Last week we took a trip to the museum and I'm now in the middle of optimizing some of those photos for (hopefully) a future blog post. Since I don't have a DSLR or a high-end iPhone, I make do with what I've got. I don't own Photoshop and am not a wizard with their software, playing around with Gimp and other photo editors will have to do for now. So tweaking each image takes quite awhile for me, thus the delay.

In the meantime, I wanted to share my thoughts on the types of blogs that have an impact no matter what their HP/LP size is.

Blogs That Educate

In the year that I spent lurking on Steemit from spring-ish 2016 until I decided to join in July, 2017, I used that time to do my homework on the platform. There were a number of small blogs back then where I learned the basics of blogging on the blockchain. They explained how best to format your posts, which is why I justify my text so that it looks more professional.

They were also where I saw the benefits of not having an image credit as the first text of an article. There were many examples of "image source pexels" leading off the text, instead of working towards the keywords and phrases the author was actually aiming for in his piece. That's why you now see my source credits at the bottom of the post, or I have the first image after the first paragraph so as not to interfere with SEO when Google scans the site.

Take a minute to look around Hive and LeoFinance, and you will see a number of authors who have their lead-off line as an image credit. If you're blogging about DeFi, you likely didn't intend to send a signal to Google that you were blogging about Pixabay, right? So those early blogs that pointed that out to me were critical in helping me to optimize for the search engines at the very start.

Remember when Cub was starting out and people were confused about how to get involved with this exciting new opportunity? It was difficult at the beginning, but numerous Hive bloggers and the stalwarts over at LeoMarketTalk pitched in with informative articles and tutorials explaining it all step-by-step.

And it's that responsive nature of Hive on the blockchain that should make any joining decision easy. We see concrete examples that if you run into an issue, the community has resources available to come to your assistance. On Hive, you're never alone, #HiveFixesThat.

Blogs That Inspire

Around the time that I joined what became Hive back in July, 2017, a respected member lost access to his blog. I don't remember all of the details, but what I do recall was the response of the community in helping him gain access back.

Upon hearing about what happened to him, key members dove in and began helping in any way they could. The author was devastated of course, and we were all concerned that he might lose everything he'd contributed thus far in helping to build the platform. Yet a few days late all was resolved, much to his delight, and the wider community as well.

The all-hands-on-deck response really inspired me to keep going in those early days when no one was seeing my posts (gotta pay your dues!) :) Reading those blog posts of everyone working together for the common good informed me that I had indeed found my new home.

I could never have imagined this happening on Blogger with their cumbersome reporting process, where I'd written a few years prior. Something this wonderful could only happen on Hive, for those lacking hope and inspiration, #HiveFixesThat.

Blogs That Uplift

We've all seen accounts of people who've lost a loved one and shared that on Hive. The support is heartfelt and genuine, and I've seen countless times where a person was going through a personal trial and didn't have to wait long for someone to reach out to them. It happens all of the time.

Not to mention the lifeline that Hive has become on those trying to better their situation and live a better life. One only has to look at the great nation of Ghana, and what I've dubbed the Hive Boreholes Of Hope project.

Here we have our brothers utilizing the power of Hive to bring clean, lifegiving water to communities that need it the most. They saw a problem and went to work leveraging community support to enrich the lives of others.

But that's just one example. There have been countless reports of lives being changed for people trapped in seemingly hopeless situations. From our brothers in Nigeria, throughout Central and South America, Asia, and right here in the USA. Everyone pays it forward, and many of these accounts are first shared on "little" blogs that might remain unseen anywhere else for those that are down and need a little help, #HiveFixesThat.

So it isn't the size of your blog that matters, its how you "work that thang" that counts. :) When I arrived here in 2016 everyone started at zero. Which is why I have so much respect for those of you that were willing to put skin in the game early on. Your success inspires me as well. Its been a pleasure to see the growth not only of the platform as it evolved, but in the people as well. I had all but given up on blogging again after seeing my work copied and stolen on Blogger.

Then crypto started up, and one day I thought "wouldn't it be nice if a way could be found to combine blogging and crypto?" never in my wildest dreams expecting it to actually happen. The days of working for clicks on ads with content I'd written, but didn't fully own. Seeing my hard work and research going to benefit somebody else. Those days are long gone because: #HiveFixesThat. :)