Transform Your Posts from Average to Excellent Quality

^source

---

Introduction of power-up clubs have helped strengthen STEEM. In my opinion, the bearish trend, we have been witnessing could be worse but the great drop in selling percentage of STEEM has resisted the price to go down further.

Having said that, the clubs contributed to one negative thing as well. When the whole focus was shifted to power ups and generating dolphins, somewhere the quality of the posts was getting compromised. I believe, It was unintentional and this outcome hadn't been foreseen by anyone.

I won't name anyone here, but giving my own example - my whole focus that was previously on creating valuable content was greatly distracted by the power-ups. I like building my account but I wasn't liking the lack of productivity that I could feel emanating from my content.

Users tend to follow the trends, wherever the rewards go, they also shift there.

For instance, when big votes were given in SCA, everyone was seen doing crypto homework; when power-ups were rewarded, everyone started making power-up posts; an appreciative comment on one of the #mytownintenpics post has encouraged many people to write in that tag. In short, I believe, Steemit team is a trendsetter. It controls the trends(content) indirectly.

I was really happy to see the response of curator01 on @papi.mati's comment about lack of quality content. I am hoping making quality post would be a new trend now.

---

Curator01 highlighted few elements that could greatly improve a post. I am going to further explain how can these be done and facilitate newbies with a useful guide.

---

• Caption the Images

---

Adding captions to the images, give an insight or more knowledge about the image. Like if you posted a picture of any place, it would be good if you add its name, general location and w3w code of exact location. For example, below is the picture of Badshahi mosque, see how I captioned it.

^{Badshahi Mosque - Lahore, Pakistan
source, w3w code}

---

If you add a picture of your meal, name the dish in caption. If you add a picture of yourself doing cooking or working, caption it briefly explaining what you are doing.

If you add a picture from Internet, first make sure it's copyright free and then add it's source in the caption.

^{Architecture - source}

---

I prefer to write my captions in superscripts to make it look simple and less crowded. If you don't know how I did it, here's the markdown code of one caption.

---

• Proofread Text

---

A post with so many typing mistakes, spelling and grammatical errors, immediately loses the interest of audience. Make it your habit to read your post at least two times before publishing it. Read it carefully and correct all the typing errors.

Use tools like Grammarly, to correct spelling and grammar errors.

Write in a language that you know well. Here I want to address Pakistanis...

English is official language of Pakistan and sometimes considered status symbol which is a wrong practice. Urdu is our national language. It is completely okay, if you have limited knowledge about English; write your posts in Urdu. Each language is respected on Steemit, no one will judge you if you write your national or even mother language. But you will be judged, if you write a language with poor grammar as it makes difficult for others to understand.

Your post becomes valuable when others are benefitted from it not by some specific language. Remember, language is just a way of communication and it should be like that always. Keep the communication simple and easy.

---

• Standardize Image Size

---

Try to use a standard size of images in your posts. I personally prefer to use landscape images with aspect ratio 16:9. This is your personal choice but I prefer to use this size. You can easily change/edit the aspect ratio of an image by going to the crop option in your phone. Here's an example of landscape style image.

^{Legos - source}

---

You can also align images to right or left of the text. It is not possible to use only landscape images so to adjust portrait images beautifully in a post, you can align those too.

Here's the code for alignment.

If there are more than one portrait style images that are related, you can fit them in a row as well. Example,

Portrait#1 - source	Portrait#2 - source

---

• Make Your Post Valuable

---

All above points were about making your post visually good. Now let's talk about adding some value.

Steemit is a social media and blogging site. I believe if we want good traction to our blog then we can't just post whatever we like. A successful blogger always keeps in mind his/her audience. Before creating content, always think of your audience.

Note that, I am not asking you to post about sports when you only like arts. Choose your niche wisely, the topic you actually like and have enough knowledge about.

Then decide how you are going to create content in that niche by keeping in mind your audience.

For instance, you like writing diaries. A traditional diary is more of a monologue or a personal thing. But #thediarygame of Steemit has different dynamics. Your diary here is read by dozens of people so a monologue or a rant on day's events wouldn't be enough or valuable to others.

How can I add value to my diary?

Add knowledge. Like papi.mati said, if you are posting pictures of flowers from your garden, it would be better if you caption them with names or some information about them that might be knowledgeable for others. Don't think that everyone must know about this flower so no need to tell them. If something is commonly known in your area then it doesn't mean that it's known by rest of the world. Marigolds are common in India and Pakistan but there's a chance that an Aussie has never seen them. So it can be knowledgeable for him.

Adding facts and information increase the value of a post. If there are no facts to be mentioned, try to create relevancy for your readers.

Just in keep in mind to add something in there for your audience which can keep them hooked to your post.

---

• Write in simple and easy language - Use Layman words

---

As Steemit is a blogging site so it should be a little on the casual side. From casual I mean, a personal touch to every post and use of simple and easy language.

For instance, if you write a post about technology then it shouldn't look like pages from a book or like a very formal research paper. There are tons of articles waiting on internet, a click away. Most of them have gibberish terms which can't be understood by common people.

So what can make your article standout is the easy language, practical and personal examples, information presented in a way that even a non-tech person can also get the gist. This strategy will also ensure widest reach and good engagement on your posts.

---

There are many other factors that make a post quality one but that's it for now. If someone has any relevant questions or counter arguments, please drop a comment.

---

Regards,
event-horizon