Embracing the Power of Comments
I mentioned in my post yesterday that myself and some other users I have been following on Steemit have decided to take a break from buying upvotes.
While in theory, this sounds like a great idea, it can be a bit of a downer when your rewards start coming in on posts that you didn't buy votes for.
I had believed that my days of sub $1 posts were far behind me.
Now, upon closer inspection I think we can all agree that those bought rewards are subject to interpretation. It's not all profit, because you are paying up front for the reward. In many cases you are only recovering a fraction of what you put into it.
I was reconciling the above fact to myself, when I suddenly noticed something else...
I was refreshing my Steemd page to look at some of the information and I couldn't believe all of the rewards that I was bringing in from comments.
Now don't get too excited, they are small, I will admit that, but the cool thing is, they add up.
By spending more time reading other posts and making good comments instead of trying to work the upvote and bidbots, I have started to fill the gap.
There are lots of Steemians out there with healthy accounts that are more than happy to upvote good comments on their content.
The other cool thing about comments is, if you use them right, they help you build relationships. I have gained several followers who I can always count on for an upvote just by following them and writing thoughtful comments on their posts.
You might be asking, "what makes a thoughtful comment?"
That can be hard to answer, it depends on the original post a lot of times, but I typically like to pick at least one thing from the post and highlight it. If I can tie it in to a personal experience and relate that back, I feel like I have crafted a pretty good comment.
Another great tool to use in writing a good comment is a well placed question. The author is writing the post usually as an expert on the subject. Take advantage of their experience and knowledge and ask a question back. That will open up the lines of communication and might lead to a new relationship.
Remember, don't try to do it all in one day though. I absolutely believe in comment fatigue and the natural tendency to just "phone it in" over time. Plan ahead and maybe schedule one day a week just for attacking comments. If you aren't feeling it on your scheduled day, that is okay. Put it off until another day, trust me, the original poster will be able to tell if your heart isn't in it.
Get out there folks, let's build some relationships and not forget to take advantage of the power of comments!
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Excellent post! Thanks for writing about comments, because I think many Steemians undervalue them. I went through a similar process when I decided not to use bidbots, just over a month ago. I decided to take a more strategic approach to Steemit, using community building etc, and it is definitely working - slowly and gradually, which in my opinion is always the best way, as overnight success is often followed by overnight failure!
Part of this strategic approach was to take a look at my Steemit "accounts", and like you, I was astonished at how much my comments had netted me - not a fortune, but significant enough. I'm quite a blether, and an opinionated one too, so I tend to enjoy writing comments when I have the time!
Also, when you're focusing on bidbots you tend to neglect alternative ways of making a splash on Steemit, so you're missing out on some important lessons!
Great points and a great comment! Thanks for stopping in and for the compliment. Slow and steady wins the race for sure these days!
As a new steemian, I've received more steem from comments than from posts. They are also easier to write because I don't have to come up with a picture for each comment.
Many of the upvotes I've received on my blog came from people who I just commented on.
As you mentioned the trick to a good comment is to ask a question or say something that the original author can expand upon.
A warning, however. There is a small number of steemians seem to get upset when a comment challenges their belief system. For the most part I agree that steemians should drop several comments for each post.
Yes, you do have to be careful about how you word things. Like I said though, if you approach the original poster as an expert on what they are writing about, you can probably avoid that. It won't always work, I know I have a post in the works about nuclear reactors. I am by no means a nuclear physicist, but the subject is exciting to me, so I am eager to write about it...
Yes. Good comments are the things Steemit success is built on. There is just no doubt in my mind.
I'm trying desperately to come up with a witty and compelling thing here, that you can't help but reply to. But the truth is, I agree utterly with what you said and can't think of a single thing to add. Nicely done, and thank you!
Thanks! I appreciate it. Wit can be hard. I think I have a ton of it myself, my wife, doesn't agree so much!
If anyone can testify to the power of comments, I will be the first.
My first two posts on steemit was nothing to write home about. Now, I can testify to my growth on steemit courtesy of comments.
Comments are the key to building success on Steemit. Making good comments can not only be rewarding but it is the best way to build relationships that will translate into followers and later votes on your own posts. Buying votes is a losing investment in my opinion as they usually don't equal the cost and rarely translate into followers.
Word! :)
You can make much more with a good commenting than with any bidding bot out there,and I am telling you from experience. Only under the rare conditions you can milk out some small minuscule profit.
STOPI really feel as if I should comment as this is about... comments. So I will comment about .. 'there are less comments today than usual'.. maybe due to Steem being so low... it seems to make people post less.
There's my comment and Im sticking with it.
:) Thanks!
I agree with your comment, and I must admit that it was much wittier than the comment that I was going to commit to. Commenting can be complicated, particularly when there's no common content to comment on.
I never used any bots and I don't have a lot of time to spend on Discord, therefore comments are all I have left to engage with other users. I try to leave thoughtful comments and I like to ask questions whenever I do not understand something. I rarely leave a comment on someone's post as a subject matter expert. I never checked if it was more rewarding to comment than to post. Maybe I should ;0)
I have been using this trick since I joined steemit. Commenting is an awesome way to make great connections. I know of people who rarely post but they make more from their comments than from those who post regularly.