Helping new joiners become successful at Steemit - Part 1

Warm Welcome to all the new joiners reading this post. Although I am not very old to this platform, I would like to contribute in welcoming everyone by letting them know what I have learnt till now.

General facts you should know

1. Steemit can be accessed via web browser as well as mobile apps. I prefer web browser better but the mobile apps come in pretty handy. The app named eSteem is available on both common mobile operating systems IOS and Android.
2. Rewards are earned for posting, commenting and up-voting content on Steemit
3. Users of the platform are rewarded in the form of Steem Power(SP) and Steem Backed Dollars(SBD). Both are stored in a wallet associated with your Steemit account. Refer https://steemit.com/faq.html to understand difference between SP, Steem and SBD
4. Each account is provided with various keys like posting key, owner key etc. Access them from 'My Wallet -> Permissions'. Users will get a 16+ character master password. It can be used to login to Steemit.com but should be avoided. Since it is a master password it can perform all actions. Why not just use the posting key to login when you simply have to curate, post and follow people. Keeps your wallet safe just in case.

Cool, I will start posting and earn 100s of dollars, NO WAIT !!

Being a new user, you might be excited to post on this new platform. Looking at the trending posts you may think that a single post can earn me 100s of dollars. Sure you can earn 100s of dollars here, but not right away. People earning that big rewards are generally whales who have been around for long enough to earn that big.
Start posting only if you have prior blogging experience. Else it is wise to observe and understand the types of posts for few(10) days.

What should I do for the first 10 days ?

Rewards are received if you are adding value to the platform in the form of content. The value is decided by the number of up-votes received. A follower of yours is more likely to notice your post and up-vote it rather than a stranger. So the initial days should be spent to read posts,up-vote posts, meet with influential people, comment on their posts and increase followers.

Should I go around up-voting and commenting on all trending posts

No, you cannot simply spam the platform. Each user is allocated with some amount of bandwidth to use. Though practically un-exaustable, it is not a good idea to spam. Additionally, you are given some voting power which reduces on each up-vote you cast. It recovers at a slow speed of 20% per day. So make sure you read the articles which interest you and make relevant comments and up-vote occasionally.

Time for my first post !!

Once you have enough followers and good understanding of quality of posts, its time for your first post. Its a good idea to introduce yourself before you present something. Besides all, introductory posts are often generously up-voted and thus highly paid. So you can write a nice post sharing whatever you wish to. Probably a photo, something about your profession, some special qualities about yourself and whatever you want the world to know. Put genuine efforts to write this post. First impression should be a good one. Use appropriate tags to tag your post so that it reaches the relevant readers.

Overdose of instructions ? Don't worry. I am splitting this post into multiple parts.
This is my genuine effort in helping the new joiners understand the strategies which I have learnt a hard way. Please up-vote, comment and resteem for higher visibility. Suggestions are most welcome.

Stay tuned for Part 2