I remember when radio signals were adjusted with an analogue dial and tuning the station in meant tuning static out. I’d twist the dial left and right, sifting through all of the static and talk radio and, if I didn’t find anything I wanted to listen to after going back and forth a few times, I turned it off.

:click:

Some static was substantially louder than others and some I hardly noticed. I would skip over languages I didn’t understand, stop if I heard Joan Jett, skip through more static, Lynyrd Skynyrd, stop, skip some more, etc—a lot like what I do here.

Some static is louder than others but it’s still static and there’s a lot of it, it’s often easier to turn the thing off than continue searching for something interesting.

Imagine for a minute, your feed is the radio dial, #steemit is the radio, and the static is everything else. Each station you’re tuning in and out, based on your personal preference, is a particular authors #blog. The rest is static—some more noticeable than others. You want people to memorize your channel, you want them to plug your station into their presets and continue to grow your following. It’s going to require passion and dedication—instant gratification is a sickness.

Practice.

Everyone was at 25 once. Nobody ever walked on the job without knowing the trade and was handed general foreman wages—that isn’t how it works. There’s going to be some yelling, a lot of voices you don’t understand, you’ll hear things you’d rather not and there’s going to be whispering you’ll wish you paid closer attention to—everyone is practicing.

When I first introduced myself to this platform back in September, 2017, having never participated in another social networking type community, I wasn’t just out of practice, I wasn’t practiced at all. My station was a bunch of static at multiple volume levels, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing nor what you were looking for but ‘I used to make shapes with pencils about 30 years ago,’ I thought, “maybe they’ll like that!” I needed practice if I planned on graduating from cartoons—my very first publication across all social media platforms:

_{Did You Just Rhyme That Whole Thing?}

Then I posted some other things, wrote about some stuff, shared a few photos, cracked some jokes and added volume to the existing static but I couldn’t get your dial to stop skipping my station—keep practicing. I released this drawing a few months later. Without any depth, it just looks like a bunch of lines drawn by a guy who just purchased his first set of colored pencils at Walgreens for $1.99 (“guilty”).

_Paracosm

With time and practice, I began releasing articles you wanted to read, you began tuning into my station a little more often. My writing style was developing and I was still able to release a drawing here and there. After a few attempts at drawing some 3d realism, I tried my hand at a portrait.

_{Road Construction}

_{3 Right Ways}

_{Keep An Eye Out For Me}

_{Introduce Myself To @slothicorn Part 3:3}

I drew my buddy Thyle’s now deceased mother, then Yelawolf for @puravidaville (her other husband), and one of @edprivat because we had a deal, plus I needed to show myself I’m capable before I accept my biggest challenge—Pura.

_{iTalent Round 9: “Junebug” Feb. 22, 1933 - Nov. 1, 1996}

_{Riders Of The Storm}

_{You Already Know Who He is—Make Some Noise!! Put Your Hands Together For Ed Privat!}

The more I practiced, the more comfortable I became and continued sharing this creative avenue as it developed. With each release, I’m making myself susceptible to vulnerability while being introduced to more creativity at the same time—I even submitted material to a few @comedyopenmic competitions... and won!

_{2018 E.O.S. Rap Battle Finale | ComedyOpenMic - Round 30}

_{You Know What I Mean By that, Right? Comedy Open Mic - Round 37}

_{So You Thought You Were Cool Huh? Comedy Open Mic - Round 42}

I continued to branch out, I write about a wide range of topics, nothing is off limits. This article brings my total post count to 249, many of which were quite successful and appreciated by the community judging from the feedback I received. As of recently, however, my blog is lacking something—I hit a plateau or something.

For whatever reason, my account seems to have plateau’d or at least hit a slow spot. My reputation’s been on 62 for a few months I think and, although I’ve posted consistently during the past three Hardforks and never considered venturing away from the platform, the steady decline in post rewards following HF-22 suggests I need to make some adjustments.

?

I’m open to suggestions. I keep my voting strengths above that $.03 threshold to prevent any tips from turning to dust, I don’t think that needs tweaked. I acknowledge everyone that passes by my page with an upvote and a response, I have plenty of favorite authors I visit regularly, I’m curating weekly for both @artzone and @foodfightfriday. I’ve never purchased a vote or bid on one or however it works—none of my accomplishments here have been achieved unnaturally. In my opinion, my engagement level is up to par, agree?

The one thing that stands out to me when checking other accounts I follow and comparing their activity level to mine is consistency—maybe I need to work on that. If I use the analogy I used in the beginning and compare a person’s blog to a job site, you wouldn’t stay employed very long if you only showed up once or twice a week. Maybe I should post more frequently—I think I have enough ideas to keep up with it.

Posting a few times a week might not cut it anymore for someone who’s trying to increase their views. I see some people on here posting six and seven days a week and some of those are posting multiple times each day. I can hardly keep up with a couple of posts a week—I get all intense with editing. I can spend days trimming and rearranging one article (like I did with this one). I checked out a lot of your total post counts at steemworld and I’m well below the average—the post button might need turned up. What about five, is that good enough? Five days a week on a consistent basis would keep me way too busy for anything else I think, I’m in the middle of exploring the globe right now with my wife, you happened to catch me at an exciting time. I could probably do four, though, and maybe an occasional Saturday or Sunday. I’m considering changing my profile photo, too—change is good. That’s one of those things, though, once you change it, you can’t go back—it’s still under consideration. I really like the one I use at discord, have you seen it?

It’s got the DNA double helix, get it? DNA as in D and A (@dandays), Pura’s name starts with a D and, in case we haven’t met yet, I’m Arts. “D and A’s,” it’s nice to be met! I’ve been mistaken for the hot chick in the photo several times which works in my favor until they find out I’m actually the dude in the picture and the hot chick is married... to the dude in the picture.

I’ve even considered dropping real curse words, they’re always funny to read on other pages. How’fa king and sofa king might be two’fer king played out now, maybe it’s time to go uncensored—I don’t know about that one yet. I’ve often wondered if jumping around too much between topics has a negative impact and maybe I should focus on posting content that’s relative and on a consistent basis.

Consistency and practice, I’m hip, I’ll see what I can do to adjust my volume a little bit and get you to tune into my station a lot more often. As far as gaining traction and attracting more than one follower per week (except for last week, I lost one last week), I’m open for Communal Advisement. Constructive Criticism—you now have the floor.