One month in steemit. A recap and a few beginner tips I wish I knew before!

So, today it is eventually one month since my first post here on steemit. 29 October until 29 November 2018! Yeah!!

One milestone is achieved and I would like to take some time first of all saying a big THANK YOU to everyone from the community that has welcomed me, given me advise, has upvoted or resteemed my posts.
I do appreciate your nice gestures and I assure you that when my SP will be greater, I will reciprocate all the good deeds :)

When I fist arrived and created the account, everything seemed blurred to me. One of the goals was to be a part of this new technology – blockchain – they say, and at the same time monetize this time consumed. The only thing missing was the ‘how to do it’.

I have tried reading a few posts, watching a few videos but some of the puzzle pieces are still missing. To be very honest with you, right now I just like being a part of the community first and I will figure out the rest later on.

After one month of steeming, my data are as follows:

• Reputation: 49
• Followers: 71
• Total Posts: 81
• Following: 65
• Steem Power: 13,620

In this post I would like to share a few tips that I wish I knew earlier in advance. Please feel free to post any questions below. Questions are what moves us forward so I believe in them a lot.

• Tip 1: Make sure you have a theme, what to write about. To write something just to write it, will not get you anywhere. You need to have a great community around you to start increasing your reputation and your Steem Power or great content. If you have both, it is an amazing start!

• Tip 2: Do not just vote around. Your vote is very important, and with every upvote, your power decreases and then it takes sometime to get it back to 100%. Upvote what you believe is important and popular posts that seem to generate income.

• Tip 3: Create your #introduceyourself post. Make it unique, interesting, honest. This is a good way to get into the community, make some friends.

• Tip 4: Observe. Observation is worth more than any advise. Keep an eye out for what successful accounts are doing, and follow good practices. Do NOT spam, do not write comments such as follow me, Upvote for me etc. This can result in someone flagging your account.

Important:
When I created my first post, I was searching to find category and fit it in. There are no categories. The first tag you will use, will put your post in that category.
For instance your first post will certainly have as first tag the #introduceyourself and anything else you are trying to get the attention of.

• Make sure you reply to the ones commenting your posts. These will appear under your blog / Replies >> https://steemit.com/@yourusername/recent-replies

• The number next to your name is your reputation. It starts at 25 when you first come and as you earn steem, this number increases. I am not sure if there is a maximum, but I have seen numbers till 70 I believe.

• When you find rewards in your wallet, claim them, even if the amount is small.
  Every time you do it, the steem power grows and after a certain amount, your voting power will also mean $$.

USEFUL SITES

1. If you go to https://www.steemnow.com/ and insert your name at the upper right field, you will see information regarding your voting power, who has voted for your posts recently, your rewards etc.

Click on the calculator to find out how much your 100% of your upvote is worth. (First time I did it, I was totally disappointed!)
For instance, a 1000 Steem power with a 100% voting power and a 100% voting weight, is worth $0.10. So make sure you are upvoting and creating quality content

1. If you visit: https://www.steemdb.com/@yourusername/ you will see useful information about your account, your posts, your activity & upvotes (incoming and outgoing)

1. https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/
   Make sure you read a bit about this Guide so that you can do necessary formatting to your posts.
   It is best if you do not have a plain post, but make it more interesting and vivid by adding images, gifs, and editing the text with bold, italics etc whenever necessary.

IMPORTANT
Sometimes you may see a ‘TRANSACTION ERROR’ and you think that your post is not published. Make sure to check your blog before clicking on the POST again. I once posted something twice and I am thankful for not publishing it ... like a dozen times! (dahhh)

These are some of my first tips and impressions about this wonderful platform.

I enjoy time spent here, and if you are reading this, you probably do too!

Follow my posts at @katerinaramm and feel free to comment below.

Thank You!!