My recent review of Steem Monsters was one of five winners in the latest @dapplovers review a featured DApp contest. This was an open contest run done in conjunction with @oracle-d.tasks and we were invited to write a post about our experience so I thought I'd focus on providing some advice that I've picked up from going through this process, in case anyone else fancies a go.
ONE - Follow the right accounts and post your entry link under the right account.
You need to follow @dapplovers to get the competition announcements, but you need to post the link to your entry under the corresponding @oracle-d.tasks post. Same competition, two posts from two different accounts you need to interact with. For example for this task...
- this is the competition announcement from @dapplovers - this contains the instructions for the post (there are usually LOTS, see below!)
- this is the oracle.d.tasks posts where you need to post the link to your post AND (if required) links to any social media hustling that could be part of the post
I've now entered three of these competitions, and it's taken me three goes for this to feel normal. You'll also want to upvote and resteem the @dapplovers announcement post.
TWO: Read the @dapplovers competition post carefully - there are typically several specific requirements
For example for this competition (this is non-exhaustive) there were the following requirements...
- A word limit (although I ignored this for my winning post, probably not best practice)
- There's a recommended structure which suggests headings - e.g. 'how it works', 'pros', 'room for improvement' and a 'conclusion'.
- You must use high quality images
- You need to use certain key words and tags for SEO purposes
- You need to tag your images using the ![key words] function for SEO purposes
- There were social media sharing requirements
- You need to include a disclaimer
- You need to link to certain web sites.
- You need to include a star rating.
- Your grammar and spelling need to be good!
NB - there were more, this is non-exhaustive, and these may change for future competitions.
Three: Watch the @oracle-d requirements video
Watch this video and take notes on how to write an @oracle-d post. Probably the most crucial piece of information that many of the entries ignore is NOT to mention @oracle-d in any @oracle-d related post! This video will also give you a disclaimer example and tell you how to tag photos.
Four - check out some other winning entries and do what they do, but better
Check out the winning entries mentioned in the latest 'winner announcement' posts by @dapplovers - look for the ones with the highest %upvote from @oracle-d - the higher the vote, the better the quality, as a general rule.
Five: Write with a positive focus
This DApp review competition was all about reviewing a DApp AND PROMOTING that DApp - which means writing a generally positive review that people are going to want to read and which also which attracts them to the DApp. It follows that for this competition I wasn't going to do a negative review of something.
In fact this is something I've noticed in all three competitions - winning entries tend to review something with 4 or 5 stars, and reviews are generally positive, with criticisms being constructive. This doesn't mean you can't criticise, but there does seem to be a 'positivity requirement' to these reviews.
I would normally now put in a snarky comment about it thus not being a good idea to review a certain game I've been playing that's just a bit rubbish, but I won't mention it by name to keep up the positive vibe!
Six: Review something you know!
I actually started off with the intention of reviewing Decentraland, another featured DApp, because (funny story) I accidentally bought some MANA 18 months ago thinking I was buying something else, so thought this would be a good chance to get to know the platform. However, after 30 mins of digging around I realised that I couldn't really do anything on the platform, so I dug around for something else.
Thankfully @steemmonsters was on the list of featured DApps and I've been playing this for months, and I've got about $300 worth of cards, so it was quite easy to do the review because I'm confident I know how it all works.
Seven: Expect it to take you 5-6 hours to wrtie a decent review
Not much to say on this, but this is probably how long it took me in total (it was overly long). This includes all the tagging and Social Media work and proof reading.
I imagine the next one won't take as long. In fact, now i have access to the 0D closed tasks my first review through that didn't take 5 hours, so you do speed up once you've got the hang of it!
Eight - A final word on form
it's worth spending time making the posts look pretty. i actually write mine in WordPress because this allows me to make all the pictures the same size, I then cut and paste into a Steem editor and make a few further adjustments.
And spelling and grammar are part of form - double check these - for example it's Steem Monsters, two separate words! That's something else I learned during this process.
Final Final Word
Better than the always welcome OD upvote I received on the SM review post is being accepted onto the closed tasks writers list - I think @oracle-d is one of the best things on steem and they've absolutely got the correct focus on trying to get businesses to invest in steem and to get them to pay content creators on steem to write for them, happy to be part of that!
Congratulations also to other winners @dmilliz, @dedicatedguy, @ireneblessing, and @tanbay
Also, special thanks to @daan for encouragement and advice, you might like this post of this on how to improve your OD article quality (it's good!).
Image source -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/6078681751/in/photostream/ (ticking the labelled for reuse box does limit one somewhat!)
I think @bozz has done a good crib sheet to help prepare for writing a post about one of these tasks.
This is what I created to help organize my thoughts and to make sure I am meeting all the requirements.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e0xbIkz3Fg5SqSygi0IBsB_34kQbBfOV/view?usp=sharing
Thanks, @bozz :)
Cheers! Looks great.
There are a lot of requirements aren't there!
Posted using Partiko Android
Thanks I must have missed that, he does do some good posts!
Great that you've won! I didn't spend nearly enough time on my Dapp review this time, submitted it when there were like 2 hours left :D
Make sure you get your pro access!
You do have to be up for these reviews, and have enough time! At least you got one in. There is now pressure not to submit something below par of course, not that you ever would, your posts are usually excellent.
I already submitted my first closed-task submission, on @gofindXR, I'm presently resisting also submitting an open task entry on the same topic, that would probably classify as taking the mic.
I'll wait for the next one. it seems to be the only way in.
They seem to come around every 3-4 weeks, just follow @dapplovers for the announcement and get ready to spend a lot of time getting your head around all the details!
It seems you have to put in the work to earn the rewards and that's how it should be. Some projects give big votes to people for throwaway posts. I'm more of a casual writer, but I'll look out for opportunities like this. Thanks for the tips.
I did notice one typo of wrtie instead of write.
Found a second typo, now that you mention it :P
Second 'this' should be 'his' I think ;)
Thanks for pointing those out!
I will change.
Posted using Partiko Android
OD is actually quite tight with their vote, you'll rarely see anyone getting above a 70% upvote! They have high standards.
These competitions are one of the best earning opps on the platform, and if Steem ever 10* then these are some of the best writing rates going, taking a longer term view.
Congrats! I have to start doing this as well as they are great opportunities to not only have content to share but learn about some great projects! Thanks for the tips as they are sometimes overlooked very easily! A great way to build some Steem Power!
Posted using Partiko iOS
Cheers, they do offer good writing opps, and as you say, good to research.
It's actually made me take a much broader interest in the crypto sphere.
Deserved winner, congratulations and a great follow-up post :-)
Posted using Partiko Android
Hey thanks!
Posted using Partiko Android
I have checked out the dapplover post but it seems the winners have already been announced
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