An excellent post, and every point you make is spot-on. Do the things mentioned in this article, and you will find your audience. With an audience success will come.
I have followers who I can almost always count on for an upvote, and sometimes a comment. In turn, I regularly go through the posts of the people I follow and upvote and comment on them.
I also go through the "new posts" section, usually once a day, and find some gems from authors here who are new (or new to me) and upvote the ones I find interesting. We often end up following each other.
Engagement is almost as important here as original, quality writing.
And, yes, for God's sake, don't get involved in the drama. Those posts can be amusing (and even informative) to read, but don't contribute to them. You don't want to risk your reputation. It's too hard to build, and too easily broken.
The Steemprentice channel on chat is an excellent resource. It wasn't around when I first started writing here, and I was left to figure out things on my own, including analyzing posts that did well, WHY they did well, who had hundreds of followers, HOW they got them, and even how to upload images to this site and cash out my Steem Dollars. I figured it all out on my own. If Steemprentice had been around then, the learning curve might not have been so steep. Thank goodness I'm already a working freelance writer (and have been for years), and know some basic HTML, or the curve would have been even steeper.
Make use of Steemprentice. They're here to help you, so you don't have to struggle to learn all of these things on your own.
Just kidding.
I agree. I had to learn most on my own and I reached out in the chats for help. Luckily a few great people helped me out.
The diversity at steemprentice is great. We really have all bases covered.
@sykochica deserves an award for starting the group.
Thank you! *blush
Yes, @sykochica, I agree with @kryptik. Starting the group was a fantastic idea, and you deserve tons of kudos for it. It's helping a lot of new Steemers, and that is a good thing.
Also, @kryptik, I'm way out of the loop on modern pop culture and slang. I have no idea what the guy in your meme is trying to say. Lol! I can guess, but that's about it. Anyway, it's cool. I know you're a nice guy. :)
Thank you! I'm always tentative of touting myself to others, so the praise is very much appreciated and made me smile. :)
I'd love to have a little more financial support to reward the mentors for sacrificing their time and efforts. Even though it's not about the money it's nice to be able to give such rewards. Up to now the SD's have gone towards the mentees, specifically for those that are progressing their skills, but haven't had that first post that 'pops.'
I know what it's like to 'slip through the cracks,' especially when new here and how much little rewards can do to maintain motivations. Anyhoo, I'm babbling now, lol.
Thank you @stephmckenzie :)