Getting started on Steemit - Things I learned in my first two weeks.

I have been on Steemit for just over two weeks and have been really impressed with the content and community. I have also been lucky enough to have a couple of posts earn a few dollars (which feels good). I'm in the process of encouraging friends to join and wanted to put together a bit of a getting started guide to help them navigate the site and understand some of the terminology since Steemit has quite a few moving parts and things to learn. I have tried to make it mainly self-contained but there are a few links to pages that already have good descriptions. There are a couple of Australia specific bits since that is where I am based but most of it is hopefully going to be useful to everyone. I have tried to focus on practical things and the questions I had when I started, so there may be some gaps. Please let me know in the comments what else could go in here.

Steem, Steem Dollars, Steem Power
When you first join you may be confused by these three different measures.

Steem Power is the influence (and rewards) that your voting has. Steem is the liquid currency of Steemit. You can transfer it to crytpo-markets that trade it. You can also use it to "Power Up" your Steem Power (ie. give your votes more power). Steem Power can also be "Powered Down" and turned back to Steem but this is done slowly over 13 weeks. Steem Dollars (SBD) is the other currency of Steem. It is also exchange tradeable. It was originally pegged to the US dollar and was supposed to be a price-stable currency but it seems to have spiked in the markets. Currently SBD is the main way you will be able to turn your posts in to cash in the short term (see further down for how to cash out), however, if you want to play the long game, getting Steem and Steem Power will help give you more influence in the longer term.

Posting, Comments, Payments
To make a post you click on Post in the top right of the page. Under any post you can also comment and reply to comments. The post editor accepts html code (see some basics at https://www.steem.center/index.php?title=Tips_for_formatting_your_post). You can also drag and drop images into your post. You can add up to 5 tags which will determine what threads your post goes in. They are single word (ie. can't have spaces). Try to research what gets used for similar posts. The box at the bottom right lets you choose whether to receive Steem or Steem Dollars as payment. I would generally recommend the 50/50 option. You receive your payments for posts/comments 7 days after you have posted them. You can keep track of this on your Wallet page. Whenever you receive a payment you will need to click redeem to have it added to your Steem balances.

Voting
You vote by clicking on the small up-arrow that is at the bottom of every post and comment. Voting for a post or comment will give it some reward. The strength of your vote is based on your voting power and your Steem Power. The voting power is a percentage that drains a little each time you vote (when you start it is 2% of the total each vote but when you become more advanced you can control the percentage). Your voting power renews about 20% per day though. I try to keep my voting power above 80%. You can check your current percentage on www.steemnow.com by putting your username in the top right corner. Voting also impacts reputation score (the number in brackets next to your user name). Your reputation score will go up and down based on upvotes and flags on your posts and comments from users with a higher reputation than you. You start with a reputation score of 25. It is a log scale so the further up you go, the more votes you need to progress further).

Things to do when you join

1. Make your first post an introduction about yourself. Include a photo to show you are a real person. Make sure introduceyourself is one of the tags. If you are in Australia also tag teamaustralia
2. If you are Australian/in Australia you should join @teamaustralia (their page usually has a recent post with new members explaining how)
3. Start posting AND commenting on posts. Try to make your posts interesting and informative and your comments have substance. Note - there are bots that check for plagiarism in posts and low quality comments (ie. just saying "nice" everywhere). Quality posts/comments are the ones that get upvotes and therefore rewards.
4. If you are in to photography check out @juliank photo contensts.
5. Join the Discord chat community and the minnowsupport group (follow the instructions here: https://steemit.com/minnowsupportproject/@discordiant/registration-tutorial-msp-palnet )
6. Ask questions when you aren't sure about things. People here are friendly and helpful.

Getting your money
To cash out you need to transfer your Steem and/or Steem dollars into an exchange using https://blocktrades.us. Depending on the exchange you may need to convert them to another currency. For Australians, the easiest is to convert to Litecoin or Dogecoin and use Coinspot to sell for $AU. There is a great tutorial at https://steemit.com/tutorial/@webcoop/cashing-out-your-rewards-from-steemit-com. If you don't have a Coinspot account you can join with my affiliate link: https://www.coinspot.com.au?affiliate=1U42N

Thanks for reading. I hope you found some helpful links and information here.

For an even longer guide (and a different voice if my explanations aren't clear) you can also check out
https://steemit.com/steemit/@donkeypong/simply-steemit-your-no-nonsense-guide-to-getting-started