Blogging About What You Want To Focus On Or Just Maximizing Profits?
This is mainly me just sharing my thoughts and partial frustrations with the realization of blogging / vlogging. It is nothing new to me but it is one of those things a person has to deal with when they are doing this a lot. So currently on the STEEM blockchain I often can make just as much by posting a one picture post or a quick meme since so much of the voting here is autovote driven. Some people would say......
"Then just do that! Post One picture posts and Memes."
While the small posts and memes can be fun I don't want my entire blog to be about that and I don't want to feel like I have to do that to get some quick earnings. It becomes frustrating when I spend 4 hours on a very detailed video about EOS and I earn more on a meme that I spent 10 minutes on. That is sort of the nature of the beast though and it happens on YouTube as well. Videos that do really well can be videos about drama related stuff or things that don't ad a ton of value. Then if you make a great video really explaining something it gets very low traction.
No system is going to be perfect and I think that one of the frustrations on here is that oftentimes payouts don't seem to have anything to do with the quality of the content even for those of us who have a decent follower base and have been here for awhile. It is like you have to be constantly going around saying,
"Hi everyone......I'm still here..... remember me!!!!!"
Part of the reason for that is I feel like 90% of the people on here are content creators and so we spend so much time creating our own stuff it is hard to go around and look at everyone else's content. On YouTube I feel like it is 10% content creators and 90% or more people watching, subscribing, and commenting. I even feel bad sometimes when I can't check up on everyone's blogs. It is like we are running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to still interact but also trying to create good content.
Good Content vs Bad Content
I think Steemit has struggled with this the entire time it has been around. For awhile it was like you could only get a big payout if you basically wrote a 20 page research paper. It was like "Proof of Effort." If it looked like it was real long and took a lot of time then there was a chance of a big payout.
Thing luckily went away from that and now with people's votes actually being worth something then the distribution is spread a lot more evenly. Ultimately content is subjective so I see a lot of content that I don't feel provides any value but that the person has enough STEEM Power to get a decent payout and then potentially has a lot of rental power to keep boosting stuff up.
Obviously people who have been here for more than 5 minutes can see that some users just go to CoinDesk and CoinTelegraph and a few other places every mornings and read the news and then paraphrase the content and they have enough power that it usually gets pushed clear to trending and then more people see it and vote it up.
I'm not saying it is good or bad but it is understandable how some people would feel it isn't fair. With everything being visible on this blockchain it is interesting how that plays with someone's thinking whereas on YouTube you can't see exactly how much these content creators make so it becomes a big talking point about how much they are making and there is a partial mystery behind all of it.
I Can't Focus On What I Want On YouTube Either
Even in the crypto space I would rather do the educational videos and do the deep dives like I did with Electroneum, RaiBlocks, SmartCash, and EOS but those videos don't get as many hits as if I talk about the drama surrounding Bitconnect and these guys like @trevonjb @craig-grant CryptoNick....etc.
I think it is important to call out the scammers and put the information out there so the new people to crypto can form their own opinion on the subject but really when it boils down to it I don't really want to be all wrapped up in being a scam buster or constantly calling people out.
Also I want to talk about more than crypto on that particular channel but I feel like for the time being it makes the most sense to just only focus in on crypto at least until I'm hopefully monetized on that channel.
Conclusion
I guess I'm just venting a little bit but also just voicing the realization of being a content creator. All summer and fall I powered down and reinvested into other cryptos and then was able to power up 0.5 BTC and the timing on that worked out pretty good on here but even with all that and the prices going up a lot on SBD and STEEM I'm really not making that much on my blog in my mind.
I guess in my mind if I can make $200 / day on here I would feel like that would be "worth it." But oftentimes it doesn't come out to that. Then to push toward that mark I would almost have to crank out some real short meme or one picture posts to try to pump the earnings up but then I risk having people take me off their autovoters because I post too much. Hahahah....... so in some ways it feel like it is tough to win overall with the whole thing in some respect.
I'm actually really bullish on STEEM right now and everything that is going on with the platform but it is hard to say if I can maintain full time income just from content creation on here overtime. The better play might just be the fact that I have STEEM Power and the price goes way up.
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Just do whatever you want bro. There's not a lot of quality content on Steemit. People just rush through articles so they can post their useless comments.
The currency itself is amazing, but this platform needs to start offering some kind of value.
I feel like there is some decent value when it comes to crypto related howto guilds but other than that 90% of it a person could say isn't providing value but of course all that is subjective. For instance let's say a hot girl posts on here and the basement dwelling crypto nerds get excited ....... well that provides value for them :-)
That's not real value bro that's mental masturbation and borderline prostitution. It's been around since the beginning of time.
Look at Reddit for example. Users there provide real value because there is no monetary compensation for doing so. They do it strictly for the reputation. Same with StackOverflow.
Steemit attracts low effort shitposts because people don't have to put any effort into what they do in order to make ridiculous money.
I feel like here it is more about friendships and building "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine" type relationships. I hate to cheapen it to that level because hopefully Steemfest is in the United States this year and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with people there.
Hey buddy great post. I feel your pain, I hate when I spend tons of time and really pour myself into a post and it gets little to no interaction, upvotes, etc. It's not even about upvotes and money so much as just getting people involved in the post even through comments, just knowing someone else saw it and took something from it.
I remember in my very very early days on Steemit I earned $75 for simply asking a question, yet a multi page post with tons of pics where I really put myself out there got like 2 upvotes and no comments lol.
Would you be down to join me and @reseller on a livestream sometime in the comming weeks? We did one the other night and talked about making it a semi regular thing and we'd both love to get you on there.
It is real tough and I feel bad when I can't look at everyone stuff but there simply isn't enough time in the day and I feel like I don't even post enough stuff to really stack coins like I want.
Also I like to support people and it gets hard to manage the power and before I know it I'm down to 40% or less voting power but I don't want to drop anyone off the autovotes because people depend on it. It is a tough thing.
Yeah I saw yours and @resellers livestream and it was really good. I would love to join in. It might be a little tough because I'm going to have to go off of an android phone but it should work out ok. Long story short my two phones are the only devices I can go off of for live stream right now. Kind of ridiculous actually. LOL
But it should work and if I just have it sitting stationary and everything I think It could work out fine.
It is so frustrating for the newbies to join this platform. sit down for hours creating good content and and they get zero rewards.
One thing I have learnt about Steemit is consistency and promoting your content will contribute much success on your account and I'ts not about the quantity of posts but quality and make sure it reaches the right people.
As for Trevon James I've been follwing that guy from day one I joined Steemit not knowing he is a scammer.
The same thing would happen on any blogging platform. I think the big difference is on Steemit we see all these people making good money so it skews our perception a lot.
That's true. Well nothing comes easy in life, we all have to start somewhere and that takes hard work. The rule is simple if your post makes less than a dollar keep on trying, you never know which one will take off and it's all about creating good quality content and the rest will follow.
Yeah it can be tough. I think that if I was making 10K plus on YouTube and someone told me about DTube / Steemit I would try to power up a lot of STEEM right from the start and then a person could just pay themselves to a certain extent for the work thy were already doing and then it would just compound on itself.
True. There's so much I've learnt as a minnow here. One should just power up now and pay themselves in future with a single upvote while the price is going up
You've highlighted one of the main problems with Steemit as it stands, and something that in my opinion undermines the platform as a whole.
Once you get a following (usually by persistence and quality posts), then unfortunately it doesnt really pay to put the same effort into each post. I've seen some good content producers getting lazy, and churning out 1 pic posts or a few retarded sentences.
A bot cant tell the difference however, and it is only through manual curation that it is possible to spot this.
I guess it then becomes a bit demoralising for n00bs who see a lot of bollocks on the trending page, and then wonder why their hard work only gets peanuts!
The situation was far worse in 2016 in my opinion but yeah it is still a big issue and in the end it is hard to say how to solve it really. Because when it boils down to it a lot of those people hitting trending have a large amount of STEEM power and have influential friends so it is just like in real life. If people are rich and are rubbing shoulders with other wealthy movers and shakers then they are going to propel themselves forward. I don't have a problem with that but it is always a cost analysis of how much a person should go in to try to move themselves up the ranks. The calculation is often hard to really get a handle on because there is no telling where the price is going to be etc. So it is a risk of course.
But yeah for new users and can be very frustrating.
I was thinking about this and the only way I can come up with to spread the Steem Power of circle-jerking whales and dolphins is to diminish (or block completely) voting on the same account within a given time-frame.
ie.
Algorythmically speaking, it should be possible to implement, and in theory should spread the SP more evenly. It does have a negative of not giving full freedom of reward however...
Thanks @brianphobos !! Im new here and have been a Content Creator online for 10 years. Just my knee jerk reaction when I first came here : I was astounded by the number of blog posts that are centered around crypt currency and how to buy and sell it, whats the future, time to buy, high, lows etc..etc.. I think if Steemit is going to succeed long term it has to be about a diverse array of subjects.
It still blows my mind there is not a main tag for 'make money online'. I'm a full time IMer and came here not even knowing it was a platform based on crypto . I had been told it was a platform that pays money for quality content. That's all. So all this stuff is new to me. Anyway again thanks for the post. It wasn't just a rant . You provided some really good insight !!
Thanks for your comment. Back in 2016 when the platform was new the large stake holders "whales" tried to focus on upvoting all kinds of content and would ignore crypto currency related posts. This was a double edge sword. They wanted the platform to be the killer app that would bring the masses to crypto currency. It worked to some extent but once the reward structure changed this past summer a lot of the user base that had power were more interested in blogging about crypto currency and looking at the content. That is a hot topic now everywhere so it sort of makes sense that those posts do well.
I agree that overtime it has to get more diverse but oftentimes the people who are coming in with other interests who are new to crypto currency don't have any or as much STEEM power as the people who have been in the crypto world for a couple of years. So it makes it harder for them to gain traction.
It's good to have a little rant once in a while. I hope you feel better now? I hear your frustrations, I have experienced your frustrations for sure. Blogging on steem can be a moving target, well, not only can be, it is.
Here soon, another experiment(s) will happen that will change things, for example 'hive-mind.' Short term, it may be a bit bumpy but I think long term it will be helpful.
And, I totally agree that it is hard to find other's content after spending so much time creating your own. This is definitely one of my weaknesses
Yeah it is tough and some days I'm like...... welp.... I only have enough time to do a quick meme. It sort of takes away from the branding but until I'm able to really build up a very large revenue flow from this stuff I really have to focus on the bottom line. Plus I haven't been taking much out of crypto lately. I'm trying to let it build and my expenses are high. So I simply have to worry about the return if I'm going to spend this much time working on the content.
You raise some good points. I wouldn't say I view you as the guy who's just talking drama or scam busting. Though I can respect the strong stance you have taken because many are not doing so. It is true that I can put a lot of time into a post and not make much. Conversely the photo contests I participate in make more. On the other hand still, the post I made the most money on ever was 2 weeks after I joined steemit back in June and wrote a passioned blog about the death penalty in Texas and made $300 on it. So it really is hard to pinpoint.
Yeah it is all over the place for what gets good payouts to be honest.
This is entirely true and how every platform starts out as far as I can tell. As long as we continue to create and share it around the internet, we will start to pull in more 'consumers'.
Or straight out copy and paste the exact same content. Once I started curating for the tech and science portion of MSP's curation account I realized how bad it is. Looking for fresh and original content (in that niche at least) is a hassle.
Yeah for sure and I think that a lot of the content consumers are coming here through Google search and then looking at the content but they can't comment or influence the reward.
Awe very true. I say we keep up the grind and see where this thing lands in the coming years.
I agree with what you're saying. Most people on this platform are content creators. As a result, I feel like most people are just talking AT each other trying to get people to read their new blog post. That's to be expected though.
We still have not gone mainstream. The only people that really know about steemit are crypto people. We haven't established ourselves to the point where some average guy will want to go to Steemit of all places to consume content. Why should he? He already knows about Reddit, Youtube, etc. Once Steemit becomes more mainstream as a platform to consume content, then you will get more people simply interested in consuming content; not necessarily posting blogs or trying to make money.
In terms of noobs getting payouts, well the same can be said for YouTube. Many people on youtube post videos without any expectation of getting paid. I guess on Steemit, because you know you can get rewarded, people have higher expectations and get frustrated when they don't get noticed. On the other hand, people with many subscribers can post mediocre content and get millions of views and earn thousands in ad revenue.
Ha you are the first person I have seen to call out the scammers on steemit! Why is everyone bullying bitconnect?! lol
Yeah poor bitconnect - not lol