[Steemit] How to invest in Steemit.com through the purchase of Steem or Steem Power - In 10 Easy Steps

Steemit.com is a new social media platform that is taking the world by storm!

Steemit.com pays its users for participation on the site! Users can get paid to participate by posting content, voting on which content is good or bad, having discussions with other users about their posts. There are lots of different ways to participate and get paid!

In it's first payout to users on July 4, 2016, Steemit distributed 1.3 million US dollars worth of cryptocurrency payments to its users! Since July 4, it has continued distributing payouts to its users as they participate on the site. The largest payment on a single post to date was on 7/23/2016, for $44,528.85 worth of "Steem Dollars", which gets paid out to the user in the form of "Steem" and "Steem Power". To read more about Steemit.com, Steem, Steem Dollars, and Steem Power - check out Steem's informational website https://steem.io/.

Based on the growing popularity of Steemit.com, lots of people are wondering how to invest in Steem, so that they can get in on the action. Here is how to invest in Steemit in 10 easy steps:

1. Signup for a website that allows you to buy Bitcoins. There are several sites out there for this, including the popular site https://www.coinbase.com. If you don't have an account with one of these sites yet, it may take a couple of days to verify your identity, before they will allow you to make a purchase.
2. Determine how much you want to invest. Steemit.com has a lot of upside potential, but there is downside potential / risk as well. Do not invest more than you would be comfortable losing if the price were to go down.
3. Signup for an account on Steemit.com.
4. Determine whether you want to invest in "Steem" or "Steem Power". 
   1. In general, "Steem" is considered more of a short-term investment. "Steem" is a liquid asset that can be exchanged for Bitcoin, which can in turn be sold for cash / USD.
   2. In general, "Steem Power" is considered more of a long-term investment. "Steem Power" does require a long-term capital commitment of 2 years. When you decide you want to cash out your "Steem Power", it is paid out to you in 104 equal weekly payments of "Steem", over a period of two years. Purchasing "Steem Power" also gives you increased voting and participation power in the Steemit.com website.
   3. More information about "Steem" and "Steem Power" can be found in the Steem White Paper.
5. Purchase Bitcoins through the Bitcoin purchasing site, for the amount you decided you want to invest.
6. Login to Steemit.com, and open your wallet. Your wallet can be found by clicking on the "Wallet" link under your 'profile' icon in the upper right corner of Steemit.com.
   
7. Click on the drop-down next to either "Steem" or "Steem Power", and click the "Deposit" link.
   
8. The popup screen will have a "Wallet Address" near the bottom. The wallet address is the long series of letters and numbers right after where it says "Send Bitcoin To". Copy this address to the clipboard. It is important that you copy the entire address, exactly as it is shown, without missing any of the letters.
   
9. Go back to the site you used to purchase the Bitcoins, and find the place where it lets you send Bitcoins to an address. Enter in the wallet address that you copied from Steemit.com in the previous step, as well as the amount of Bitcoins you want to send, and click "Send" to send them to your Steemit.com account. It will ask you to confirm, and then you should see a success message showing the transaction was completed.
   
10. You will need to wait for the Bitcoin transaction to confirm on the network, which can take up to several hours. Periodically check back and refresh. Once the transaction is confirmed, it will show up in your Steemit.com wallet as Steem or Steem Power!
    

This article does not constitute investment advise, and is for informational/instructional purposes only. You should always do your own research, and consult with a professional investment advisor before making any investment decisions.

While you wait for your transaction to confirm, spend some time exploring the Steemit.com! The site has a lot of fun ways to participate, and as you participate, you can potentially earn more Steem! If you chose to purchase "Steem Power", that will give you increased participation power on the site. Spend some time reading through the posts to see what it is all about!

This post, which was written by a Steemit user @teamsteem is a good place to start. It explains some of the basics about how the site and payment systems work.