I think quality is where votes should be. Reality is that until there is a huge following, there will not be much visibility to make a difference. Key is to make post short and simple until there is a huge following. I put a lot of work into understanding the reward system and creating illustrations. It really didn't pay off. I even paid for votes to get visibility, and that didn't work. I need to stick to my very simple blogs for now until I get a following.
It does help that folks commented and liked the work. At least I got that.