Sometimes I find...
Sometimes I find myself just thinking back about things, much like I am doing right now, remembering how things use to be.
When I started this blogging thing my family said that I wouldn’t make it very long. In fact they had a “betting pool” on just how long I could do this without throwing in the towel. The range of those days was three days to thirty days.
Needless to say none of them were correct in their predictions, in fact, when I first missed a day I had gone over 400 consecutive days writing what I called the “Daily Dose” back on FIRED.
How do you...
How do you measure success in blogging? What makes for a successful blog? Those are the questions that I don’t have the answers to; and honestly I don’t really care to know.
I’ve told the story numerous times on why I started doing this so I won’t rehash it again. I am more successful at this blogging thing, (in my opinion), than even I ever imagined I would be. There is a pretty good amount of material that I placed on this block chain that may someday reach its intended audience and that is how I gauge my success.
Am I popular...
Am I popular on here? Not hardly, not even barely popular. The little number which I believe to be some sort of ranking system on each homepage of a blog has me at #5,172.
My guess is that the lower the number the more popular your blog is?
Also, I’m guessing that there are only really about 8 to 10 thousand accounts that are actually doing anything on this block chain, based on some statistics that I’ve run across.
Even with that, many of those accounts might just be voting daily using some “voting trail” type service or program so in reality the number of daily users could be much lower. So by others standards of measurement; I probably really suck at this blogging gig.
Do I really...
Do I really care though? Not a “snowballs chance in hell” do I care. In my way that I look at things, why should I?
Sure, I could make better earnings on my posts if I blogged about what people are interested in but those things don’t interest me. I probably could even make more on my post just by using the “hash tag” system better.
It’s not like #dailydose is a sought after hash tag as far as reading material goes. My children know the name to look for in the future and that is #dailydose so it is important to me to have it that way.
Even today, I still use #dailydose even though I’ve changed the name to “A Dash of Sult N Papper” . You can call me ‘stubborn’, but I prefer the adjective ‘consistent’ as a more “kinder and gentler “way of saying the same thing.
Looking back at...
Looking back at some of the things I did on FIRED I’ve decided I need to start doing those things again here on HIVE. That way I can make sure that this blogging thing doesn’t balloon into something more than I can handle. So I will be resurrecting some things I’ve done in the past over on FIRED.
One of those is the number of followers reward system I used that rewarded certain “new followers” with crypto when they started following me.
I’ve actually gained 17 new followers since I’ve moved to exclusively posting on HIVE. Who will be the eleventh new follower from this point remains to be seen?
Also I used...
Also I used to give away shares of FIRED “basic income” every Saturday to three lucky folks who I chose for various reasons. I was able to fund that program using my poker winnings from the FIRED crypto currency I won at Lucksacks poker room.
Well the names have all changed, and I need to find out what the name of the “basic income” program is here on HIVE but I look forward to doing that as well again. With all the poker I’ve been playing lately I have enough HIVE to bring that program back online.
One other thing...
One other thing I formerly have done is reward proof readers.
Sometimes I would intentionally make a spelling error or some other type written error (other than a grammatical error) and hope that someone would point it out to me. Not all my errors are intentional but some are and get rewarded; you’ll never know unless you suggest I correct my error that you see.
If I gave away HIVE for grammer mistakes I make that funding would be gone in less than a week, so don’t even bother pointing those out.
Speaking of being...
Speaking of being successful and poker; there is much to report on and it is all good news.
My strategy using the “duck it” method is really working in freeing up some time for me. Right now I am able to write this post because I ducked out on entering the 9:00 AM on Tuesday morning, it takes a minimum number of entries and had I entered I would have been just enough to make the tournament go. I just play now when I have to; I’m not going to enter just because I want to play.
I would much rather spend some time bringing you folks up to date then chasing straits and flushes all morning.
The Team Tournament...
The Team Tournament is about half way over now and so far the team I am on, (Three Kings), is leading the field and we have a pretty sizable lead over the second place team. I think it is just a few points north of a three hundred point lead.
So, ducking out serves another purpose, albeit not the primary one and that is the second place team can’t gain points on us if the amount of tournaments is reduced by lack of entries.
So my “duck it” strategy is a “twofer”, like the old saying; “killing two birds with one stone”. The 10:30 AM tournament did make also so again I gained more time.
In the individual standings...
In the individual standings those are a lot closer. Right now I hold a slim lead over my teammate who is in second place. I think there is less than twenty points separating us.
I don’t know if there is any individual prize money involved with this tournament; I might want to look at that.
I’m a team player though and that is what is most important to me. I will do what I need to do so that we end up in first place when the final standings are done.
Would it be...
Would it be nice to be the so called “individual champion”?
Sure it would, especially if there is some prize money involved but my focus is on the team standings. Where I end up in the individual standings is as important to me as being a “successful blogger” which you already know means nothing to me.
Why else would I resurrect the proven ineffective blogging techniques I’ve used in the past if I cared?
Ya’ll have a great day.
Until next time,
Sult
Photo credits: Sult N Papper
Lol..I like a challenge in case no one has noticed yet! You may want to work more on "chasing straights and flushes"...just saying! 😉 😁
You might have to point out to me which word in that phrase is not spelled correctly, because I'm not seeing it. I don't give of rats ass about grammar, that phrase could probably could use a "the" in there but as for the spelling I pretty sure all of it is correct.
But no one has pointed out the second error that was in that Dash so if you like a challenge head back to it.
Hi @sultnpapper! I could be wrong but the word that looks to be misspelled is straits. I'm not too much for grammar either..lol. Maybe I am on the wrong post as I do get easily confused. In that case sorry.
The word "strait" refers to a narrow passage of water. I got the correct spelling for the intended use. Straights means "in a row" or "in order". Who cares what post it is on, you and I are probably the only ones who will read it anyway.
Well, it's been a screwy day for my head today so there is that! I feel that way about a lot of my posts sometimes also..as far as anyone reading them but I know you put out exceptional posts and they are read by quite a few. Anyway, I'm gonna shut up and take my meds and go to bed now. Have a nice evening! 💖
You do the same, thanks for the support!
You're most welcome! 🙂
You've got a good thing going here, Sult. It takes a lot of bloggers years to "find their voice". The main reason for that is they try to anticipate what readers want and are writing for them instead of writing for themselves. There's a certain authenticity to the writing when the author knows who they are and writes for themselves. You have this and that's why your core audience (including me) keeps coming back. Best of luck on that poker tournament! I'm going to have to learn that game soon.
Well thank you Eric for not only your continued support but clarifying for me what seems to make perfect sense. My intention my whole time since day one on here was to let my readers ( and future readers) know exactly what is on my mind and share what knowledge, (limited as it may be), with them.
Not having to derive an income from this also makes it where I'm not feeling self pressure to score some big earnings. I don't do this for the "fun of it" though, it has an intended purpose and I have to fully agree with you when you say, "You've got a good thing going here, Sult." I fully agree I do.
You really should learn to play poker, and the only way you will is to start playing. Come join us over at BROsinopoker.com it is free to play and you can earn HIVE along the way. I guarantee you that you won't loose even a dime of your money because there is no way to make a deposit, the cashier system can only process withdraws.
You're welcome my friend. Isn't it amazing to think in this world that we currently live in there's still a value in being authentic? It gives me a little more hope for humanity, actually. So many bloggers and vloggers chase their audiences trying to provide what they think they want. The truth is we're all unique and if we just project our own uniqueness our "tribe" finds us.
I will definitely find the time to start playing a hand here and there. Thanks for the invite. Not losing a dime makes it all the more attractive to me, especially in this year's crypto market. It feels like we take a step forward then ten steps back lately.
I guess I am reaching the age that I could be considered an "authentic antique" so my value should be going up if I just keep myself in reasonable condition.
I have no investment in crypto other than my time spent earning it from the blogging and playing poker. So movement up or down in the value isn't a big deal to me. I know that lots of folks have tons of cash invested in this stuff and I hope they end up on the winning end when they need out.
Lol. I'm in that antique category myself. I'll be half a century old next year.
I've never invested a dime of my own money in crypto either. I've only used what I made on Steemit to parlay into other coins. It will turn you grey very quickly, let me tell you. I do feel like the market is headed back to a good place but now we just have to worry about regulations, hacks, losing keys, and exchanges shutting down wallets when we need to cash out. Lol. I hope you have a good Saturday!
I've not parlayed anything from my FIRED or my HIVE but I did come across some other coins along way. If you ever need any Wang Change let me know, I've won some of that on the poker games.
Have a great weekend Eric,
Sult
There are so many tokens out there. I've never heard of Wang Change! Lol. Enjoy the weekend my friend!
"If I gave away HIVE for grammer mistakes I make that funding would be gone in less than a week, so don’t even bother pointing those out."
*grammar
Didn't I warn you already about picking on my teammates?
HE SAID!!
Hey Beth, thanks for pointing out my spelling error. Unfortunately that one isn't worth any reward, you didn't really think I would make an error in the post that was announcing my intentions on purpose did you?
SBI is still alive on Hive as Hive-SBI (now they call it "Stake Basic Income"). Beware, however, that there is a user on the platform that feels SBI is wrong. He thinks, somehow, that it is a "socialist" program and should be boycotted. (He obviously does not know what "socialism" truly is.) If you buy SBI, he will downvote you a "tax" of 10% of rewards on all your posts. He has many accounts, but one of them is "mmmmmkkkkkk" or some such. But yeah, Hive-SBI is a thing. Here is one of their recent posts on the Hive blockchain:
https://peakd.com/hive-189312/@steembasicincome/transaction-memo-guidelines-q9f1u2
I consider one of my blog posts "successful" if:
😊
Thanks for the heads up on the SBI and the accounts getting down voted I will have to look into that before I go that route here.
I like your list of what makes your post successful in your eyes. Your old barn posts are some of my favorites.