Why Quality Content Isn’t Enough to Get Noticed and How to Make Sure You Are

Posting great content doesn’t guarantee upvotes, views or comments. Here’s why and how you can make sure you get noticed on Steemit

Not long ago I wrote a post about how to create quality contenton Steemit. In the comments, people were wondering why, after following all the suggestions, they still didn’t get views, upvotes or comments.

I understand. It’s frustrating. You put the time in to create an excellent quality post, and it just sits there alone like it showed up to a party that was already over.

To help understand why that happens - and how to avoid it - we first need to look at the big picture and ask the age-old existential question:

Why does Google exist and why do I need to care?

Of course, I’m referring to the modern age since the birth of the World Wide Web.

The Internet is a big place. Without Google we’d be lost, forever searching for the information we want - like those never ending hallways in nightmares (at least in the movies). To demonstrate, let’s look at some numbers:

• By the end of 2018, global IP traffic on the Internet will reach 1.6 zettabytes. That’s one and a half trillion gigabytes and then some. (Cisco)
• In May 2018, 87,216,886 posts were made on WordPress.com and websites using their JetPack Plugin. (Wordpress)
• There were 21,930,565,425 page views on websites using WordPress. (Wordpress)
• Tumblr has 419.1 million blogs and 161.5 billion posts (Tumblr)
  
  

These are just a few statistics from particular places that host blogs. It’s easy to imagine there are millions of more websites out there too, not just blogs.

If you put up a website or a blog, there’s an infinitesimal chance that anyone will ever see it. Unless you tell them to look. To do that you use techniques called search engine optimization (SEO) that help Google find your blog. You can also pay for advertising, so people see your site, or you can spread the word over social media.

Yes, Steemit is on the Internet

The Internet is the vast ocean that the little fish called Steemit (or Busy.org for that matter) lives in. That’s a helpful analogy, but what does that mean?

The chances of anyone seeing your blog post are still incredibly small. But don’t give up, I’ve got good news coming next.

According to the daily statistics published by @arcange, there are roughly 100,000 active Steemit users in May 2018. So the ocean isn’t as big as the entire Internet, but still big for just one person or post to be noticed.

The trending page was intended to help the posts that got the most interest to be shown. Theoretically, those posts are good quality content. Everyone knows that isn’t how it’s worked out. This post isn’t about that though, or how to fix it. The critical point is you can’t rely on your post hitting the trending page naturally. You could have written the best post ever seen by a human being, and it still won’t make the page without some intervention.

Just like on the “main” Internet, you can pay for advertising to get on the trending page, or just to get more money from upvotes. But using bots or upvote services is sometimes frowned upon. There are a lot of unwritten rules about how to use them, which one to use and when. But they can get you noticed, just like paying for ads on the Internet can drive traffic to your blog or web page.

But there’s a better, more feasible (and free) way to get your quality content noticed.

It’s a social network - be social.

Steemit and Busy.org are social networks. If you want to have people upvoting your content, commenting, and engaging with you, then you’ll need to spend some time being social. This doesn’t mean going on a vote-for-vote or follow-for-follow rampage. That kind of social interaction is likely to get you labeled as a bot or a spammer. Your chances of being successful on Steemit will diminish every time you post something like that.

If you’re making time to create quality content, make the time for quality social time too. You need to build your social network so people will realize that you’re here and creating quality content. Here are the types of things you can do to help grow your network:

• Write quality comments that show you’ve read the post (don’t just pick out a few words to make it look like you’ve read them). Be genuine and choose posts that interest you, not just ones from people with lots of Steem power.
• Respond to comments made on your posts or replies to the comments you’ve written. Remember these are real people (well, except for the bots but they’re easy to spot) who appreciate being appreciated and good conversation.
• There are many communities that have built Discord servers that allow better communication than just entering comments. Check the signature of the people you follow or are interested in and see if they say which ones they hang out in. Then join those servers and start chatting with the people there.
• Don’t be a post-promotion spammer. Most Discord servers I’ve seen also have a place to promote your posts. Read the rules of each server you join to find out where that is and how it works for that server. The people who spam their post into channels where they don’t belong, or just simply don’t follow directions, will not be welcomed and no one will read those posts.
• Be consistent. Do your best to post according to some consistent schedule, and also interact with people on Discord regularly.

Don't be discouraged

If your posts still aren't getting noticed, don't be discouraged. It can take time to build a social network, especially one that fits your interests. For example, I have some friends I've made since joining Steemit that I'll chat with on Discord. I'll support them on Steemit sometimes, but the truth is we are just interested in different things. Their posts are good quality, but I'm just not interested in reading them most of the time because I'm spending my time elsewhere. If I had infinite voting power, I'd still upvote them all the time, but I don't. That's why it's important to find a community who supports you and that you can support too over time.

If you follow the recommendations above, you'll be on your way to having your content noticed and your hard work appreciated.

@ntowl, The Night Owl Writer

“We have loved the stars too fondly to be afraid of the night.” - the old astronomer

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