70 Days of Steeming and Still a Big Fan - A Few, Simple Pointers For New Fish
It was around May 13th of this year that I picked up the laptop and started typing on Steemit and I am certainly glad I did. @dollarvigilante turned me on to Steemit back in September so I opened an account that I left dormant. I didn't realize what Steemit was and I also didn't know what was going to happen in the crypto space soon after that.
So far, I have only taken two days "off", meaning that I did not create content on those days. Most of the advice I was reading in the beginning focused on quality and consistency. I cannot vouch for myself on either of those two fronts, but I can guarantee that the effort is there.
Take your time getting your tail wet
Once you have a brand new Steemit account, backup your password, first and foremost! Write it down, email it to yourself, tattoo it in your armpit, do not lose your password.
Don't be in a tremendous hurry to be a world-beater. There is a lot to learn when you join the platform and plenty of resources to immerse yourself in. Watch all the how-to videos and read all the how-to posts that you can. Start exploring the different hashtags and following steemians with interesting content. Begin commenting at the end of posts, in a polite fashion, that illustrates that you read the article and have something to add.
At this point you won't have much of a following, so putting out posts that take 10 hours of research and writing to produce, may not be time well spent. It is a good idea to start writing about what interests you because people do watch the "new" tab and may click on your articles, if they share a common interest. Enter and register for the discord channels that exist. Hang out in the chat rooms and start finding some allies.
Don't be a Steem Douche
There is a phenomena on Steemit that must be a hangover from other social media sites, the dreaded Follow for Follow comment. This is when the person commenting on your post makes zero effort to read your work and leaves you a note like this:
It's akin to someone walking up to you on the street and demanding some money for complimenting your hat, that you're not even wearing. It gets old very quickly and some people have started downvoting these clowns out of existence. Anyway, playing the F4F game will only get you a crappy following in the end, if that person didn't read your content the first time around, it's highly likely that he'll never read your work in the future.
Remember to be yourself, seek quality followers, avoid spamming and Don't be a Steem Douche.
Introduceyourself
This post is likely the most important one of your burgeoning steemit career. Don't take it lightly, because, in reality, you only have one chance to get it right. The Introduceyourself post can make you a nice chunk of money and get your profile in front of a lot of quality steemians.
Take a selfie of yourself, holding a little note that states today's date and your username. Have fun with the photo, you on a swing, riding a bike, playing golf, just make sure the photo is included at the top of your post and comes up as the thumbnail to your post.
Tell everyone why you are unique, what you plan to write about on steemit, tell us about your hobbies and passions in life. You are now selling your own brand to a band of strangers, give us a chance to be interested in you.
Don't forget that Steemit is Social Media resting atop an underlying coin
Try not to lose sight of the concept that steemit is social media. As much as you will spend time creating new content, you will also be building a network of contacts that will be the one's that help to support your account. Be slow to act in a contentious and argumentative fashion, that could possibly be the end of your account, if you make an enemy with a lot of steem power.
Steemit can be tough at the start, but in reality, we all depend upon each other to succeed. Your success only means that you can reward other's content with more generosity, which is a good thing for all steemians.
Enjoy the Platform. SteemOn!
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You learning fast here. Some very good advice. Newbies will get more attention with commenting and engaging. It's difficult with posts. So many of them and can easily disappear in the flood of posts. We should realize that we'll have much more curators than authors on steemit.
Thanks for chiming in @oldtimer! I prefer to be an author, but I believe I would actually earn more rewards, if all I did was curate. I'm the hardheaded one that will keep on writing and believe that it will payoff in the end.
We definitely will have more curators now and in the future, it'll be their only way to survive, in the beginning. Hopefully they won't all be the F4F crowd and actually read and make decent comments on our content.
I was actually thinking about you earlier today, that I hadn't seen you around and was hoping you were well.
I'm kind of busy lately and we also have some connectivity issues with internet last three days. Summer thunderstorms.
Perfect advice! All of it rounds down to being yourself and begin genuine! Congrats on being so good at putting out content consistently for so long! That's really great! I try to give myself a break on the weekends, but, I also want to post something daily! It's getting harder and harder over time.... but you're a great inspiration! :) thanks!
Thanks for the kind words @farmstead. People like you make it cool to be on steemit. I was feeling writer's block today, kept erasing what I wrote, so I took a nap instead. :-)
Hey I napped today too (3 hours, whoops!). It always helps! And you made a great post from it!
That's not a nap, that's half of what I get at night. lol.
Shhhh so I had a sleep! Haha I needed it apparently.
Great article. It looks like you have done quite well for yourself in your first 70 days. Your content is very good, and you seem to have figured out how this Steemitverse operates. Thank you.
Thanks @danpaulson it's been fun. Enjoy it out there in the big pond.
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I'm with @farmstead on this one. Bravo! I think people need to encounter more posts like this that get into the FEEL of starting out on Steemit and the Realities we all face as minnows. Great Advice @wakeupsheeps ! I think that there are lots of skills from other platforms that are transferable... but for bloggers, it's easier. I think the 'finding your fins' phase can be pretty rough and disheartening, for most. The effort is worth it though and people have to just accept the awkward phase of finding one's voice and figuring out what one REALLY wants to do on here.... other than just get a following, make crypto and become a Whale.... doing what exactly? and Why? No judgement, but worth considering. Would we be doing this without a money incentive? To what extent? Morning Musings....
@ecoknowme, I enjoyed your morning musings. You summed up the feeling I was trying to convey, quite nicely. I believe the effort that steemit takes is worth it. Something akin to barriers to entry. Steemit can't be handed to you, it must be learned.
@wakeupsheeps got you a $2.13 @minnowbooster upgoat, nice! (Image: pixabay.com)
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