RE: Steemit operating advice for newcomers and the generally 'not quite sure'.
I would change your formatting advice to be stronger. Learning to make your posts look nice should be what you focus on in the first weeks and months so that you improve quickly.
Simple formatting is not that hard to learn and there are tons of posts telling little pieces so you can learn as you go. I personally cannot read anything that is a long block of text and do not even try.
Sadly, I close a lot of possibly good posts for that reason. This is especially true in the writing tag. I want to read because of the title and first sentence, but I just can't.
I notice you did not mention the timing of the vote. Do you think it is something to ignore in the beginning?
Someone (don't remember who ) right at the beginning told me not to bother with the promoted, so I have never looked at it in the whole 9 weeks. But I did not think of it from the other side of promoting myself. I thought it would be much more expensive so now I will look into it. Thank you!
And thank you for such a detailed post. We're trying down here and it is not easy!
I haven't given any formatting advice yet. I wanted to start with the basics first.
To start with, that's as much as you need. :)
Formatting is simple, but Steemit can be complicated for the newbie and one step at a time is probably best for the beginners.
The timing on the vote for beginners again is another complexity for later, I think. Just getting their name out there, getting a few followers and interacting. The timing of their vote won't amount to much to start with, unless they are powering-up with a lot of purchased Steem, so timing won't make much difference.
Did you get an explanation as to why you should not bother with the promoted stuff? I'm not sure why you'd be advised to avoid it. I use it from time to time, but as with everything Steemit, to start with, don't expect to make hundreds on your posts. If you do, you can celebrate an unexpected windfall.
You're most welcome.
From the responses I've received, I think there may be another post coming soon and I'll be sure to add your formatting points in there, @fitinfun - thank you :)
Thank for all the info. So helpful and I will look out for part two. I think the person said something along the line of "those are ads." This made me think I would want to skip them.
There are no ads on Steemit :) Everything is a post. You may get some spammers though... ;)
Not too many since I am little. I think they go after you big guys more :)
I'd say don't bother with the promotion page and its efforts because it doesn't look one bit productive. Entries like "Potential Payout $20.51 in 15 minutes / promotion cost $38.14" are pretty standard. Days back, I saw one that showed a $4+ potential payout with an $88 promotion cost.
That pretty much killed the whole idea for us ... so unless the potential payout figures are on top of the promotion costs (and if so, somewhere someone should make that clear) ... I'd agree with those who say "skip it." (Another real-life example -- Potential Payout $1.54 -- in 10 hours -- Promotion Cost $22.00.)
Also, I don't see much here that isn't somehow crypto-related ... and while I realize that's 90% of what this platform is really about -- if that's not your audience, it would seem you're not apt to find much of a new readership or more followers using this strategy.
If there's a misunderstanding here, please do correct me. I'm still learning like so many others. But that's how I see this issue presently.
No, not misleading, you've said what you've seen.
I haven't looked at the promotion page recently.
To be honest, I don't think some of the people are using the promotion feature to recoup their investment. I think they are using it to get their blog post at the top of the page so everyone can see it.
Just because someone pays a fortune to promote their blog post doesn't mean it will necessarily make 'mega-bucks' although it has happened before now.