What is a quality post? How to get the curators attention

avatar
(Edited)

What is a quality post _  How to get the curators attention.png

After the recent hard fork, curating has become much more important on steem and big accounts have started to discover and curate quality posts. It means that they filter the freshly published posts and upvote them before anybody else does, most of the time 5 minutes after publication.

I have been reading the post of @therealwolf about his curation efforts for smartsteem and I thought that it would be funny to try it out myself.

So I went to steempeak and filtered the posts according to the creation date. Then I went through them to find the good content. I first filtered according to tags but couldn't find anything. So I broadened the search and ended up going through all the posts published on steem at the moment... I couldn't find anything useful! I was totally amazed at the quantity of posts that are published that lack in quality.

Curators need quality and authors need to know what quality means

So what is a quality post? Don't forget that the curator has only 5 minutes to go over the feed and see your post. So first of all, you need a good picture to illustrate your post and also a good title. If your title and your picture do not manage to grasp the curators attention, well you won't get their upvotes.

Your title is the most important feature of your post. It should make people curious and invite them to learn more.

You need more than 44 words and a picture to have a quality post

When you open a post over steempeak you can see at the top right how many words there are and how long it takes to read the text. Be assured that the curator will not read your whole post, he won't have time to do that but he will look how much effort you put in your work.
Did you know that the big majority of the posts are shorter than 200 words? This takes you less than 2 minutes to read. I'm sorry to say but length matters. It's not necessary to write 1000 words, but 500 words should be a minimum.

Put some effort in how your post looks like

As I said before, a curator won't have the time to read your entire post. So you need to help him grasp your content with subtitles. It's very easy to create subtitles. Simply use hashtags before the title:
## Subtitle H2
### Subtitle H3
#### Subtitle H4

When you read a newspaper, you do the same than the curator, you read the subtitles first and you read the small print under the subtitle that interests you. Using subtitles, really helps to make your text more readable and interesting.

What is quality content?

It's quite difficult to define some quality standards regarding the content. Not everything is interesting to everybody.

I believe quality content could be defined as a useful knowledge that you discovered and that you transmit to others through your post. If they read your post, this additional knowledge might help them on their way.

When actors on steem begin to agree on quality standards, the positive effects of HF 21 will be visible. Good content will be rewarded.

I was utterly astonished to find so many lower quality posts on steem when I started to actively discover and curate. I was used to read the well researched posts of the people that are supported by @help.venezuela, the people from @project.hope and the people I follow, but the reality is: There are few quality posts on steem

Even if we don't have to agree on what a quality post is, it is easy to define what is not a quality post. Unfortunately, the majority of the posts go in to the later category. We all on steem need more quality and less quantity.

I believe that in the future, it will be worth to write good posts because there will be more and more people curating and searching these pearls and giving them the deserved rewards...

picture source: https://www.canva.com/


My projects:
@help.venezuela : a program that supports steem users from Venezuela.

HVOTE : A token that is underlined with a real steem account. With the sales of tokens, the Steem Power of the account is increased. The votes are sold on smartsteem and together with curation rewards, the account produces real economical value. Big token holders get upvotes from the account.



0
0
0.000
58 comments
avatar

I believe this is a strong tip. One of the tip is making quality content in your post and let your title to be captivating

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for stopping by and for your comment. In my eyes the title is very important in our posts.

0
0
0.000
avatar

👍
~Smartsteem Curation Team

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks a lot for your visit and the upvote!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Very good and important post for everyone who wants to dedicate his time to be an author here on STEEM, or in any tribe on it...

Personally, I didn't use H-tags and I will try to implement them in my future posts...

Thanks for heads up... ;)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks a lot for your comment. You can even use them in comments:

This is a subtitle = #### This is a subtitle

0
0
0.000
avatar

Awesome tips! Still learning and improving myself with better quality of my content. Until then, I will curate :) with quality of course! Thank you!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you very much for your comment and good luck while curating ;-)

0
0
0.000
avatar

This is a really good list good practices for writing. Not just on Steem, all these apply everywhere you are writing on :)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for your visit and your comment!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Suddenly I realize the same thing that you mentioned: When someone spends all his time making his best efforts as a blogger, and curating high quality content, can easily forget how many people saturate this blockchain with mere sh*t.

When I was beginning in this platform, I understood that; but it's not equal the impression that it gives when you are starting —so confused for the amazing complexity of Steemit— than the one you receive when you understand well how things work in here.

As many people, when I started in Steemit, I was so disappointed because I invested great time and energy creating my first posts and received very little rewards for them. But then I wandered through the trending page and saw so many easy irrelevant (and stupid) posts that obtained (apparently) tenths and hundreds of dollars in crypto.

I asked myself: "What kind of strange things these people support... and why?"

I had found already Medium and I saw that there deep knowledge, interesting explanations, art, skilled thinking and intelligence were the things most valued. I like very much the high quality of Medium. That was a strong contrast when I compared with what I saw in the Steemit's trending page.

But then I also understood the acceptable difference, that Steemit is not only a blogging platform but also a social media, so people show their personal experiences and inspirations and get rewarded by those who may like that.

There is much more "friendship" in these spaces than in other platforms that consist only in blogging. So you may tell a personal experience in a few lines, upload a photo of your dog and your friends and followers could find that entertaining, amusing and worth rewarding.

Of course, from that practice to the constant posting of easy short banalities, there is an abyss. Even in intimate short stories we can see a sort of high quality. We can see very well when someone is giving the best of his life, in the best possible way.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I like what you have written, thank you.
I've never heard of Medium and will be reading it with interest.
I agree with you regarding the trending page. There a many struggling writers out there.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for your support.

Yes, Medium is a good place if you want to enjoy really interesting essays, though sometimes some "tribes" there get a tone which is too ideological... you know, the fashionable modern religion of political correctness. I don't like that, but if you look for authors of your best interests, you really could find highly valuable content.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks a lot for your nice comment @spirajn

But then I also understood the acceptable difference, that Steemit is not only a blogging platform but also a social media, so people show their personal experiences and inspirations and get rewarded by those who may like that.

I think that you are right to point this out and I believe that this is why steem is so special. It reunites content production and social media in one place and it's possible to grow relationships with people you didn't know before. I believe that there will be much more importance given to high quality in the future. I see already a lot of quality posts with impressive upvotes and I think that is encouraging.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I see already a lot of quality posts with impressive upvotes and I think that is encouraging.

Oh that is also encouraging for me, although I haven't seen that yet, because I don't have anymore the time to surf in Steemit as I want.

Some time ago I was talking with a friend and I commented that "in Steemit the success depends very much on the help of a supporting community". He said: "Yes, exactly as in the real life". That was a striking insight, so right that it's surprising. We normally oversee how important are our relations for everyone's success.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That sounds very accurate to me too. Thanks a lot for your great comments!

0
0
0.000
avatar

What an amazing comment @spirajn

As many people, when I started in Steemit, I was so disappointed because I invested great time and energy creating my first posts and received very little rewards for them

Very little rewards and very little traffic can surely be discouraging. Im glad you decided to stay.

ps. do you think there is any traffic on medium? I've tried to find any publications that would attract readers to drop a comment and I found it very hard.

Cheers
Piotr

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

I've tried to find any publications that would attract readers to drop a comment and I found it very hard.

Yeah, I've also noted that in Medium. I suspect that it is because of the different character of its content and its system.

In Medium people don't earn money for commenting or upvoting. So people are not so compelled to interact very much at the posts.

If someone leaves a comment, mainly it's because the content touched him, in a good or bad way. There is only one reason to interact: the need to communicate approval or rejection, or maybe an important doubt.

In platforms like Steemit, there are more reasons to interact: it's the self-expression, it's the money and the building of alliances (alliances that also mean money... future conditions to earn more).

Furthermore, all posts in Medium are generally quite long: articles and essays. In that sense, I have to acknowledge that my work feels more connected to the character of Medium. I'm also very fond of writing long essays, articles and reflections. My interests are quite intellectual, almost academic, and I enjoy very much that kind of "slow thinking". But I'd find too difficult to succeed financially on Medium and, in addition, it's fiat money and I always prefer crypto, for many reasons.

So I'm learning now to express myself in different ways, with shorter posts and less rigour. Not that I'm succeeding at that xD but I'm trying. I began recently to use Whaleshares, and there the posts are even shorter than in Steemit. I'm intensely exercising my capacity of adaptation.

Well to close the last point: if every Medium post is so long, readers spend more time at each one, so they couldn't (even if they wanted) interact intensely with more writers, as people do in Steemit. The dynamic there is to read carefully, to enjoy the thoughts that fill your interests, to leave some claps (likes) for the things you like, and leave.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Dear @spirajn

In Medium people don't earn money for commenting or upvoting. So people are not so compelled to interact very much at the posts.

That's true. I'm still not sure if there is any traffic on that medium. I mean: is anyone really reading anything out there? I hardly doubt so.

Not only (like you said) those posts are usually longer, but also it must be so much harder to build any audience if you do not engage with them (would I care to read post of someone I don't know? very unlikely. subject would have to be right on spot.

After all we're dealing with 'attention economy' right now. It's hard to expect anyone to invest their time and read your content, without giving something back to them (quality of content alone is simply often not enough any more)

The dynamic there is to read carefully, to enjoy the thoughts that fill your interests, to leave some claps (likes) for the things you like, and leave.

Well, I see it differently. In my opinion the dynamic there is ... well , there is no dynamic on medium :) I really think it's quite a ghost town.

Yours,
Piotr

0
0
0.000
avatar

Oh this was funny. Sorry for the lateness here.

Yes, I think you're right, at least for the majority of people today. I just know some weird minority niches where people share and remain interested on some authors, simply for the topics. They stay in touch and attentive to new materials for the intellectual richness.

0
0
0.000
avatar

This is not the place for a real writer/author to be.
If a tweet like post, activist post with 3 lines, meme or 1 line with link earns better as writing on a story for three days what would you do?

The question is: What do you do against it? Are you downvoting and commenting why you give that downvote so that person knows what to change to get an upvote or do you hope others risk their necks to do this job for you?

I wish you a great day with 💕

Posted using Partiko Android

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yes, I've noted that this is a problematic place for real writers, but I don't think it is bad.

You know, when you arrive at a party where everyone dances salsa, though you prefer punk music, you have three healthy options: to leave, to stay and intensely enjoy (as everyone else) dancing salsa, or to stay drinking, talking and looking how other people dance.

You don't get angry, insult the people and kick out the DJ to play your favorite music. Maybe if you had a bigger group of fellow punks you could do that but, as you see, that would be a conflict of power and the struggle to establish another criteria.

But I am not like that. I already had my quota of power struggle. Now I just want to stay as far as I can from the dynamics of every war.

If people like to use Steemit as a social media, as a "crypto facebook", it's ok. These kind of things are what the people want them to be. I'll try to adapt and get the best of it, according with my possibilities.

PS. That example made me remember Tainted Love of Marilyn Manson. It's funny.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I am fascinated by your findings. Thanks for the tip re length of one's post.
I tend to be a bit long winded..........lol. Somehow my characters demand their say!
How do I count the words I have written? Is there a way when I'm writing on steemit?

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you very much for your comment @justjoy. I think it's nice to write long stuff but it's important to use subtitles to make it more readable. In addition subtitles increase also helps google to index your page for the search engine.
When I write a post, I tend to first write it in a text editor like word or open office write. There is a function in extras that allows to count words. In addition it helps me to find spelling mistakes ;-). Otherwise it might be an idea to write the posts in https://steempeak.com. There you can see the number of words on the prewiev (top right).

Best regards,
Achim

0
0
0.000
avatar

I went to Word where I write and searched until I found the word count! Naive!
I'm ready to read steempeak, the realwolf and others that you mention.
Thank you for your reply.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I'm happy you found it. It can become quite handy;-).

0
0
0.000
avatar

Excellent post @achim03

There are surely many ways of attracting curators attention, however the best out of all is quite simple and straight forward:

target your audience well, create list of accounts that engage with you a lot and have some decent SP and whenever you publish anything - just spend some time visiting those accounts and commenting on their latest publications.

Give your own time first to show your support and more likely than not, those users will also visit your own profile to see if you posted anything lately. The trick is to know which people it's worth to engage with. After all we're all limited with lack of time, so efficient targeting is a must.

Thx for sharing this post by @therealwolf. Will gladly check it out right away :)

It's not necessary to write 1000 words, but 500 words should be a minimum.

Personally I would say that 500words is already to much. I spoke with numbe of people about it and my strong impression is that it's best to keep your post length between 300-500 words. That will surely take less than 5min reading. Anything above will put many readers off.

If I see post as long as 1000 words, I already know that I will skip half of it. So what's the point in creating something that long? Hardly any user would give us so much of his time and attention.

Even if we don't have to agree on what a quality post is, it is easy to define what is not a quality post. Unfortunately, the majority of the posts go in to the later category

Is it really that bad?

Strong upovote on the way :)
Cheers
Piotr

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi my friend,
Thanks a lot for your nice comment. I totally agree with you that it is important to build up relationships and then to interact regularly. However I was just too used to read the great posts of the people of @project.hope to see what was really happening on the blockchain.

If you go through the unfiltered posts on steem, it is really difficult to find something worth reading. Among the hundreds of actifit reports, pictures without texts, embedded youtube videos and 40 words posts, there is really not much out there.

I believe that before you can even consider to build up relationships, you have to prove that you have something to say that might help others and that's why I think that quality is really a must.

Thanks for the upvote ;-)

0
0
0.000
avatar

"First, take your own time to show your support". What wonderful words.

Perhaps everything originates from there, in short this is a social network. It is based on the relationships we make through time.

Finally the quality is so subjective. I agree that a reading should not take up so much of our time. It is becoming shorter and shorter for everyone.

pd: 300 - 500 is a good number!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Nicely expressed.. also don't leave out the importance of the first sentence as that is available on most views when scanning post lists.

0
0
0.000
avatar

It's true that the first sentence matters and when people don't pay attention, it happens that strange things are written in this first sentence, like the source of the image.

0
0
0.000
avatar

it does. It is important to show the sources of your images but the wiser move with the first one on the page is to put a note at the bottom of the post with the source.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Yup...these are basics... appearance of your writeup should be organised that readers undertand and relate to your topic of writing.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for your visit and your comment!

0
0
0.000
avatar

That is really great advice @achim03, and even more relevant with the 5 minute optimum voting window that we have now after the hardforks, and subtitles are great and extremely easy to create just as you showed.

Overall I do think it's easier to find great content in the tribes rather than on Steemit, or at least that was my experience when I did visit the trending page last time, but that was also quite a long time before HF21, I tend to follow specific people and specific subjects plus a few tribes very closely, in particular the CTPtalk tribe where I found your post.

But I am just a small Minnow so I do focus quite a bit on creating and in particular Dtube videos, have an awesome week ahead.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi @flaxz,
Thanks a lot for your comment. I believe that tribes can really help in this respect because the "world" is just much smaller and it's easier to find interesting people who post quality content. When you go through posts on steem, there are 10 new posts every minute and it's quite a big quantity to go through. Ctptalk is a great community and it would be nice to have some more people to post there, also in order to use the staked coins to upvote ;-)

Best regards,
Achim

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks @achim03, yeah posting in the tribes is the first time I ever made it to trending, and with my videos in CTPtalk all have gone to trending, so the trending page here is actually useful, stay awesome.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Friend @achim03 that there is no doubt, that a quality publication is this that you made.
This type of publication should be read by many, especially those who are being introduced as new to the platform, because our friend @spirajn says there are publications that are bullshit but despite that they are filled with many cents. These are things we cannot explain.

I really liked your publication that I used as a reference in a publication that I made, here I leave the link, I would like to know your opinion

Can artificial intelligence help with the selection of good content, to use manual healing?

I send you a big hug very fraternal friend.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi my friend,
Thanks a lot for your comment. I will check out your post immediately ;-)

0
0
0.000
avatar

I have worked on many readings in order to reach an inner consensus that it is a quality publication.

I believe that the sample of effort is a relevant subject to qualify a publication as good, it must have freshness contributed by the presentation, easy to understand, with a prudent extension, and so on.

On the other hand, subjectivity will not be set aside. But it is necessary to have a great debate within the community and to reach more responsible agreements. Where diffusion is a standard.

They should mainly take those new users that every day join the platform and think about educating them before starting this journey.

It's a bit complicated to shape that proposal, but that's where it should start.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi @yonnathang,
Thank you very much for your comment. I think that you point out a very important point:

They should mainly take those new users that every day join the platform and think about educating them before starting this journey.

New users should be taught that it is worth to write quality content. I believe that now with HF22, the trending page has changed and it displays much more quality content. The trending page is where new users land first and if they realize that "quality = reward" they might start their journey on steem with a totally different attitude and go much more towards creating quality content.

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

I find it amazing you just found out about all the... content. I try to join @pifc and to recommend 2 posts that are good content and each time it takes me over five hours or even two days to find something!

To be honest I can only join if I have a lot of time and a good connection which I do not have most of the time.

I asked many times several people what good content is but you know what? No one is answering that question. Only the steel team did in a certain way: according to them, good content is what earns 20 steel or more.

To be honest, I see a lot of shitty posts, also selfvoters and those buying votes, etc who make the 20 steem and are not worth it (actually they are since 20 steem is not worth much anyway).

The curators, those with the highest SP really do not read the content they vote. They use steemvoter or another tool and curate automatically at the 5th minute. The biggest investors (like steemit calls them) have no time to read. They set some rules to find certain posts and vote and also vote on names known. I small fish can write great content but still not be discovered.

The only way is to keep struggling, hoping for someone to give you a hand and grow/power up as soon as possible.

Steemit is not about quality content. It is also not social media but a platform where you are asked to invest in every way preferable by buying Steem although the coin is nearly worthless. It is up to the investors to invest and show their trust in it by doing this since Steemit inc. only shows they lost their faith by keep selling.

By the way: in my opinion, a picture is not a must just a way to be easier noticed.

My last remark is a question to you: What do you do against it? Are you downvoting and commenting why you give that downvote so that person knows what to change to get an upvote or do you hope others risk their necks to do this job for you?

I wish you a great day with 💕

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi Thanks a lot for your great comment!

I find it amazing you just found out about all the... content

It took me some time ;-)

What do you do against it? Are you downvoting and commenting why you give that downvote so that person knows what to change to get an upvote or do you hope others risk their necks to do this job for you?

I personnaly hate downvotes. I feel it is like being judged when one recieves one. So I tend either to ignore posts that are not good quality. I have only a limited number of upvotes to give a day so I try to give them as good as I can among the things that appear on my radar ;-). I also try to give upvotes to people who interact with me and with my posts because I appreciate it a lot!

0
0
0.000
avatar
(Edited)

The most important buzz words that should hit the mailboxes of any new account!

Curators need quality and authors need to know what quality means

Along with something like this post...

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thank you for your comment! I think that newbies don't have an easy job on steem. It would be great if they were coached a bit!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Could not agree less than 100% =)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Congratulations @achim03! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You distributed more than 6000 upvotes. Your next target is to reach 7000 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

You can upvote this notification to help all Steem users. Learn how here!

0
0
0.000
avatar

I couldn't find anything useful! I was totally amazed at the quantity of posts that are published that lack in quality.

Nah! my dear friend @achim03. Forget about steempeak current tools and @therealwolf smartsteem technique and procedures to find the pearls of content you are looking for to curate. They can't find shit using theirs and you won't find these neither. You just have to use an authentically more sophisticated Curation Swiss Knife to accomplish your goal. :)

I was used to read the well researched posts of the people that are supported by @help.venezuela, the people from @project.hope and the people I follow, but the reality is: There are few quality posts on steem

Yup, unfortunately that sounds majorly true. But hey!! ...if you are still interested in find fancy 'quality content' to curate storing it in your treasure chest. Then you only have to click here!! LoL

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hello my friend,

You just have to use an authentically more sophisticated Curation Swiss Knife to accomplish your goal. :)

I loved that one. I'll get out my Swiss army knife that I still have from my military service and will try to use it to curate better ;-). It's actually a great knife that has several blades for different needs, to slice, to cut and even to screw....(can be useful here on steem;-)). Thanks a lot for your colorful comment. I will immediately check out your post.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Hi @achim03, you were sponsored by @coach.piotr for the HoboDAO content contest and you won 2nd place!

You received an upvote and resteem from the HoboDAO.

!trdo

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks a lot ! I'm very happy ;-)

0
0
0.000
avatar

Howdy dear @achim03.

I think you are confusing two big aspects in your post. On the one hand you talk about quality publications and on the other hand you give us advice on how to capture the attention of curators.
Both approaches are valid individually, but we cannot relate them.

The fact of choosing an image and an attractive title for your publication may capture the attention of a "potential curator", but this is not part and does not define a quality publicity.

As I said before, a curator won't have the time to read your entire post.

The fact that you mention that our publication will not be read is also very sad.

Don't forget that the curator has only 5 minutes to go over the feed and see your post.

For just imagining this situation, I felt stress.

I think that considering an article as "quality" or "valuable" will depend a lot on subjectivity. Maybe an engineering article that talks about metric computing will not be valuable to me, but it will surely be a quality publication.
This is why curators must be very objective when deciding which article they will vote on.

Your friend, Juan.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Guess i better add more words to my last post. I spent days editing the footage only for it to get mostly ignored. Mind you i posted at 3am trying to make a contest deadline, so it probably got seen by almost no one. I do think i've only posted quality posts, accept a few short posts to let ppl know about price dips, which i want to do as fast as possible.
One thing i think should be an option in the future, is a chance to earn for more than 7 days. The reason being that if i spent a week making something, and it gets missed by curators, it's pretty hard to stay motivated. If this does happen, i would think a larger percentage should go to curators, thus incentivizing upvotes for a longer time. I've mentioned it to a few witnesses, so my hope is we might see that option in a future hardfork.

P.s sorry for a bit of self promotion, but my contest post could use some eyes on it, and if i win that would be great curation for anyone to like it before they do a full upvote on it. 😉

0
0
0.000