3 Things Minnows Should be Doing to Build Audience and Rewards, Dolphinschool is in session!

So, you're new to Steemit and you're not happy because you haven't gotten your first $1000 payout yet? Well, that's okay, there's still time. With Steem still riding at all time high prices, (well, shortly under them, but still, wow!) you'll have plenty of opportunity to snap one up. In the meantime, what should you be doing to get ready?

First, Establish your "Brand"

Whatever you think about the top paid posters, notice one thing. All of them, to a profile, are branded. What do I mean by that? Well, many of them have had design work done to make all of their posts appear alike. That's smart. Here are three other things to consider.

  • Choose a topic, or style and stick to it! I found that my fiction did best here, so I share it consistently.
  • Build rapport by responding to comments and upvoting and commenting where it makes sense.
  • Keep the platform in mind. It does no good to insist your audience should love something they don't. Create your content to suit the audience.

Next, put up your best content, each time, every time

Give your best. I had a comment yesterday asking if we should consider saving our best content until we have an audience. No! Give your best every time. Don't hold back. Unless you're publishing on more than one platform, and some of your work is dedicated somewhere else, bring your A game to each post.

  • If you're not a practiced writer, take your time. Revise and rehash until it's just right.
  • Edit for spelling and grammatical errors as best you can. Even if English is not your first language, programs like Grammarly can help.
  • Use quality images and do some typesetting. I use a program called MarkdownPad2 to set up my posts in HTML before I paste them into the site.

Finally, promote your work

You can use other social media sites, find other users willing to resteem you, tag your work with @ mentions to attract other users, whatever it takes. Do it often and early. Don't worry about cries of "spamming" unless you're inboxing, promoting on other users posts, or otherwise doing things that would annoy you if someone did it to you, keep on.

  • Steem chat has channels to promote all types of work. I've gotten votes there before.
  • Discord is a great place to connect with other users.
  • Facebook has many groups dedicated to Steemit users.

Follow this pattern with every post and you'll soon see your rewards growing. Like what you see? Share it, upvote it, follow me for more, but mostly, leave me a comment, especially if you have questions.

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Great tips i agree 100%. You need to give your best every time in every post

Yes, this should hold true in our comments and upvotes too. Look for the good of the platform and the platform will, in turn, take good care of you.

It helps if you follow someone like me that might actually upvote you.

Well, your upvote would be welcome.

It sucks being new and barely able to vote. :( 15 more minutes until I can vote again. lol

Yeah, the rules on that have changed a bit since I got here. there were very loose voting limits in the beginning. I wish they'd allow at least 25 full power votes in each cycle to help balance out the whale's voting power.

The new people should probably be able to vote at least twice as much. That's part of the fun of this site is being able to vote.

Hi, this is a really useful post so thank you. I appreciate you must be very busy but if you get chance it would be great if you could cast your eye over my blog. I’m not after upvotes or a follow just some constructive criticism based on your experience. Many thanks and please keep up the posts. Glad I found them.

I will be happy to stop by and leave a comment or two. If your content is good, I'm happy to give you an upvote. Mine is not worth a fortune at the moment, but it's on the way back up.

Thank you very much. Upvotes are obviously much appreciated but constructive criticism will be more valuable in the long run.

I left a comment on one of your latest posts about drone footage in content. I addressed the things I mentioned in today's dolphinschool post.

Great tip on establishing your ‘brand’. I hope to achieve this

Yes, you established this right off the bat, exactly what you were going to talk about. Here's something I'd suggest, find a format you can repeat, every week, or as often as you like, maybe five hot tips, or five things you didn't know about horses, etc. I think consistent formatting has helped me too.

Thanks for the useful and practical tips that all of us can benefit from! I've resteemed your post.

Thanks again JC! Glad you're finding it useful. Now, if I could get as many votes as I do comments and views, I'd be happy! LOL

Thanks @markrmorrisjr! It helps that we're reminded of these often. I've found that the problem with most minnows is actually a lack of patience. We should be ready to wait while we put the work in.

Thanks again!

Well, if you're content is quality, and you consistently post on topics of interest, you may be surprised how short the wait is.

Thanks for that. Very encouraging. :)

Great post, and thanks for helping out us minnows and redfish. Some useful tips there. I will have a look into that MarkdownPad2 you speak of. Resteemed.

YES! I love markdown pad. One of the best tools I've found. I tried several different ones, even a couple of paid markdown tools that just didn't work as well. This one feels more like a word processor, so it's comfortable for me. I'm pretty tech savvy for an older guy, but I have my limits.

I love all your tips especially for a newbie like me, I came into steemit without any knowledge about it, It was just introduce to me by a groupchat, because she was earning a lot so I dive into steemit without any idea on what to do and the result I gain nothing and almost giving up.
Thank you for all your tips.
@ra-moon-ra I hope someone wants to follow a newbie like me and I am welcoming everybody to evaluate and correct my errands.

Hey thanks for the great comment! Yeah, there's a lot to learn here, for sure. By the way, I think you meant, "Correct my errors" but, hey, I can barely write one language and you are learning another! Good for you my friend! Keep it up!

Great insights, @markrmorrisjr! Thanks for consistently helping others improve!