Thanks, @charles1 for this insightful and informative post. As a new steemian, I've been trying to apply some of these tips... but I must say this line really hit me well:

...engagement is key to success here: do not post too many daily posts in order to have time to engage with your followers through replying to their comments and upvoting great comments (and sometimes visit their posts and upvote good contents too).

Honestly, I've resolved to give these tips you carefully explained in this post thorough attention more than I've been doing for the past few days (since I joined steemit).

Thanks for sharing.