As I have explored Steemit in the last few days, I have seen clear evidence that many users do not understand how to manage the worth of their upvotes. First I give an example of bad vote management and call out users that need this article. Then I break down the three components that determine upvote worth. Finally, I share a tool that will help you maximize your upvote worth... and there will be a TEST.

Weak Votes??

Look at this contest from @fogel. It's an SBD giveaway (great!!) where the SBD reward given to the post is distributed to upvoters based on their vote's worth. Halfway down the page, people start losing the contest!
The minimum SBD transfer amount is 0.001 and 50% of the upvote value goes to SBD. You need an upvote worth 0.002 to win in this giveaway. As people drop below 0.001, they are cut off and win nothing.

@jiminykricket, @parallelussr, @hga777, @fight4truth, @studentslife, @amfid4846, @bourbonnais613, @eggstraordinair, @greatwolf, @splatmat , @dianita, @osama43, @kevlar42, @jmcgready, @medbedb, @captaintj , @juanmallorca, @gergi6a, @kasou80, @j-raza, @goodmindset, @safat, @auskiwi, @vision88, @miha.krm, @soly, @ufology, @onlymanamana, @noobshelper, @endlessnoms, @freidenker287, @angkot, @networkallstar, @vladimgor, @btcgirl, @skyrockzzz, @steemvalve, @strab, @wahidurrahman, @yurickz, @xamiker, @merosy, @c0ff33a, @sorinagt and more...

All these users won nothing because their vote worth was less than 0.002.

What Drives Vote Worth?

Vote worth is determined by 3 components. The names of the three components are very similar, so focus on the explanations and then ask questions if you don't understand.

1. Voting Weight (Steempower)

This most people understand. Create quality content, provide valuable comments & curation, or invest. Fin.

2. Voting Power

Voting power is like a meter. It starts at full and goes down as you upvote content, then it goes up again at a fixed rate. Each time you vote at full value, your Voting Power decreases by 2% of your remaining voting power.
Let's say you start at full power and upvote twice- once on this post, and then again on my response to your quality comment. The first upvote will be at full power and use 2% of your maximum potential power. The second upvote will not be at full power. It will use 2% of your remaining 98% voting power. It will have 2% lower strength than your first upvote. You can do hundreds of votes a day, but it won't take very long before your upvote becomes tired and needs a few days vacation to recover.
Voting power recovers 20% each day. Since I sleep at night, I like to do a little curation before bed if I'm close to full and make sure I drop below 93% so I don't reach 100% before I get back on in the morning. I try to keep my meter above 80% (preferably above 90%, but I like to upvote!)

3. Vote Value

Vote value is the % of your total potential upvote that you choose to apply. If you have more than 500 SP, a slider bar appears on Steemit that lets you choose your vote value. If you don't have enough SP, there are other tools you can use that let you set specific percentages.
I use different values to identify my different curation strategies for future analysis. How I found something & the reason I'm upvoting, etc. all contribute to the amount I upvote.
Here's an experiment: Leave an upvote with a quality comment. I will probably respond and upvote your comment. Continue the conversation, and then compare the value of my upvotes. The upvote I leave on your first quality comment will be higher value than the upvote I leave on the continued conversation.

Managing your Upvote: SteemWorld

My favorite tool to maximize my upvote value is Steemworld. This quality tool was written by @steemchiller. If you find it valuable, please follow him and upvote his content. Always support content providers if you find their work useful!

Steemworld is divided in sections, and has tools to inform you on each of the three components that determine how much your upvote is worth.

Found right at the top of the page, this section shows your current voting power (2nd component) and calculates the worth of your vote at different voting values (3rd component). You can click the visual and change the Voting Power represented to see how that impacts your vote.

Your steem power is represented (1st component) and then there is a slider. The slider represents vote value (3rd component) based on your full voting power. Slide the slider to see what a full power vote would be worth at different slider percentages.
In the future, readers will look back and say, "I can't believe his full value upvote was only worth $0.07 once." It's in the blockchain, future readers. Believe it!

Putting It All Together

Hidden near the bottom of the page, you can fill in the information and vote at different values, even if you don't have 500 SP yet. As always, be careful with your keys. Use your posting key when using third party tools, to protect your account.

Finally, a TEST

Later this week I will announce a free SBD giveaway like the one I highlighted at the start. I will reference this guide in that conTEST announcement and I hope to see everyone maximize the worth of their upvotes! That contest will be an exception to my posting at 100% rule, for obvious reasons. Power Up 100!!!