How to build your reputation on Steemit: No-nonsense, practical advice

I consider myself still as a beginner here on Steemit. But in the past few weeks I did learn a lot already and I feel the need to share that knowledge with all of you, especially with the newbies (so called 'Minnows') on here! I know it's hard to gain influence and to earn money when you're new to the platform. So let's go!

Be yourself

First of all and the most important one: be yourself! Because that's what makes you unique and authentic and that's what people love the most! Maybe you're thinking now 'why should people read my posts or listen to what I have to say?', but everyone has a voice and there will always be people that are interested in you and what you have to say. Don't efface yourself before you even start, have confidence and show what you got!

Choose a niche

Choosing a niche is something you want to take your time for to figure out. Some people already build a brand around themselves and/or their expertise but some people are still figuring out about what they want to talk about. What is your passion? Do you read a lot about certain topics or genres? Do you love gardening? Baking? Photography? Gaming? Are you an artist, making paintings or music? There are so many niches, so many things you can be good at. Do take your time to figure out but don't think too long or too much about it. Again, just stay true to yourself!

Write good content: quality over quantity!

Don't force yourself to write anything at anytime. If you don't have any inspiration, it will be too hard to make a good quality post. Also, don't write about topics that you don't know anything about or know too little about. Take your time for every post, immerse yourself in it and have some fun! Remember: quality over quanitity!

Use HD photos

One thing I think is very important for a good quality post are HD photos. If you are not the best photographer, don't worry! But make sure you spend some time on picking the right photos for your articles to make it a whole and as comprehensive as possible. You want to make your post attractive enough so people click on it in the first place and read through the whole article. And you want your readers to look through your eyes and experience what you have experienced!

Be active and consistent

People will follow you because they like your style. They might learn something from you or they are entertained. So you need to keep up with the expectations of your followers to not lose them! And the best thing to do that is to be active and consistent. As with anything in life; it takes time. It takes time to build relationships and trust and so followers but you won't build anything if you are not consistent. Try to post at least once per day or once per two days. If you are not inspired to write a whole post, share a photo. Or make a little video from 1-2 minutes for some variation! Being active and consistent is the key to your success here!

Connect with other people (in your niche)

Another way to gain followers and build your reputation is to connect with others! Don't forget that Steemit is a Social Media platform which means that engagement is important. It's easier then you might think to connect with like minded people. Connecting with like minded people or people who have the same interests as you and share similar content is important because they will most likely want to connect with you too, follow you and interact with your posts.

Upvote, comment and follow

A good way to connect with others on Steemit is to upvote their content, comment on it and follow them. But don't just upvote, comment and follow because you want to gain more upvotes and followers yourself. Only engage with content that is interesting to you and fits your personal quality guidelines. Why? Because it's easier for you to comment on something that you're interesting in and/or know something about. Maybe you have read the same book or have traveled to the same place. It's fun to share your point of view, your experience or maybe even some tips!

Engaging with others is a good way to get noticed by other influencers that can help you or want to support you to become more succesfull here on Steemit.

Use other Social Media platforms

Use other Social Media platforms to promote your posts! Social media is a great way to get your posts noticed by a bigger audience. There are many Steemit Facebook groups, Telegram groups, Kik groups, Whatsapp groups and Discord servers where you're allowed to share your post. But think a bit out of the box here; why shouldn't you promote your posts on Pinterest as well? And Instagram? If you already have a following, you can also use those platforms to promote Steemit itself. Firstly you target your ideal audience (they already follow you!) and secondly it's a win-win situation; you're giving them a chance to get paid for blogging and they will most likely follow your account because you're the one that introduced them to Steemit.

Join Discord Servers

Steemit is limited when it comes down to actually connecting with people. But Discord fills that gap! Discord servers are communities where people can share their work and ideas with each other and whatever else is on their mind. It's not only a great way of helping each other but it also gives you the possibility to get noticed by curators. These people are specifically looking for newbies with good, quality content that need some extra support in order to become influencial and so succesfull. It's fun to interact with community members and it allows you build your reputation here on Steemit even more!

I hope this post will be helpful to start or continue your Steemit journey and build your reputation. Don't be on Steemit only because you want to make money because you will get dissapointed and most likely stop creating content. See it as something for the long run. Build your foundation, be yourself and be consistent, learn, learn and learn, have fun and be happy with small wins! Good luck!