I hear a lot of complaints about newbies not getting people to see their posts. Not comments about it, complaints, even accusations against the platform. That means they think it SHOULD somehow be different.
I've experienced how hard it is to get new posts seen as a newbie myself. But for me, there is nothing to complain about.
That's because I've had blogs before, both on my own website and on Medium, plus guest blogging on other people's blogs. I know that when you're starting out on any blog you expect it to be crickets except for however much you promote your post by linking to it in other places or paying to promote it.
I think the thing with Steemit that makes people have a different expectation (so be disappointed) is that this is a mashup between a blog and social media. On your own website, you know no one is seeing your article if you don't drive them there to see it. But on Facebook, for example, you only joined because you had friends on there. So there was a ready made audience and the FB algorithm intentionally showed your posts to new friends a lot for quite some time.
Here on Steemit there is the expectation of an experience like FB because it is on a platform, not one's own website. But there is no algorithm here sending people to you! And for most of us there isn't a friend/family network already here to "introduce us around." Friends of friends aren't suggested for us to follow.
In general, it's a lot like having a blog on your own website, even though it's hosted on a platform. We should feel grateful we have the chance to have articles seen at all before we have collected a community of followers. That perspective will make us feel inspired when we see a stranger upvote our post, rather than deflated when we see we only made a couple pennies on an article we put a lot of work into.
Source: Pexels - Markus Spiske
The closest comparison to Steemit is Medium, where you blog on a shared platform. Have you ever blogged on Medium? If you have, you'll realize that you have to do a lot of work off Medium to drive people to your posts there. They are shown to strangers much less than on Steemit when you are first starting out. In fact, after over a year blogging on that platform, I still haven't figured out how to get much visibility. I've even joined prominent publications on there, but still my articles are seen by maybe 50 people in months! My comments on other people's highly visible posts get a ridiculous number of likes though, so I know that people like my content when they actually see it.
Contrast that with Steemit where within my first 10 articles I've been able to attract upvotes from many, many people I never knew before. I even have some friendships growing on here that I think will last a lifetime. And on top of all that, I actually get paid when people like my stuff!
Now Medium is trying this new feature where when you like (clap for) someone's article they give that writer some money. I'm not clear on how it works, but I think ad dollars have something to do with it. Clearly they are trying to learn a thing or two from Steemit. But I think the Steemit crypto model is a better one than the old advertising model. And anyway, I go back to my previous observation that this is only going to help the established writers on the platform or new people who come with a massive following they can drive there from elsewhere.
In the end, I don't think there is anyplace else on the entire internet that a new blogger can get as much visibility and earnings as on Steemit. It is the nature of being new at anything that you have to pay your dues.
How you pay them on Steemit seems to come down to:
If you can do these things, and also make this mental shift from seeing what is challenging for newbies to seeing what is a blessing in this opportunity, then I think in not long you'll be incredibly happy with your Steemit experience. You'll start having more revenue but even before that, you'll start having more fun. And isn't the point of doing anything because it makes for a happy life to do it?
Check out some of my recent posts:
Is there anything else you can think of that can lead to newbies being more excited than disappointed about how it is first starting out here on Steemit?
Resteems always appreciated!
