Do you constantly struggle with your growth on hive? You probably have been here for a few months, or one, two years, and you still don’t attract a lot of upvotes or the big curators. It’s discouraging I know, that’s why I’m here to help you today. I do have the keys to being a successful blogger on hive, this is all the self-help you need because I know it all.
Okay scratch that, I’m just kidding. I don’t know it all and you’ve probably read over and over how to get the big guns to upvote your blog posts. I’m only here to share my experience and what I’ve read from others that I think are useful for making your blog look good, good enough to have people interested to leave an upvote.
I hope you pick at least one thing that might be of help. I don’t exactly have a list or remember from who and who I read all these, but they’ve stuck with me so I’m just going to spill it as it comes.
Your titles are too long
I got to know of this one early enough and it did make a lot of sense to me. As a reader, I am completely turned off by long titles so why would I expect others to check out my post with long ass titles?
Your title should go straight to the point or be something catchy that immediately grabs attention. I remember reading from this author that 7-8 words max is ideal for a good title. I try to keep mine to around 5-8 but I sometimes make exceptions if I think the title can still grab attention.
There’s also the issue of including the translated version of your title right there in the heading. This makes the title unnecessarily long. I read about this one only recently and I totally agree how unattractive that can be. I used to do this initially when I’d have a bilingual post but then I had to stop because the long title didn’t sit well with me.
I learned that simply indicating that it’s bilingual e.g ESP/ENG, is just enough instead of writing the whole translated version in the title heading.
Too many dividers/footers
This is one that personally pisses me off. I find it so distracting because do you really need all that to make your post look good? I understand how a cluttered post is unflattering so dividers help make it all organised, but putting dividers after every paragraph is not cool. I find it exhausting and I quickly exit the post after a few lines. This applies to a very long footer also, some people use as much as five footers!
I thought I was being too critical about it but then a few days ago I came across a tweet by AcidyO talking about how using too many footers on your post makes it harder for curators to reach the upvote button. It was hilarious but I see how that can be true especially if you’re upcoming and haven’t found your ground yet.
Why do you have your life history in your footer and trying to show us all of your design skills? I’m sorry but I really would forget to give you my ginormous 2 cents after reading your post because you have me distracted by the damn footers. I personally think easy does it, one footer is enough or maybe two if you really want to be a footer maximalist.
Trying to sound like someone else
Originality is priceless and it’s way easier to do. It’s awesome to learn from other hivers and take a cue from them but you don’t have to be them. Do you because if you do otherwise, it’s noticeable. Some people might even be able to tell who you’re trying to sound like at a glance. I’d appreciate whatever personal opinion you have in your own style of writing rather than a copycat version.
Do not ramble too much
Well, I do ramble sometimes because that’s simply me but I try to keep it concise and still drive a point. I have learned that your first paragraph should convey what your message is about, just as we learned back in school.
You should be able to pass your message in a number of paragraphs and there’s no need to trail off-topic over and over just so you can lengthen the post. You know that saying, it’s not how far but how well, or something like that.
These are the few pointers that come to mind right now and I would probably do more of these subsequently. I would love to know what you think about these points and it’s okay to disagree with me.
Discord - wolfofnostreet#4939
Twitter - wolfofnostreet_
