.
And, if you REALLY want to improve your chances, spend time researching every facet of how Steemit works. I've been doing it for days and it is incredibly interesting... but you'll have to spend a lot of time and effort to do so.
Nothing in life comes easy. Barry Bonds didn't just do a gargantuan amount of steroids one day and all of a sudden he was knocking balls out of the park while people threw money at him. He spent days, weeks, months and years of working on it... and doing a gargantuan amount of steroids.
Steemit has given us all a gift. It has created a platform whereby, if we work hard and hone our skills, we can make money from our efforts here.
But if you post a 3 page article with no paragraphs and no pictures about how you painted your fence and told none of your friends about it and didn't promote it on your other social media platforms and you got $0... you now know what to do.
At least put up a picture of the fence!
