Steemit comes with a steep learning curve. I know that I am a noob, but I have learned a lot over the last 2.5 weeks! So I thought why doesn’t this noob teach other noobs what she has learned so far? Some of these things I only found out about a couple days ago...why not learn about them now so you can be successful now?
Do not choose the 100% Power Up option for payout (at least for right now!)
When I started here many moons ago (or it least it feels that way from the amount I’ve learned on here so far!) I happened to read a post that said that everyone should be using the 100% STEEM Power payout option. The post was old. The reason why you shouldn’t use it is because last year Steem Back Dollars (you know, the stuff that you get paid half of) was worth around a dollar. They intended for SBD to be always worth around $1. Well, guess what, its not worth one dollar. As of this moment SBD is worth $5.52! If you choose the 100% Steem Power option you will be missing out on a ton of SBD that you can use to buy STEEM to power up. I did this for my first couple posts because I didn’t know better. But now I do, and so do you!
When I found this out my mind was blown.
The price you see on your post does not reflect the current price of SBD. Since the creators of Steemit intended for Steem Backed Dollars to be worth $1, the price you see reflected as the value of your upvotes is currently inaccurate!
This is my post: It shows the value of my post at $29.17.
But when I check Steem.Supply it shows the true value of my post at the current trading price of SBD and STEEM taken into account
I was made aware of Steem.Supply this week and it is truly an excellent tool to look at the value of all your posts and comments. It calculates you how much you will be paid out in SBD and Steem Power. It also shows other metrics about your account including the total value of your account, what kind of engagement you are receiving on your posts and who your loyal followers are. Thanks @dragosroua for making this great resource!
Make sure that you don’t drain your voting power! Every vote you use will make each subsequent vote worth less and less. You can check your voting power on Steem.supply or Steemd.com. Your voting power will recharge around 20% a day. I drained my voting power early on (I’ll explain why in the next point) and I have been trying to get it to recharge ever since.
The reason why I drained my voting power when I started is because I was upvoting so many low effort comments! I was just happy that anyone was commenting at all! This brings me to my next tip, commenting.
Make an effort with your commenting, I know that this has been said by almost everyone who has written about Steemit since it started. If you comment “nice post” not only are you offending the person that took hours to write the original post, they may actually flag your comment which will lower your reputation. I think the breakthrough moment for me was when someone commented "Nice post brother." on my post. They could have at least said "Nice post SISTER" instead..since...I'm a girl and all.
I have been reading more and more posts where the writer confronts the “nice post” comments instead of just ignoring them, and I can see why. If you read a blog post and you don’t have anything besides “nice post” to say, it’s best to move on and find posts you do have something to contribute on. Another thing to remember that if you take the time to comment on a post, always upvote the post you are commenting on! It’s just the right thing to do. You say thank you to the author when you upvote them, not when you literally comment “thank you” on it.
If you don’t have enough voting power, wait until you do to comment and upvote. The other reason why I drained my voting power early on is because posts that are over 7 days old DO NOT PAY OUT! I swear, when I learned this I screamed “OH NO!” I had been reading old posts and upvoting them! If someone writes something awesome, go to their page find something current to vote on instead.
If someone takes the time to comment something thoughtful, reply. Build relationships. Actually use Steemit for what its intended for, not just to make a buck! You will not find the will to put in the work over the next several years if you don’t find actual interest in the future of Steemit and building the community.
I know it’s hard not to apply your worth as a writer to the dollar value of your posts. I tried to prepare myself for that happening in the beginning, but I still felt let down. The truth is when you start on Steemit like us it is nearly impossible for your posts to get seen. Try not to take it offensively when you don’t get any upvotes because no one knows you exist yet! I say try because it’s hard. I would know. Spend most of your time learning and reading on Steemit first. If you leave a funny or thoughtful comment it will give someone an incentive to check out what you post about. Let it happen organically...because if you spend your time begging for upvotes or for other people to check you out they won’t.
People can tell you are not genuine when you do this. I am way more likely to check the account of a person who says something thoughtful and doesn’t ask me to check them out in return. (And I am literally no one on Steemit, I am a plankton... can you imagine the people that have been here for years?) I want to find interesting people to follow because I am looking to make real connections in this community over the next several years. YES, I think in years, not days or weeks or months! I would rather have 200 real followers who actually think what I have to say has value then 10,000 who will never care to read my posts or interact with me again. I am sure I am not the only person who feels this way.
These are just a couple of the things I have learned so far. There are already so many incredible resources on Steemit and I have spent over 80 hours over the last two weeks absorbing all the knowledge that people who have been here for months or even years are offering for the low price of my 0.01 cent upvote. To me, that’s a bargain!
-Emily
If you found any of this information useful, would you give me the honor of your upvote and or follow? I do appreciate every single one! If you found anything I said above incorrect I would love to know, so I can edit the post and so I can learn! If you learned something about Steemit since you started and would like to share it with me… I would love to read it in the comment section below!