#There's so much to remember about good content!

So, today, I'm going to help you create a checklist with today's assignment that you can apply to each piece as you put it up. This will help to maximize your posting!

Today on Dolphinschool Bootcamp is going to be a little different. We're getting close to the end and tomorrow's assignment is going to be a "fun" one. I won't spoil it, but I've hinted at it already.

So, first let me say

I got the message!

If and when Dolphinschool reconvenes, there will be some changes.

1. Probably 5 days instead of ten, possibly two sessions, beginner and advanced
2. Assignments will be more clearly posted and easier to respond to
3. I will have a team to help manage some things
4. Support will be put in place for the authors, although, I think their results speak for themselves, I would have loved to see them earn more SBD

If I had it to give, I would, but, that wouldn't really prove the point either. Getting some curators to cover the event would be a great way to go.

Okay, housekeeping out of the way, back to work!

Creating a checklist for your content has huge benefits!

By keeping a list of all the moving parts you need to check, before sending your piece out into the wide world, you can minimize mistakes and maximize impact!

1.Start at the top!

Whatever your list contains, it should start at the top of the piece.

Start with the basics.

• Headline: If I didn't know me, or what this was about, would I click that?
• Preview image: Is it going to catch my eye out of 250k others?
• Check them on your blog right after posting, make sure they work. You can update it, if not.

The 80/20 rule, AKA "The Pareto Principle" applies here.

The Pareto principle is a truism that states that at any time, in any place, 20% of the people will have 80% of the impact.

• 20% of the people in any office do roughly 80% of the work
• 20% of workers earn 80% of wages (excluding the upper 1%)
• 20% of people stir up 80% of the trouble
• 20% of steemers get 80% of the votes

While there are definitely exceptions to this rule, and sometimes it's more of a 70/30 split, or whatever, it holds true in almost all cases that a small percentage of people, or things, make up an overwhelming percentage of the impact.

REMEMBER "Dog Bites Man" is not news, "Man Bites Dog" Now that's a headline!

But, here it is a FACT!

80% of the attractiveness of your content, is in the headline and preview image!

SO, don't make that an afterthought. A lot of journalists spend ours on a headline and literal minutes typing up copy. This, above all things can change your life on steemit.

ALL NEW READERS are captured this way.

2. Move to the body

This is vitally important as well. If curb appeal is how you get new visitors, having a comfortable sofa, and good snacks is how you get repeat guests that become your BFFs.

Read it!

Some of you are posting so fast, you're not even reading your content. Are you? Raise your hand if that's you, I see you, you back there, in the back, GET YOUR HAND UP!

Let's get real for a minute. I post so much stuff some days, I don't read it all, but listen to me, do what I say, not what I do! "Thanks DAD!"
You're welcome!

If it doesn't read right, fix it. The first few minutes and hours on steemit are critical to the life of your content! If you don't get votes in the first 24 hours, your only chance of success is a whale rescue sometime before payout.

Edit it!

So, it reads okay to you, yeah? But, I can see the errors from here, and I'm not even on your blog. So? Get an editor. Either find a friend on Steemit who will help you with that, go get some free English grammar courses online (go back through dolphinschool, I've shared some) get Grammarly.com or Hemingway, or White Smoke Editor.

Trust me on this, it matters.

For those writing in another language, I cannot stress this enough. I'm proud of you! Good job! That's very brave, and I envy you! But, put the shoe on the other foot. If I were writing in Spanish, or any of the beautiful African languages represented here, and it was sloppy, misspelled, and out of tense...

WOULD. YOU. READ. IT???

NO!

Just like English speakers here, if my headline didn't really make sense grammatically, you wouldn't just say, oh, well he meant well. No, you'd blow right by me and head for that writer who gets where you are coming from!

I'm sorry. This is not me being privileged American White Guy, or a Grammar Nazi, or a snob. This is me getting down here with you, where I've been, critiquing your work free of charge for eight days! And telling you, if you don't do the very best you can at this right here, you won't get very far.

In fact, you might just consider owning the space in your native language.

Some countries are signing up so fast, that even though they are all tiny plankton, cornering the market on those votes and building a real community could make you wealthy. And not just wealthy in a 3rd world country wealthy, I'm talking uppper middle class neighborhood in a white suburb America wealthy.

I hope you hear me here. I'm not being a snob. I grew up dirt poor by any American standard. We often went without electricity or running water. There was always food, but not much, and not what we wanted.

I am not trying to belittle, or condescend. I am sharing a real reality in this present place. You might do better appealing in your native tongue, until your English improves, or try both.

Edit your work, enough said.

Also, check your images, formatting, headers, and text wrapping around images in a good preview window. The best bet is to give your piece one more scan inside Steemit. Some problems don't show up in other editors.

3. Build footer content

Some of you have done a great job with this. You know who you are. I've mentioned it. But, linking to your content, things that are helpful, other projects you are part of all add value and build a connection with the reader.

It's okay to ask for support, but be polite.

The best way to handle all of this is to build a really nice footer that you can use on all of your content and save it. Swap out the links to keep your 7 day payout in mind from time to time and use this over and over.

Also, if you're writing a series, like dolphinschool bootcamp, DOH! Create links to the other content, or nav buttons.

Add this footer content to every piece. You can separate it by a border to keep your body content from looking spammy, but use it!

4. Promote every time!

Even if you just set up a Twitter handle and share it there, or a Facebook page, use those little social share buttons. It's super easy. It's built in and it creates backlinks to your content, raising your visibility.

If you really want to go down a rabbit hole, figure out how to set up an RSS feed from your steemit account and go to IFTTT.com and automate your sharing!

On my blog at MarkRMorrisjr.com I share about how to do this from other blogging platforms. Anything shared on that blog, goes to 28 other places instantly.

Your promotions list might look like this.

• Social share buttons, use for profiles and groups
• Build link to share in upcoming posts this week
• Find at least one conversation to add a link into on steemit (no spam)
• Promote in discord or other chat groups

5. Answer EVERY Comment!

I really, really, try to reply to every comment I see. Somedays my replies feed is too busy and I miss some. But, I try to even reply to spam comments, even if it's just to ask them "Really, what part did you like about my piece" and mess with them. Sometimes that turns into a genuine conversation.

I hate the 20 second comment rule!

Yea, I get it. It's to prevent me from spamming comment threads. But, I can easily read and genuinely reply, in detail to more than one comment in the same thread in less than 20 seconds! UGGH! It gets frustrating.

You need followers. The best way to get loyal followers is to establish the readers you've got!

Number One Rule of Steemit Blog Club: It is ALWAYS easier to get a reader to come back, upvote and resteem than it is to convince a new visitor to do the same. They already clicked. They are there. Now you just have to make them want to stay a minute and come back another time! Commenting is how you do this.

Add value to your comments. If you know the answer to a question, have something in common with that person, or whatever, use it in your conversation. Don't just bomb every comment with thanks! Sometimes, there's nothing more to say and that's okay, but try to engage them.

When we talk about community, this is what it looks like. A big conversation is how it starts. Often, we have to engage in small talk first. People need to feel us out. Then it leads to repeat visits and eventually, recommendations to their own followers, and maybe a partner for something bigger!

I really tried to make this short today, I swear!

#Homework

Optimize your content with these ideas. Go back and update at least one piece you worked on this week. See if you can get more views or upvotes to it. That's it. If you write a new piece today, you can leave a link here.

For rewards tonight, I will be choosing five pieces from the week that did not get shared as rewards share to feature. Thanks for the hard work guys, tomorrow, you graduate!!!