I can understand your plight and the feeling of being discouraged at the sight of not getting noticed. The best advice I can give you (and all new minnows) is too not spend too much time trying to make the most amazing and well put article you can (when you only have a few followers). As you have experienced, they fall through the cracks and not many people see them. Instead of doing that, start hammering down on commenting on established peoples posts that interest you. You will gain more followers and in turn, when you have a decent enough following, your posts will show up in their feed instead of falling down into the Steemit abyss. Hope this helps and best of luck!