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I am still fairly new to Triond.  However, I have truly found a home here.  A like-minded, tremendously creative, and wonderfully supportive community of people.  And in the short time that I have been writing for Triond, I have fumbled my way through the in’s and out’s and how to’s of creating the best article I possibly can.  I have done this through the informative articles of my fellow writers, through the words of advice from personal communication as well as the forum, and through the wonders of trial and error.  Here is what I have learned!

First and foremost is content.  The more relevant the content is to your readers or current events, the more hits you’ll get.  I keep a constant eye on the Hot Content list, and that tells me what people are reading the most.  I also browse the community and the content of my friends to see what tends to get more hits and reviews.  A great example of “relevant” is the article I did on Barack Obama, the day of his swearing in as President.  It received more hits in one day than any of my other writing has received, total, in the few weeks since I began on Triond.  Your title will also be a huge part of what catches people’s attention.  Be sure to use a powerful title, one that will either make them curious enough to click on you, one with powerful words that will entice them, or one with words that will appeal to their emotional side as I try to do with my poetry titles.  And please be sure to toggle your spell check and proof read your item before submitting, if your work seems sloppy, you will not build up a base of regular readers.

Friends!  The more friends you have, the more readers you have!  My tip?  I went through the Hot Users list one by one and added them as friends.  Every one of them has been nothing but kind and supportive, and they’ve been an excellent resource for a newbie like me!  Don’t be afraid to contact them through your Inbox if you have specific questions, and the Triond Forum is an invaluable tool for this as well.  These Hot Users know their way around, and they definitely read and review for their friends on Triond.  The other benefit of more friends is that your work will pop up in their news feed as it gets published.  We are all far more likely to click on someone’s work when it pops up in our face each day!  Also, check your Fan tab from time to time, I have found Fans there, not yet on my Friend list, that I can then just click Add As Friend under them…since I already know they have read and enjoyed my writing!  And of course, all of this works the other way as well, the more you read and review for people, the more friends you will drum up to read and review for you.  Realizing just how much people’s comments and “Likes” mean to me, I have become more conscious of leaving comments for others.  Until the money starts coming in, these are what I have as acknowledgement of a job well done!

Other resources to give your work exposure.  I am on Facebook, and have a substantial friend list there.  Each time I publish a new item, I immediately post the link as my Facebook status, and post the item on my profile page.  This has allowed me to reach an audience outside of Triond, one that includes my family and friends.  I will also e-mail the link to my contacts not on my Facebook.  Other resources include sites such as Stumble Upon, Digg, and My Space (similar to Facebook).  A group of Triond users, including myself, have recently begun using Stumble together as yet another way in which we can help each other gain the exposure.  Though I am really new to this, and have definitely been “stumbling” around on that site, I am starting to get the hang of it and the group of us have been working together to get everyone’s work out there to as many others as possible!  Be careful, you’re not supposed to Stumble too much of your own work, they can boot you for spamming.  I have only Stumbled two of my own pieces, the rest I send to my Triond friends asking for their thumbs up and a Stumble if they enjoy it.  You also need to be following the Stumble Upon thread in the Triond Forum to really get the inside scoop and figure out what to do and what not do, to avoid having Stumble block you.  Thus the need for us to work together!  I have never used Digg, however it’s next on my list to explore.

Publish!  It really is just a numbers game in the end.  I throw up poetry almost every day, partly because it’s something that I love to write, but also because it comes easy to me, and I can pound out a decent poem in no time at all and know that I am publishing something almost every day.  The more content you have out there, quite obviously, the more hits you will get each day.  That’s not to say, however, that you should be publishing anything other than your best efforts, or you will quickly begin to lose readership!  Rhyming is just what I do best, and whether I do it in ten minutes, or two days, it’s still going to be something I can be proud of before I will submit it.

Links and pictures.  Again, by reading, reading, reading what all the Hot Users have to say, I learned how to link my other works to my newest pieces.  Once you figure it out, it’s a quick, easy process that allows your other work to be in constant circulation and drum up hits it wouldn’t otherwise get.  I initially began with just one or two links, but after poking around on friend’s articles, I realized I didn’t have to limit myself, and now I typically link 4 of my other pieces.  Pictures can also add to your published content, but you must be careful to find “free” images and identify your source.  If it’s your own photo, all that is required is for you to type under it, “Image By Author”, if you pull one off the web, you must type, “Image Source” and include the link.  I made sure to read the Triond FAQ’s on this subject to ensure I wasn’t using images that they would turn down.  The FAQ’s can be another invaluable resource while you’re finding your way around.

Revisions.  This has only happened to me a couple of times.  Every time, it was that vague “Content item contains content that we cannot publish. The content you have submitted does not conform to our editorial guidelines. Your content must not contain any derogatory, offensive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, vulgar, profane, abusive, harassing, obscene, pornographic, defamatory, or tortuous material.”  Though I haven’t entirely figured out how to deal with this one, I have tried a couple of different things that worked for those particular articles.  Firstly, on the advice of a Hot User, I e-mailed the editors and outright asked my questions.  They responded quickly, and I was able to use their advice, revise my article, and get it published.  Secondly, I searched Triond Content for key words I had used that may be deemed “offensive”, and through that method was able to rule out which ones have been published already, thus indicating to me that those must not be the things they wanted me to revise.  I was very grateful to discover, through this method, that Dr. Penis could remain Dr. Penis and not have to be changed to Dr. Ding-A-Ling!  This may not be foolproof, but it can help you to narrow down just what it might be that they are finding offensive.  Thankfully, I have never actually had anything declined so I can’t speak to that!

You are your own biggest fan!  Silly as it may seem, it took me more than a few days to realize that I could hit my own work each and every day and have it count!  Obviously, your home IP address is your home IP address, so once a day is all you get from there.  But, my husband makes sure to hit my content from work every day as well.  I know two extra hits a day doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re just starting out, every little bit helps.  And we all have loved ones that would likely be happy to do the same each day until you really get yourself rolling.  I know my Mom is in my loop!  Look at that, three extra hits a day!  On each item I have published!  And of course, on this topic, don’t give up on yourself.  It isa slow process initially, but I can’t tell you the growing excitement as my list of published content rises, along with my views and my earnings.  It may not seem like much in the beginning, and it really isn’t, as far as the monetary end goes, however, take pride in your creativity and in your voice being heard.  Just keep on keeping on, and the money will come eventually.  Let’s face it, most of us aren’t in this strictly for the money, we do it because we are a creative group with something to say, or a talent to share, that, without Triond, we wouldn’t otherwise have the outlet for.

Hopefully these tips are helpful to the other newbies like myself out there, and will save you some of the time and energy I expended finding my way around Triond.  Though I will admit, following my own advice, the biggest reason I wrote this is because “How To (anything having to do with) Triond” articles seem to always be on the Hot Content list!  Maybe, just maybe, this will wind up being my first Hot Content!  Keep your eye on that list, either way, one of these days, you will see my work on it!