Here's how to get watchers

I'm doing this because I hate it when people go "I wish I had as many watchers as you " and I click on their profile and it either has just a few deviations, a bunch of screenshots/colored bases, or only journals.
 
Yeah, gee, I wonder why you don't have many watchers...

First off, let me just say that if your goal here is to get as many watchers as possible, you are going to be sorely disappointed. Have you seen any popular YouTuber whose original goal was to get lots of subscribers? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Your goal should be drawing/writing your passions and interacting with the community. Let's focus on the former first. I'm just going to say that if all you post are colored bases (not bases you created yourself, I mean coloring bases which don't belong to you), screenshots, or similar stuff, not many people are going to watch you. People want to see original things, and by that I don't mean non-fanart/non-fanfics, I mean things that you created mainly by yourself. Fanart and the like is based off of something that already exists, but there is still a lot of original thought that goes into that. Colored bases and screenshots? Not so much.

I know I post random photoshopped stuff and lots of journals, but that's not what I mainly post. Writing is what people watch me for. Now, if your artistic skills are lacking in your opinion, there's always ways you can improve. The best way is to PRACTICE and look at other art/writing that has actual quality.

Now let's get to interacting with the community. By this, I mean posting stuff to groups (seriously this is the most efficient way to get watchers) and commenting/faving stuff. But please don't just fave randomly and post comments with completely insubstantial stuff (i.e. roleplays amongst your OCs, one word comments like "Cool!" and "Awesome") and definitely don't ask people to watch you because that only succeeds in making you look annoying.

Have a little bit of depth! Say stuff like "I really like the way you shaded her dress!" or "The part in the story where so-and-so did this made me cry, it was so touching!" You can even give critiques if you'd like. Posting substantial comments shows that you're really paying attention to what the artist/writer did, and we love that! We might even decide to look at your profile to see what you've posted! (That's actually how I met most of my online friends on here :3)

But of course, if posting comments isn't really your thing (*raises hand guiltily*), there's always groups. I've mentioned this before, but groups are the best way for people to see your stuff, especially for fanart/fanfics. It's also the best way to find other art. Make sure that what you're posting is actually relevant to the group, though! And you can always post to multiple groups (although I'm also guilty of posting to too many groups whoops).

So in short, don't join dA just to get watchers. Don't post unoriginal content. Don't expect people to be able to find your stuff if you don't interact with the community at all. And finally, don't be annoying and spam people. 

(This journal was going to be a simple rant and it ended up becoming a long piece of advice. O_O)