As I near my one year anniversary on SteemIt I am reflecting on the past year of blogging, commenting, and upvoting. In this post I will reflect on my upvoting strategy and how it has evolved.
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Evolved to what I think is an upvoting strategy that is mutually beneficial and hopefully improves engagement.
Upvoting Everything of Interest to Me
When I started back in 7 August 2016 I upvoted on everything of interest to me. You could say I was upvote-happy. A fellow Steemian even said that they looked at my pattern of upvoting and accused me of being a "bot". I assured my fellow Steemian that I was flesh and blood. But that got me thinking about my upvoting strategy.
Upvoting High Earning Post to Capture Rewards
What was a minnow (one with little STEEM Power) to do? My next strategy was to upvote post of high earners on SteemIt. This strategy works if you time your upvote just right.
Early Days of SteemIt
When I joined SteemIt in August 2016 human upvoters were up against bots (voting bots). There was a simple rule that is still in effect today. The rule was the first to upvote a blog post that earns well gets the majority of the reward. The encouraged the use of voting bots that would swarm a post of a high earner as soon as it was posted.
Graph from Curation rewards explained in great detail
Discouraging bot Upvotes
A voting bot works very well, but to make it more challenging SteemIt added the 30 minute upvote rule that still exists today.
Graph from Curation rewards explained in great detail
Now if you upvote immediately after a blog post is posted, the author gets 100% of your curation reward. If you upvote at 15 minutes after a blog post is posted, then the author gets 50% of your curation reward.
This new rule made upvoting within 30 minutes after a blog post is posted an optimization problem that depended on your voting power and your total STEEM Power.
For a minnow this meant I was typically upvoting at least 15 minutes after a blog post is posted (especially if I thought it would earn a lot).
Upvoting After Accumulating STEEM Power
In my last anniversary post I showed how I accumulated STEEM Power over the last year. At first I was all about accumulating more STEEM Power, but after a while I felt an obligation to upvote in a way that was mutually beneficial to myself, curators of my posts and comments, and those who comment (engaging and sharing with me on my blog posts).
My Rules for Upvoting for Mutual Benefit
Most will think this is just too altruistic but I have come up with an upvoting routine that benefits myself and those who engage with my blog posts.
Monitoring Tools
Just before I start my routine I monitor my voting power and my STEEM blockchain with Steemd.com (just overwrite my username in the URL with your own to see your account). Next I check for any rewards that came in and claim them to increase my STEEM Power. Throughout my upvoting routine I monitor my voting power and do not let it drop below 88% on a typical day.
If you expend all of your voting power then it takes 5 days to regenerate to 100%. If I think I will not be upvoting for a long period of time, then I will run-down my voting power.
I do not like to let my voting power to be wasted, that is why I do not let it stay at 100% for too long.
Upvoting My Blog Posts
A blog post collects upvotes over 6.5 days. During the last 0.5 days only downvotes are allowed. (I do not down vote post, I leave comments instead of down voting.)
You will see most bloggers upvoting their posts immediately upon posting. This gives 100% of their upvote to themselves.
I typically collect upvotes on my blog posts between 0 and 3 days after posting. So I upvote one or two of my blog posts at 100% between 3 and 5 days old. Since I am usually the last person to vote on my blog posts, this gives some of my curation rewards to those who voted earlier on my posts. If none of my blog posts are between 3 and 5 days old, I move on to the next step.
Tip for those reading this, if you like my blog posts then upvote my blog posts between 0 to 3 days and I will increase your curation reward when I upvote between 3 to 5 days.
Tip for minnows, if you like my blog post, then upvote it between 28 minutes and 3 days. This should maximize your curation rewards on my posts.
Upvoting My Comments
Whether they are comments I make to your blog posts or responding to your reply, I upvote my comments at 25% between 3 to 5 days after they are posted. Many times no one has upvoted my comments. In these cases the curation rewards go to me. If none of my comments are between 3 to 5 days old, I move on to the next step.
Tip for those reading this, if you like my comments then upvote my comments between 0 to 3 days and I will increase your curation reward when I upvote between 3 to 5 days.
Upvoting Replies to My Blog Posts or Comments
Whether you reply to my blog posts or comments, I will upvote your replies between 0 to 5 days. The upvote percentage (typically between 1% to 10%) depends on the quality of your comment. If I still have plenty of voting power, I typically upvote replies at 10%. Depending on the STEEM price and the rewards pool, this is on the order of $.40 or better.
Tip for minnows, up your engagement on SteemIt and reply to my blog posts and comments. When I upvote your comments you not only get rewards, your reputation on SteemIt will also increase.
Supporting A Few Steemians that Produce Quality Content
@stephenkendal is a strong supporter of the SteemIt community and has organized a campaign to promote SteemIt awareness in England. @stephenkendal also produces technical analysis, commentary, and SteemIt statistics posts. I upvote all of the @stephenkendal blog posts and comments.
@me-tarzan also does technical analysis and statistics blog posts. I have been following @me-tarzan for as long as I can remember and really appreciate the SteemIt statistics posts. I try to upvote all of the @me-tarzan blog posts.
If my voting power is still above 88%, then I move on to the next step.
Perusing My Feed and Upvoting Posts I Like
Every does this I think, spending time perusing your feed, reading posts, and upvoting the ones you like.
Perusing the New Content on SteemIt
If my voting power is still above 88%, then I peruse the new content on SteemIt. I start are posts that are at least 25 minutes old and peruse the post back towards the younger post. This is entirely random. If after reading the post, I like, it then I upvote it. I especially like upvoting posts I like that have not earned anything yet.
And that is my voting routine and strategy.
Special Rewards
I also do special rewards from time to time.
Reaching a New Milestone of Followers
Each time I reach a new 100th milestone of followers, I look up the 100th follower in steemdb.com and reward that Steemian with STEEM Backed Dollars (SBD). For example, I am coming up to my 1300th follower. That lucky person will recieve $13 SBD. I plan to keep doing this for as long as it is feasible.
Rewarding Random Steemians Who Reblog (Re-Steem) My Blog Posts
From time to time, I will check to see who is reblogging my blog posts at steemdb.com. Pick a random person or two, visit there blog posts and upvote the ones I like that are still elgible for upvotes. It is a way to thank and reward them for reblogging my posts.
If You Have Read This Far...
If you are a minnow, I hope you will use my rules to up your engagement with my blog posts and earn more rewards.
If you are not a minnow, I hope you might adopt one or two of my rules to also mutually benefit those who engage with your posts.
For More Information See These Informative Posts and Support Their Authors
UPDATED Steemit FAQ - Section: "Voting"
Mind Your Votes! An investigation and guide to maximizing your Curation Rewards
Curation rewards explained in great detail