Steemit operating advice for newcomers and the generally 'not quite sure'.
I’ve noticed a lot of new bloggers on the Steemit platform lately and yesterday, @s0u1 and I visited our dear friend @opheliafu – no @cryptofunk, unfortunately, but we’ll catch up soon
We were discussing things we’ve noticed that the newcomers are doing differently to how we used Steemit when we first joined.
The number at the side of your name is your ‘rep’ – Reputation. It’s relatively easy to raise it to start with and then it gets harder as you go. People above 50 rep are working hard to earn that number. Be respectful of their hard work.
Pages List
Across the top of your banner (you can now customise the banner with your own picture rather than the Steemit banner we had before) there is ‘home’ ‘new’ ‘hot’ ‘trending’ and ‘promoted’.
The ‘home’ page lists the posts from people you follow. It also shows the posts that are resteemed by those you follow too. Be aware of that when you’re resteeming, the people that follow you will get everything you resteem as soon as you resteem it.
The ‘new’ page is exactly what it says – everything new, as it’s posted. You can see posts from people you no longer follow and from those you’ve yet to follow AS WELL AS those you follow. It gets very busy on the ‘new’ page.
‘hot’ shows posts that are getting a lot of attention from upvoters.
Click on your page and then on ‘hot’ and it shows everything that’s gaining traction. There’s a list of tags to the right side of that page and if you click one, it then shows what’s ‘hot’ in that tag – or subject.
With ‘trending’ it’s a little different to ‘hot’ in the fact that the ‘trending’ posts are usually big-earners. They hold the interest of more people for longer. The same with ‘hot’, click your page then ‘trending’ to see the whole list and then click a particular tag to the right side to see more specific trending posts in that subject.
‘promoted’ is a list of posts where someone (not always the author of the post) has paid for it to be promoted. You can promote from as little as .001 SBD and that gets you onto another page, so in effect, you’ve got six tag opportunities, rather than five.
VOTING
If you like a post, UPVOTE it. Click that little upvote box. It costs you NOTHING and you can actually earn Steem.
No, really… you can.
The reward total on a post is divided between the author and the curators (they are the ones that have upvoted a post). 75% of the steem goes to the person that wrote the post and 25% goes to everyone that upvoted. It’s not quite as simple as that, though…
The amount you receive depends on how much you have in your Steemit Wallet. The more you have, the more you give when you vote and therefore, the more you get back when the post is paid-out at the end of seven days.
If you upvote a post and it then goes onto the ‘hot’ page, your upvote will give you a little of that reward.
I’ve seen people apologising because they haven’t given much - @opheliafu, @s0u1 and I think those people believe they have to use their own money to reward a post – NOT SO!
Keep your Steem, your SBD and power-up! Accumulate, save, invest and carry on blogging.
Upvote if you like someone’s work – that is all the reward you need to give and believe me, it’s appreciated.
If you want to do a little more, comment on the post. Say you enjoyed it, ask if there are any more posts on the way, follow the person, check out their blog page – click any name on the Steemit platform and it will take you right to their ‘follow’ button. Click the name again and you get their whole page.
Here’s the DON’T list -
Don’t spam your blog link on someone else’s post, it’s not polite, especially if it has nothing to do with the subject posted.
Don’t beg for follows and resteems, I just ignore those that do that. Instead, engage in conversation. Ask questions, show you’re interested.
Follow people that write things you’re interested in. If you’re interested in a subject, you’re more likely to enjoy their blog.
DON’T LOOK AT THIS AS A WAGE-EARNER – at least not from the start.
Don’t be discouraged if you earn a big reward and then nothing.
Don’t be discouraged if you earn nothing… and then nothing.
Don’t STEAL, ‘borrow’ or copy-paste – you WILL be found out and your reputation will be in the toilet.
Write good quality posts, put spaces between paragraphs to make it easy on the eye to your readers and add pictures. If you use Google Images, Pixabay etc, be sure to say where the pictures are from. If you need to ask permission to use an image, make sure you ask and receive that permission before you post it.
If you enjoyed or learned anything from this, click the upvote. If you think your followers will benefit from the little bits of advice I posted here, resteem it.
If you have anything to add, please do! Post your additions in the comments.
I promise that if I use your advice in another one of these blogs, I’ll credit you.
Some of the images are from Google - others I've taken photographs of my Steemit page
Great advice from someone who has worked hard to get where she is. Thank you for sharing. I believe attitude is also important. I have seen many who are complaining that they are not making the mega bucks that they had wanted. They want immediate results. That's why we have the problem coming along now with bots and spammers. I joined steemit so I could have a platform to share my work with others and share ideas with like minded people. I appreciate honest feed back and I try to give the best responses for replies. If I make a liitle money on the side, that is a bonus.
And that, dear @cecicastor, is the crux of this whole Steemit experience. Enjoy, Blog, Share, Receive Feedback and if you gain a few bucks, that's a BONUS!
thank you for the lovely post. You touch many issues that needs to be talked about but isn't. I'm fairly new myself (couple of months) I have noticed many of the mentioned above behaviors like spammy comments/content , posting links of their own blog on someone else's blog post, blindly following without even looking at the content or a single up-vote at any point ever in hopes one will follow back then go on a unfollow spree once they have an audience, creating multiple accounts to upvote their own post, lots of dishonorable behaviors that devalue the platform and it needs to stop but not enough ppl are talking about it. myself along with many others are here to form real friendships with like-minded individuals and learn new perspectives. I would much prefer getting 10 upvotes worth 0.00 and know somebody cares about my writing than a bunch of followers that has no intention on ever contributing anything. it is discouraging. I continue to push myself to keep writing regardless. I notice many whales and dolphins starting to take action on deceitful behaviors. i'm very thankful for that.
You're welcome and thank you for your detailed response. It helps for others to see other people's perspectives.
I think we all have a duty of care not just to the platform but to new users coming in. If we don't help and encourage, they'll become disillusioned and leave. That's no good for anyone.
All good tips. Steemit can seem strange when people join up and it's tempting to try to make as much as possible early on, but if you annoy people it can kill your reputation. Building connections is a key strategy
Absolutely! I think we had it easier than the new-newcomers. There were more people to help out, it seemed and we learned together.
Perfect post to keep in our "know how" folder.
Have a nice day!
Thank you!
You too :)
I would change your formatting advice to be stronger. Learning to make your posts look nice should be what you focus on in the first weeks and months so that you improve quickly.
Simple formatting is not that hard to learn and there are tons of posts telling little pieces so you can learn as you go. I personally cannot read anything that is a long block of text and do not even try.
Sadly, I close a lot of possibly good posts for that reason. This is especially true in the writing tag. I want to read because of the title and first sentence, but I just can't.
I notice you did not mention the timing of the vote. Do you think it is something to ignore in the beginning?
Someone (don't remember who ) right at the beginning told me not to bother with the promoted, so I have never looked at it in the whole 9 weeks. But I did not think of it from the other side of promoting myself. I thought it would be much more expensive so now I will look into it. Thank you!
And thank you for such a detailed post. We're trying down here and it is not easy!
I haven't given any formatting advice yet. I wanted to start with the basics first.
To start with, that's as much as you need. :)
Formatting is simple, but Steemit can be complicated for the newbie and one step at a time is probably best for the beginners.
The timing on the vote for beginners again is another complexity for later, I think. Just getting their name out there, getting a few followers and interacting. The timing of their vote won't amount to much to start with, unless they are powering-up with a lot of purchased Steem, so timing won't make much difference.
Did you get an explanation as to why you should not bother with the promoted stuff? I'm not sure why you'd be advised to avoid it. I use it from time to time, but as with everything Steemit, to start with, don't expect to make hundreds on your posts. If you do, you can celebrate an unexpected windfall.
You're most welcome.
From the responses I've received, I think there may be another post coming soon and I'll be sure to add your formatting points in there, @fitinfun - thank you :)
Thank for all the info. So helpful and I will look out for part two. I think the person said something along the line of "those are ads." This made me think I would want to skip them.
There are no ads on Steemit :) Everything is a post. You may get some spammers though... ;)
Not too many since I am little. I think they go after you big guys more :)
I'd say don't bother with the promotion page and its efforts because it doesn't look one bit productive. Entries like "Potential Payout $20.51 in 15 minutes / promotion cost $38.14" are pretty standard. Days back, I saw one that showed a $4+ potential payout with an $88 promotion cost.
That pretty much killed the whole idea for us ... so unless the potential payout figures are on top of the promotion costs (and if so, somewhere someone should make that clear) ... I'd agree with those who say "skip it." (Another real-life example -- Potential Payout $1.54 -- in 10 hours -- Promotion Cost $22.00.)
Also, I don't see much here that isn't somehow crypto-related ... and while I realize that's 90% of what this platform is really about -- if that's not your audience, it would seem you're not apt to find much of a new readership or more followers using this strategy.
If there's a misunderstanding here, please do correct me. I'm still learning like so many others. But that's how I see this issue presently.
No, not misleading, you've said what you've seen.
I haven't looked at the promotion page recently.
To be honest, I don't think some of the people are using the promotion feature to recoup their investment. I think they are using it to get their blog post at the top of the page so everyone can see it.
Just because someone pays a fortune to promote their blog post doesn't mean it will necessarily make 'mega-bucks' although it has happened before now.
Thanks for you short introduction on first steps into the depth of Steemit-Jungle...
You say, one can earn if a upvoted post goes to the hot area, right ?
so all other upvotes on posts not reaching there do not get me anywhere ?
Is that right ?
If so, my next question would be superfluos: how many decimals are counted in calculating the curations by the blockchain ?
My wallet displays only four digits (x.xxx) - is this for display reasons only and lower amounts just accumulating or are they lost ?
This question concerns me since few days as I not really got much out of my upvotes so far and the first 7 days period just finishes on Tuesday...
Thank you so far !
@honolulu ;)
Not quite. If you upvote a post and it goes on to be 'hot' and then (fingers crossed) 'trending' you get more than you would have because 25% of the reward is more and so is your share.
I have to admit, it's negligible, but still fun to watch a post you voted on early-on going to heady-heights on the Trending page.
Please don't just upvote posts you think will do that though. This platform depends upon people growing their small account through others upvoting.
Continue to read and enjoy blogs posted on Steemit and don't forget, every single one of us started at 25.
Not got a clue on that one, sorry. I have no idea.
That is accumulated.
Thank you very much for your answer... the main question troubling me right now was answered ;) no votes lost, the rewards just don`t show up because of display reasons (maybe lower than 0.000) but they are accumulated... that is quiet reassuring...
Yes, it's all calculated by people so much cleverer than me and you'd have to read their blogs for the more detailed answers.
in 350 k users and so many blogs it is not easy to find out the ones you mention ;) if you have any suggestions, please let me know ;)
Use the tags to find experts on the fields you're interested in. There's also a search button on your page (shaped like a magnifying glass).
thank you...
@tippy vote
@tippy vote
Not to forget respect the tags because there's some steemer that will downvote post that does not respect tags. I learned about it the hard way.
Yes, there are a few lessons you have to learn FAST
Really a helpful post for the newbies like . I want to invest my steem dollar to buy steem power , so that i can reward more . Is it helpful or not ?
Oh yes! Please do invest if you can. That's exactly what I'm doing.
The easiest way to invest is to Power-Up your Steem rewards. Also, you can buy and sell SBD/Steem on the internal market.
Found on your own page, to the right of your icon - three lines, click the lines and select 'Currency Market' - or HERE is the direct link.
Thanks a lot
Welcome :)
Great post, helpful for newbies, the Do not list must be published daily, spammers are everywhere =(
Thank you and yes, you're right. I hope it's because they don't know any better and will stop the practice if they are told.
Very informative and interesting post.