Build your following
The Steemit landscape has changed a little since writing this post but it still provides excellent insight into how you should be trying to build your following on Steem.
As you grow your followers, your posts will be seen in more peoples' feeds, and the result will be more upvotes. The more upvotes you get, the more visible your post becomes.
Write for Google's eyes
Your views and reads don't have to come from Steemit, they can come from search engines too! Sure, views from search engines are going to occur after the Steem payout window closes. The views are also probably going to be coming from non-steemians, which would mean their vote would be all but worthless. That doesn't mean they have to be worthless to you.
You don't need upvotes to earn money from your Steem blog. Read this post to see another way that you should be monetizing your blog.
If your posts contain affiliate links, after they start getting traffic from Google, you can earn commissions for years into the future.
Tags
At the end of your post, you can put up to five tags. Users often search for posts within a tag, in fact, many curators look at specific tags every day to find great posts to upvote.
Use as many tags as you can but make sure they're relevant to your content.
Commenting and building relationships with Steemians
This is probably the best way to get views and votes on your posts. Read other peoples' posts and leave thoughtful, engaging comments. Don't let it stop there, though. After they reply, continue to engage with them and try to build meaningful, lasting relationships.
If you spend a lot of time reading and leaving great comments on posts, you'll find that your following will start to grow substantially faster.