Help for Sign Up Challenge - 1 / In honour of Steem and Steemit's 1st Birthday

At the request of @pitterpatter in my sign up challenge for steem's birthday...

https://steemit.com/steem/@benjojo/sign-up-challenge-for-steem-s-birthday

...I will be making a couple of posts that attempt to help with all those little hurdles we might encounter when trying to help people we know to give one of the front end applications for the steem blockchain (steemchain) or the steem crypto currency a try.  I'm going to focus on steemit as it is the primary application today and is the one i'm most familiar with.  That does not mean I'm any less excited about all the others that are being developed.

For some additional information and help with understanding definitions (though they are not perfect,) please take a look at this post;

https://steemit.com/steem/@benjojo/steem-an-introduction-description-of-terms-and-emphasis-of-the-powerful-reasons-for-learning-about-it

Before I embark on this journey of introduction, I would first like to make a couple of general points that might be worth thinking about in the context of successful sign ups.  I would also like to take this opportunity to make very clear I am no expert.  I've signed up exactly one person to date and that is my mum.  I am determined to drastically change that score and pitterpatter's request give me the perfect excuse to review my own knowledge and approach, to stimulate discussion and help others wherever possible.  I defer here and now to the expertise of marketers and those with distinguished sign up records!  Steemit is all of ours though and we can all help in our own way, every single Steemian.  Without further ado...

Point One

You've got to love steemit.  You can't sell something, well it will be much harder, unless you love, respect, value and understand it yourself.  Fortunately, steemit is very very easy to love and when you love something, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Point Two

It's important to manage expectations.  Things don't have to be perfect if you are made aware of the imperfections in advance.  The trick is not to put people off by over stating issues and under stating the good stuff.  Let's face it, if the benefits did not outweigh the issues, none of us would be here, steemit would not be experiencing a growth in transactions and accounts and the price of steem would be far far lower.

Point Three

It's far easier to sell something to someone over which you have influence.  I mean this in the best possible way.  My mum wants me to be happy.  What will make me happy is for her to join and try steemit because I think it will make her happy.  Use proximity and influence to your advantage.  As long as you have the best intentions, are open, honest and sincere, you can afford to be very encouraging.

Point Four

I know the rules clearly state that you can take a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.  However, that is exactly what you may have to do.  Take your relative or friend to the water, put their head in the water and make them drink the water.  My mum is a bit of a technophobe.  She can only handle computer stuff once it's all set up for her with a demonstration of basic functions.  So I created her account and sorted out her password.  I will also be sitting alongside her when she attempts to submit the post she's in the middle of composing, enabling her to 'drink' from the steem pool.

Point Five

Support take a long time to end.  There's quite a steep learning curve for steemit, steem and the Steemian community.  It's important to understand that whomever you manage to sign up, there will undoubtedly be further support required.  If you are ready for that and able to give freely, you will increase the liklihood that they will have a positive experience and together we can help boost our retention figures.

Point Six

Sadly, not everyone is worth the effort.  Do not take this personally.  For whatever reason, there will be plenty of people who are not ready for steemit or steem.  Just give them some time and come back to them if it is important to you that they try.  The trick is to spot the ones that are most likely to give it a go.  They will be those who; hate facebook, love technology, love getting in early, love writing, love art, love photography, dislike the government, loath censorship, love investing, have interesting lives, blog anyway, vlog anyway, love research, have some tasty servers lying idle......I'll stop there before you stop reading.  Focus on those who stand to gain the most from the community or from steem.

Point Seven

Literally just popped out of my head.  Sorry.

Thank you for reading if you made it this far.  I hope these general points are helpful.  My intention is to get more specific next time.

Does anyone know how to shrink images down please?

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Happy Steeming