A Letter to the Newbie Steemians

in #ecotrain7 years ago (edited)

I have been on Steemit for a little over 5 months and the journey so far have been quite good. I have a reputation of 56.9 currently and a little over 300 SP. I have seen people do a lot better in the same and even less time than I have spent here and I am so happy for them, but that does not make me feel bad about myself and my accomplishments here. I haven't been able to devote my 100% time and effort here because of the many other obligations I have to attend to so I am fine with going slow and steady here and gradually improving and making money.

I have learned a lot over these past few months, but still I feel I am learning more with each passing day and am a work-in-progress. Although I don't think of myself as the expert on Steemit because honestly I am not, but still there are a few things that I have learned that I think will help the newbies joining here. So today, I will talk about a few tips and golden rules that helped me build a decent reputation here and find great friends, and even make some good bucks in the process. This is especially for all those who keep asking for upvotes and resteem on every other person's blog they visit. I get a few of such comments on my posts as well and this does annoy me. Since I do not like getting into arguments and because I know my flagging them won't help them understand my point, I never get into any discussion with them. However, I have been noticing this trend a tad too much elsewhere and I have seen people become extremely annoyed by such behavior, especially those who work too hard in creating quality content, that today I felt the need to write this post.

Here is what I wish to say to all the newbies joining Steemit, especially those who keep asking everyone to upvote them all the time and those who post spammy comments like 'good job', 'excellent post', 'beautiful words' etc. even without reading the entire piece.


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My Sincere Advice to You

Dear Newbie Steemian,

First of all, I happily and wholeheartedly welcome you aboard. Steemit is a diverse and wonderful community enriched with great minds who are always trying to improve the place and even make the world a better place in the process. there are lots of people here whose sole purpose is to help each other and bring out the best in the ones around them. There are just so many wonderful qualities in them that if I start writing about them, I am sure I'll write a 3k word post which I know will be too long for you to read so I'll just move on.

There may be a million reasons why you joined Steemit and all of them must be legit ones, but I know one of the major reasons why you are here is to earn some decent amount of money. That's perfectly fine, friend. That's one of the reasons that brought almost all of us here. There is absolutely no harm in wanting and making more money, and you should do that, but it is best to do it the right way. So what is the right way? Here are a few pointers that will help you understand that.

Be Genuine and Come Up with Something Original : Well, if you sell pens to earn money, it is a legit form of making money, but if you steal a pen from someone and sell it to earn money, that's not legit right. You are doing a crime that way. Similarly, to earn good bucks on Steemit, you need to be genuine and original as well. Instead of plagiarizing content and posting somebody else's artwork or music or anything else to make money, you should focus on creating something that's yours. it could be anything you are passionate about or are good at. If you are a writer or hope to become one, you could create any sort of content you are good at and publish it. If you are an artist of any kind, post about your art and how you create it. If you do music, are a bodybuilder or are involved in anything else, talk about it in your posts. The more genuine and authentic you will be, the better your posts will be liked. Like everywhere else, people here too are in search of fresh, unique content and if you provide them with that, they will definitely follow you. This will also help you understand your niche and area of expertise that you can work on and improve at to build your own brand image.

Elaborate on Your Work: While posting artwork or photographs if that's what you are good at, do elaborate on them, if not always then at least sometimes. There are lots of people who are quite likely posting similar work so to make your work stand out from the rest, accompany it with solid commentary that lifts up your work. For instance, if you are posting a photograph you took of your family, talk about that day, what it means to you etc. to make it feel special.

Connect with People: As important as it is to post genuine, original and unique content, it is equally or even more important to build important and useful connections. One thing that I have observed here and elsewhere is that often 'what you know' is less important than 'who you know.' If you know some influencers here and have good contacts with them, you are likely to get more recognition in less time. Talk to people, join communities and build connections with them. One great way to do that is to read blogs of people whose ideologies you like and leave meaningful comments on their posts. This encourages them to visit your blog too and even respond to your messages.

Only Leave Thoughtful Comments: Make sure to never ever leave spammy omments like 'Well done' or 'Great work' ever on any blogpost. Spammers are not at all appreciated here and if you turn into a spammer, you are quite likely to be downvoted by someone here too. Always leave thoughtful and meaningful comments on blogposts and one way to ensure that is to comment only on posts you actually understand and like. For instance, I don't understand cryptocurrencies much so I don't follow those people much who only talk about this topic and don't comment on such posts either because I know I won't be able to say anything else than 'good job' and even if I mean it from my heart, it will sound spammy so I refrain from posting on posts I don't understand.

Be Patient: My dear friend, I know you want to be wealthy fast and there are quite likely to be a lot of hardships in your life that only you are facing and can understand, and this is one of the reasons why you ask for upvotes from people. However, you need to understand that there are many others who are literally spending hours crafting genuine and high quality posts for their readers and by just asking them for upvotes, you are hurting their sentiments. These people have spent a lot of time building their reputation and they want you to respect that. Trust me, you can be even better than all of us if you just show some patience. Just keep posting quality work consistently, interact with people and make good connections and soon enough, you'll be where you desire to be.

Be Consistent: Consistency for me is definitely one of the biggest keys to success. It has always worked for me and I have seen lots of people do great in life by just being consistent in what they do. Just start being consistent here on Steemit and soon you won't even think of asking for upvotes from people. If you wish for an influencer to appreciate your work or follow you, consistently visit his/ her blogs and leave meaningful comments there. One fine day, you'll definitely get his/ her blessings.

Participate in Contests and Join Communities: Join lots of communities and participate in contests according to your likes and interests. This helps you make more connections and you can earn some SBDs by winning good contests. Even when you join a community, don't spam there and just ask for upvotes. Contribute to it and upvotes will come automatically.

That's it friend. These are the tips that have helped me out and I am sure they will do the trick for you too. You have my support and well wishes, and I am here to help you out.I try my best to stay calm when anyone asks for an upvote just like that, but if I ever lose my calm, please forgive me.


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Take care.

Sharoon.


That was it. I hope this did not offend any newbie here. Do share your thoughts on the piece too. Love and light.


I am a part of some wonderful communities that I encourage you to join too.

@ecotrain which is trying its best to make the world a better place


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we can never write enough of these posts! very heartfelt and beautiful. I hope many minnows find it!

True that @eco-alex and thank you so much for the lovely words. :)

Good job! Thanks to @pusteblume you have planted 0.25 tree to save Abongphen Highland Forest in Cameroon. Help me to plant 1,000,000 trees and share my Steem Power to the others. Selfvoting is prohibited, but that should be the reason to spread the world to protect our precious environment. Check out profile of our conservation association @kedjom-keku and the founder/coordinator @martin.mikes to get more information about our conservation program. My current SP is 14489.41. Help me to plant more trees with your delegated SP.

Thanks a lot,
your @treeplanter
www.kedjom-keku.com

A great post and good advise for new arrivals and even good advise for some sho have been here a while like me
I must resteem this

I started to comment and noticed that I was going to write almost the same as @tatoodjay did. So ... I double what @tatoodjay said!

You guys are too sweet! @tattoodjay I don't think you need any of this advise because you are one of the most amazing people here and one who always posts genuine content and keeps encouraging others. Thanks for the generous resteem. :D

No I was serious and glad to share this for more to see

but thanks for the nice words

Sharoonyasir,
Thank you for taking the time to write such a loving letter for us. I've been a newbie here for almost 2 months. It is easy to get lost. Just like your post, I have found many wonderful treasures. Yet, I have also found others requesting upvotes left and right. I wanted my experience to be organic yet, felt everyone was using some kind of system to get ahead.

So, when I found your post, it reminded me of what got me so jazzed about steemit community. That I wanted my experience, my journey on steemit to be an open and loving one. Making money would be a plus!

Thank you Sharoon!
Love and Light.

How sweet is this meaningful comment and it is exactly what a meaningful comment is supposed to be. You are so right in your desire to have an open and loving experience on Steemit. I think that's what most of us want here and everywhere else too. Wish you only good things here and in life generally. Cheers!

@sharoonyasir, I wholeheartedly agree with the points you have made here. I think that one of the most important points you stated is related to the networking and social aspect that really does impact one's reach and audience. It is hard for a new person to catch that when they first come on the platform. I couldn't figure out what purpose Discord served, but now I realize it is where a lot of this friendship-building occurs. Of course, commenting and replying also can build friendships. But joining a group that uses a Discord Server can really help, too.

This is such a helpful article for newbies that I am going to post a link to it in the resources channel of my Discord Server. Many of my Server members are new to Steemit (and Discord).

I've upvoted and resteemed this article as one of my daily post promotions on the @mitneb Curation Trail. It will be featured in my daily curation report on 11 JAN 2018.

Cheers!

How wonderful is this comment and how wonder are you. Have been following you for some time and have only observed good things about you. Thank you so much for the kindness and the lovely words. Means a lot. Newbies find a hard time adjusting here and my goal is to ease that difficulty for them through this post.

I'm a newbie here as you know, and learning new things. Was hoping to get some guidance, thanks for the wonderful post. This is indeed a great platform that requires consistency.

Glad to be of any help. Steemit is great for sure. Just be consistent here and it will reward you well. Thanks for stopping by :)

I read your whole post and totally find it helpful! I agree with all of it, but,I am confused a bit still about one thing - how do I join communities? What is Discord? Some people have posted comments with "Join the Discord" and I'm just like uhhhh... don't want to look stupid so I just won't say anything... lol

Aww I feel you man, honestly I do. I was at the exact same spot about 2 months ago. I joined discord about 1.5 month after joining steemit. Discord is a chatting forum like Skype but a lot different than that. A lot of Steemians are on it and you can easily find them there and have made their servers there where you can talk about different things and even promote your post after following certain rules. Download Discord by typing it on google. It is quite simple. Also to join a community, you'll need an invite from it which is usually available on a post by its creator on Steemit or the community blog on Steemit.

Very nice post Sharooon!

OK cool,still not sure I follow ALL that (like what is the community blog on Steemit?) I'm gonna look for Discord right now thank you for the answers!

Take first step and make an account on
discordapp.com

What IS Discord?

Excellent post and great advice. I've been part of the steemit community since October and I'm pretty happy withnmy success so far. I'm also happy with the community of people I have ran across here.

Thank you so much for the lovely words. Steemit community is fantastic, right?I have had quite a ball here myself.

This is an awesome post! Lots of good tips for not only newbies... But it's a great reminder for the old timer as well. Good original content and active engagement are really important in our Steemit journey!
Happy Steeming!

Hey @elizacheng. Thanks a lot for being here. Its always good to see you on my blog and yes, these are all the tips I keep reminding myself to improve my work :)

💕💖 💓 💗 ♨️

This is a very informative post for newbies and also a refresher for old timers too. As someone who's only been on Steemit a month, the only thing I would add is to:

"Take time to format your piece so that it looks like you truly care about it."

There is no point writing a stellar post when the overall look and feel detracts from it. Check spelling & grammar too.

  • Markdown is easy to use for formatting and makes all the difference in the world when used correctly.
  • Grammarly is a wonderful resource for checking spelling and grammar.

Oh yes, the format does play an important role in garnering you more attention and is one thing I need to work on too. Thank you for the lovely advice :)

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