Some Steemit Resolutions and a few (hopefully) helpful tips

Are these formal New Year's RESOLUTIONS? - Beggar the thought! But I have slowly been forming  a few ideas of a more formal approach to blogging on Steemit, especially as the auctions close over the festive period and I don't have so many goodies to list online.

I have been blogging on Steemit since July 2016, just before the very first payout. I wasn't included in the payout as I literally joined a few days before it occurred. To say I was blown away by the opportunities is an understatement, then I started meeting people and Steemit became a true social media platform for me. There have been long periods where Steem was basically worth almost nothing. I withdrew tiny amounts to say, do my hair, or just to see if I could. During these periods, I mostly kept going as I found I enjoyed blogging. This paid off when the price of both Steem and SBD rose. The significant change Steemit has wrought in my life is another blog, suitable for the very kind @surpassinggoogle #untalented-adjustment tag.

I have made money that has helped me in my daily life (A LOT) and Steemit seems to be heading for ever greater heights. And this is despite the fact I don't earn large amounts. I am from South Africa, so the exchange rate works in my favour. This year the stakes are higher for me if our small business continues to lag, but that is a story for another post. Finances are tough, not just for me, but for the vast majority of ordinary people. This is why I encourage people to join Steemit whenever I can.

Thanks Pixabay!

My (kind of) resolutions:

• Two posts per day, one more in depth, and one more lightweight.

• More commenting (I can be lazy here, I read a lot of posts, and enjoy them, but sometimes when you are tired it is difficult to leave a meaningful comment. I am honest when I want to say "I really enjoyed/agreed with/loved your blog", but unfortunately that is not the function of comments.

• I have realised that due to time constraints I have stuck to reading a few favourite authors posts. This I can't do anything about, they are my favourites after all! Even though keeping up only with them takes time I simply don't have, I have to make more of an effort to discover new authors. This means I will have to spend more time on Steemit, which might mean adjustments in my real life workload. I am visiting the oft dreaded New section at least twice a day. And I have a confession to make. I unfollowed some great people because they resteemed a lot. This is a reflection on my laziness and not a reflection on them. I followed them all back.

• Taking part in more challenges, there are many awesome initiatives on Steemit, that suit talents and skills of all kinds, and increase your general exposure, especially when your challenge entries are resteemed.

• Learning more about cryptocurrency and exchanges. Early on I figured out how to withdraw my money, but there may be cheaper and more efficient options. This is not an easy area for me to tackle, as it is not a passion. But I do need to learn more.

• This last point is an idea I have but am not sure about yet, but here goes. I have converted most of the people close to me who I know Steemit will benefit, but we live in a country with a terrible economy and a high rate of poverty and joblessness, with more than a dash of desperation, and I feel there are real opportunities for those people, as well as for myself. I am thinking of advertising Steemit classes. I am considering charging around $16 per person for an hour long class where I can teach people the basics, and then provide ongoing support as needed (no extra charge!). I don't think people value something they get for free, and any extra income will be helpful to me too. I am busy helping my favourite staff member, and I hope the skills he learns, he can also pass on and may also financially benefit from it. What do you think about this? Insights will be most welcome.

Finally I have a couple of tips that have helped me enormously on my Steemit journey. The first tip is simple, but often overlooked. Take photos of everything. We all live in different parts of the world, and are part of diverse cultures. I LOVE  being drawn into other worlds. I also love sharing my interests with others. Another example is, I adore cats, and so do others, and we all enjoy photos of crazy cat antics. Catch those funny moments and share them. 

Another useful photo related tip is to organise photos in folders for blogs you intend to create, and name the folders with blog ideas, so when you have to upload them, you don't have to search for the photos you need. 

My third tip has recently made a major difference in my life. Super computer savvy people need not read on, but if you're like me, this may help you. I know there is a post scheduler app but I haven't used it, instead I save my posts in HTML as a Word" document in a folder, and on days where I have no time, I can dip into my blog collection. I use Steemit's Markdown Editor to create the post, and when it is done I convert it to the Raw HTML option, after which I can save it. This tip can also help those in poorer countries with expensive internet connections. Use the time when you have access to a cheaper wifi option to upload photos and create multiple blogs, which after being converted to HTML can be cost effectively uploaded to Steemit when you only have access to a more expensive internet option. Internet connectivity in South Africa is very costly. Additionally, there are some days when I have more time and energy than others, and I can use both more productively by creating multiple blogs. I have found this has increased the quality of my blogs too.

I hope these tips may help someone, as I have been helped many times by generous Steemians investing their time and energy in providing useful tips. If not, at least you have a record of my sort of resolutions, which will be of no use to you whatsoever!!!

@onetree

(This blog was written on Sunday.)