Followers on steemit / steem is huge. It's your audience. Much like facebook fans, or twitter followers. WAIT! It is not the same..
In a perfect world, yes you would. If you have 1,500 people reading your content, you'd figure that you would get at least 300+ upvotes for every good quality content article you posted.
Q: Does that happen?
A: NO
What is wrong?
Well first of all, just because you have 1,500 followers doesn't mean 1,500 people are sitting there waiting for your next post. Many of them may have liked your stuff in the past... they are just not here everyday.
Q: So what percentage of my followers are going to see my latest post?
A: Probably about 15%
That is 15% (255 out 1500) will ever see your post !?
Q: Will all of them vote up my post, if it is a good post?
A: Sadly, no. Out of the 255, you'll probably see another 15% actually vote you up (38 upvoters out of 1500)
Q: WHY? If I have a good post, and people actually like it and READ it, why don't they vote it up?
A: Sometimes they forget. Most of the time though, they leech what the post has to say, gain the knowledge from it, and save their vote for themselves or their friends. A lot of people just won't take the time to upvote. They WILL READ. They just won't upvote
Ok, @intelliguy, what you're saying really sucks. How can I spend the time to write great content, get a 1,500 following, and when I make a post, only get 38 upvotes from that 1,500 people who follow me?
....I EXPLAIN...
If you have 1,500 people following YOU those same 1,500 people are also following about 200 other people.
Those 1,500 people following YOU don't login everyday, or every minute. The majority of them will miss your post completely. It happens easily. They login. They see 37 new posts since their last login, you're at the bottom of their list.
Many are bots. If you have 1,500 followers, you probably have at least 200 bots that only look for opportunities to auto-upvote something if the heuristics means they'll earn something.
Your point you're trying to make, including your title, tagline, description, use of graphics, and writing style is going to only attract some of your followers (a tiny minority. most won't even see it as eye-catching or interesting)
The voting power of those that "do see your post" is limited. They're already upvoting lots of other people, and their vote weight isn't going entirely to your post either.
Q: So @intelliguy, if I were to gain 1,500 followers, you're basically telling me, I could only get 38 upvotes from my actual followers?
A: Yes
Q: How do you know this...
A: Experience. It keeps happening to me over weeks, months, and again and again.
Q: So why do you keep posting, working hard, and even doing this?
A: That's easy. I've had $87 USD paid comments before. I had one post in the early days worth $4,000 USD because it went viral on steemit. If 1/100 of my posts catches wind and goes crazy, it makes up for the rest of my posts that don't.
Q: How do you handle it when you put your heart and soul into a post, and only get 13 views, and 44 upvotes
A: I handle it well. This happens not to just me, but a lot of other people too. You can't get paid huge every single post unless of course you are @papa-pepper or @stellabelle
**HIDDEN SECRET: ** Both @papa-pepper and @stellabelle are experienced bloggers. They know how to attract an audience and it isn't a per-topic basis. They cultivate their audience and both of them could write a book on how to get guaranteed upvotes regardless of what their subject matter is... I don't fault them for it... they're able to do it. I can't. But they do well... so.. who am I to complain about their success? I wish anyone being able to obtain success like that (even if they post boring dribble on occasion) to make $150+ on every post. They know how the magic works, and they make magic, so.... I just sit back stunned and amazed. (...and happy they earn what I can't.. not jealous at all)
Q: How do @papa-pepper or @stellabelle get PAID huge every single post they make?
A: LOL, haven't figured that out quite yet. But they do, and if you watch, you'll see it too :)
The good thing I'd like to share is that there is still money to be made here. Not pennies.. But Dollars... and if you have something decent to contribute, there is always someone on the other end of the internet who will read your stuff and appreciate that you took the the time to write it.
I'm here to share my knowledge, words, experience, sense of humor, and whatever I can give to be a voice. Sometimes I get paid well. Most of the time I don't. I'm good with that.
If you're a person that wants to get paid well everytime your fingers roll over the keyboard, well, sorry, while steemit BETA is still in test mode, this might not be the place for you.
For the rest of us, that got paid $0.00 for facebook status updates, or $0.00 for twitter tweets, or $0.00 for reddit posts -- yes, steemit and steem is completely worthwhile. So please don't complain -- just appreciate. :)
I'm on day 13/30 of my positivity challenge.
I wrote this blog post not knowing the repercussions of it. But I'm happy I did. I'm honest with myself, and honest with my readers. That feels good. :)
A couple of people have resteemed this post. If you think it is worthy, please consider doing it too. :)