Strategies to Increase Your Payouts on Steemit
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, let me mention that if there are Steemit questions you have that I don't hit on, take a look at Pied Pipers Blog. He one of the best I've seen in both quantity of topics and quality!
Sort of a Slot Machine
Now I know it's been said over and over to not focus on the money and that is absolutely correct. Do you go to the casino, place your bet on a slot machine, and get upset when you don't win on the first spin? NO! It's great and exciting when it happens, but it is by no means expected. Steemit is the same way in that you need the mind set of making multiple spins of the wheel to increase the payout probability, which is never guaranteed.
More Like Blackjack
Now we all know there really isn't a strategy to slot machines outside of the bet amount and spin, spin, spin since the game is essentially randomized without a way to change your odds. Steemit is a bit different in the you DO have ways to change your odds of payout. Let's use blackjack as an example. The basic card counting method in blackjack tells you to keep a running total in your head, starting at zero, and every time you see a low card (2 through 6) add +1 and a high card (10, J, Q, K, A) a -1. The main idea without getting to in depth is that when your count is high, there is a higher chance of the dealer busting, hence increasing your chance to win. So when the count is high, the you would make higher bets and when low, lower bets. Again this doesn't guarantee that each hand is a winner, or even a set of hands, but you are still effectively moving the odds for payoff in your favor.
Psychology of Others
Steemit is similar in this sense that YOU have ways to increase the odds in your favor. For instance, you've just spend days working on your masterpiece article, and you post it up with the headline 'My thoughts' with a pretty sunset picture. What were gambling on here is the likelihood that someone will click your post, read and upvote it, and have enough steem power to make a monetary difference. Do you click on things titled 'my thoughts?' No? What about the headline of 'My most profound AH-HA moment,' with a profound Alex Grey image. Grab you a little more? My point here is that if you put yourself in the shoes of other general users (not just whales) you can begin to see what could have a better chance at grabbing your audience. If someone doesn't open your article, the quality of content inside is really moot.
Strategic Marketing Your Self and Your Article
1. Think hard on the Headline and the first picture in your post (since this is what shows in the thumbnail in lists.) You want it to grab your target audience based on the topic you discuss, such as 'How I became a better person without religion.' Look for something that either answers a question or shares something honest and personal. We are all human beings on here (outside the bots, but they help you) so try to connect with people through your writing and find a headline and image (with a labeled for reuse commercially licence) that invoke some sort of intellectual curiosity or emotional response. None of this changes you content, just how it's presented to entice some one to click and read further, maybe even comment or upvote.
2. The first rule of fight club is to never talk about fight club! That's how I view the money aspect on steemit. When I produce, it's something I honestly care about and want to share with the world or get feedback on. My niche concepts such as utopia, or psychological betterment are really important to me. I think and discuss these things regardless of making money or even prior to hearing about steemit ( @winstonwolfe @jazzyfish @giftedgaia and other can attest to this since I've talked their ears off over the years.) If something is truly a passion and important to you, you're going to do them anyway. So why not take that mentality and if you make money off it, great, if you don't, well, you were going to do it anyway in some form, so why should it bother you.
3. After post marketing is an important piece many users seem to miss. Just because your article has been posted, doesn't mean that it will even get seen in the new or active lists. There is so much content posted every second that it is IMPOSSIBLE for everything to be seen this way. Things can snowball once your post garners some attention but to get the ball rolling I recommend a few strategies.
--When you run across someone else with a post that you like on a similar topic, include something such as 'Hey, I was just thinking about the same thing! I'd love to hear your thoughts,' and leave a link to your post. You're not asking for money, you're not just leaving a business card, but rather actually made a connection with someone and want to continue the discussion or get feedback. You do need to make sure that you preface this in your reply with a meaningful, genuine response to this other persons post. Simply putting 'I upvoted you, so upvote me' doesn't get you very far and is honestly quite annoying. DON'T BE THAT GUY!
--Share your post to other social media platforms to try drawing them in. Not only are you potentially furthering your own post, but the community as a whole by bringing in new users.
--Goto steemit.chat! You are automatically included in the general and postpromotion channels there. The general channel (which is just for chatting, not posting your article link) can allow you to make that personal connection with others and let you look at their blogs, sometimes finding interesting topics to reply to (and include link to your post.) In the postpromotion channel you can leave the link to your post for exposure. You don't need very much attention to get the ball rolling and get into on the hot or stay in the active pages. Try not to re-post your link more than once every half hour, to not be spammy.
--Try to start discussions with people. While the comment of 'great post' is supportive, there's really not much to say in response other than 'thank you.' Try to add some value to the topic by giving your take, or better yet ask a question. When talking about things your honestly passionate about, it is about being BETTER rather than RIGHT. And after all your connecting with other people that are sharing their thoughts, passions or souls.
Conclusion
Remember that all of this is like the black jack analogy. Every post you make is a GAMBLE on generating money. You won't win every hand but by enacting some strategy you can increase the odds in your favor over time