From a minnow to the minnows. The 5 most common questions and the answers you should know.

Lots of people come to the site and find a couple things confusing, and then they find that sometimes, even finding the answers can be confusing. Let me start by saying if you feel this way. Just remember steemit is a beta. It will only get better and better! So just be glad you are onboard now to help it get all the right kinds of better!

Now these are the questions that most often come up from the new users I've seen. Along with a mostly short, concise answer and a link to a longer/better answer if you want to read further into it.

.1. What is the number in parentheses in my wallet, below my steem power number.

• This is an amount that has been delegated to you by steemit in order for you to have voting power. After you accrue a certain amount of steem power, that initial number goes away. ** Other steem users can at any point delegate their power to you so that your vote becomes worth more, and they get curation rewards with you doing all the work! Often times it's a win win

further reading: https://steemit.com/steemit/@liberosist/a-brief-guide-to-delegating-steem-power

.2. Why are my post's not getting the upvotes or the payout that other posts are getting?

• Often times this is not your post quality. though it is important to try to make the best quality posts that you can. Forget about what everyone else is doing. Focus on these 3 things and given a bit of time you will be getting more upvotes and higher payouts without trying!

A : Followers! You need to get some people following you who are more likely to see and be interested in what you post. Otherwise it might fly through the new post page so fast that people don't get to see it like it deserves. They will see it from their home page and upvote it easier than looking through the new posts, and since you find followers with the same interest or people become followers because they are interested in what you post. They are more likely to upvote and resteem something you do, sharing it with their followers and so on.

B : Post enhancements! This is one I admittedly need to work on more. This post could be much more pleasant on the eyes. So the link below I will spend a good amount of time reading myself. But adding pictures is a MUST. getting your own signature or adding awards you get. Just look at some of the good posts in hot or trending and look at how often times, they take time to add lots of extra things to a post just to jazz it up. In order to prevent walls of text and to just show people that you took the extra time for the benefit of their eyeballs. And pick a good post title (try thinking of 3 variations and picking the one you would most want to click into).

Tips and tricks for making you post stand out: https://steemit.com/steem-help/@sykochica/answering-common-questions-how-do-i-visually-spiff-up-my-steemit-posts-are-there-any-templates-available

C : Post promotion! Get onto the steemit chat linked below and also onto the discord chat linked below and go to the post promotion section post your article and upvote other people that re trying to move there article along too! form friendships and conversate with everyone on the general chat to gain more followers!

https://steemit.chat/home

http://steemspeak.com/

.3. Why do my price payouts go down?

• This happens most often because of the fluctuation in the price of steem and the steem backed dollar (SBD). If the price goes down the price of your post goes down and if the price goes up, so does the payout of your post. It is just an estimate of your payout in U.S. dollars. It can also happen if you get flagged or downvoted, which can happen for lots of reason or no reason at all (if you click the down arrow next to the votes on a post, it will show a + for upvotes and a - for downvotes). Or even if someone who voted for you dilutes his voting power too much, it takes the power of his/her vote down on all the votes within a certain period of time.

Further reading: https://steemit.com/voting/@wpalczynski/if-you-are-wondering-why-your-post-rewards-drop-before-payout-there-are-two-reasons

.4. What makes some users minnows, dolphins, or a whales?

Whales > 100 m VEST
Dolphins > 1 and < 10 m VEST
Minnows < 1 m VEST

• Minnows are the new users who's upvotes might give a penny or 5 (the newbies, users, and superusers). Dolphins are the mid level users who's votes can give 50 cents or a couple dollars (the heros and most of the superheros). And the whales votes can give hundreds of dollars or anywhere in between if they choose (they are the top tier superheros and the legends). The link below shows you how many accounts fit into what category

Further reading: https://steemd.com/distribution

.5. What is the difference between steem/steem power/ steem backed dollars (SBD's)?

• For this answer I will send you straight to someone who explained it much better than I ever could. click the link below if you want to grasp the differences.

https://steemit.com/steemit/@anotherjoe/steemit-steem-steem-dollars-and-steem-power-for-dummies-yes-the-mud-will-settle

Thank you for reading. I hope this helped! Please like and resteem to help all the minnows read this so the know the answers to the questions they have or that they dont know they have yet! And follow if you like my other posts! Comment below if you have any questions or if I am wrong about something and you catch it! Have a good day everyone!