Steemit Starter - How-to Guide:

How to get started on steemit and begin getting paid on the platform?

In my free time I enjoy dedicating time and energy to pumping out original content on Steemit by writing articles, posting interviews, and sharing my blog posts about all things related to the cyber-world.

This includes topics like how to make money online, cybersecurity, privacy awareness, the world of hacking, the hidden wonders of the deep web, and cryptocurrency.

I have been sharing my content with my friends, family, as well as my circle of contacts and it surprises me at how many people I know that still do not use or know about Steemit!

It blows my mind when I see these same people all using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit freely but still don't use Steemit!

We are talking about platforms that make money off of our content! Whereas on Steemit, we are the ones that make the money off of our content! It blows my mind! If you are one of the people then I am talking about then this article is for you! You know who you are! If you can't upvote or re-Steem this post then I am talking to YOU (hehe!).

While attempting to introduce so many people to Steemit in my journey for cryptocurrency adoption I am getting a lot of questions about how to use Steemit, how to make money on on the platform, and how to get the most out of the experience.

If you are one of the people that is new around here or you are still learning your way around the platform then today is your luck day and this post is made specifically for you!

I have been using Steemit for about a year now and in this article I am going attempt to explain it in simple terms. This way anybody can understand how to use the platform. Even people like my Dad, who refuse to learn how to use anything to do with computers or technology.

Steemit.com is a platform that has been around since 2016. The platform was created by Dan Larimer (@dan) and in my opinion it is the basis of the future of the internet.

In a world becoming increasingly controlled by massive companies that profit from our personal data like Facebook, Google, and Amazon to name a few, it is important that we as a society begin to start showing some self respect for our data and privacy. We need to make a move away from these platforms, together, and towards platforms such as Steemit.com that respect our privacy, personal data, and the content that we create.

Did you know that when you post an image to Facebook that Facebook takes ownership of that image? The only reason it is not considered theft is because we agree to the terms just by using the site.

Facebook made $40 billion dollars last year in ad sales revenue. That is an average of $110 million dollars per DAY in from the content that ordinary people like us are posting on the site.
Source:
(https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/fb/financials)

Lets think about this for a sec.

Lets say that you post a picture, or even just type a story to post, on Facebook. Now, lets say that someone logs into Facebook to look at your photo or to read your post. Now lets say that the same person notices an advertisement on the platform while looking at your content. Once that person views, clicks, or purchases anything from that ad, Facebook has just directly profited off of your content.

Does Mark send you a check in the mail each year with your share of $40 billion dollars?

Not to mention the fact that Facebook uses technology built into the platform that was designed specifically for the purpose of spying on us. This technology comes in the form of trackers that are harvesting data within the platform and that follow us around the web to grab information from our personal messages, browser history, likes, posts and much more.

Whew, I digress, I am not trying to scare anyone and I do not want to derail the topic... I am just trying to make it as clear as day to everyone that WE should be the ones that profit from the content that we put online.

This is possible with a platform like Steemit.com.

Steemit.com is a decentralized social media platform that respects the content that we post by allowing us to get paid for the content that we create and promote. We also get paid for the content that we help curate through comments and upvotes.

Oh, and did I mention that there are no advertisements on Steemit?!

Did I mention that anyone can still use Steemit for free?

Creating your account

The first step that you need to take if you haven't already is to create your account. This is fairly straightforward but there are three ways to go about this, now.

a.) Create your account for free and be put on a waiting list of 1-2 weeks.

• Click here to join for free: https://signup.steemit.com/

b.) Pay with Steem in order to get your account created instantly:

• I suggest signing up through blocktrades if you want to go this route because this allows you to have full control over your Steemit account, it is the fastest, you can still remain anonymous if you wish, and it is the cheapest way to go other than the free method.

• I don't suggest using AnonSteem because it will costs you $5 more then it needs to and you won't have control of your private keys.

c.) Have a current member of steem create you an account:

• A current member of Steemit.com can currently pay $3 in Steem and use Steemconnect to bypass the long verification process in order to set up an account for you.

• If you are a friend, family member, follower, or you just want some help in help getting your Steem account set up and you do not want to wait for 2 weeks then please hop into our discord channel and send me a message directly. I will do my best to help you get set up. You can buy Steem on an exchange like Binance and send me the $3 worth of Steem that it takes to set up a new account instantly. It is better if you can do it yourself but I do not mind helping you out if you you would feel more comfortable doing it this way.

Creating our first post!

The first thing that any new person to the Steemit platform is going to want to do is make your first post!

One of the best ways to do this and to get some rewards early on without having a following, yet is to create an introduction post! This way everyone knows who you are and what to expect from your content. Remember that first impressions count!

Remember, you want to make it seem like your personality or content is likable in some way! Show Steemians the personality features you have that will make people want to follow you. Then they will want to read what you have to say about things!

Tell everyone a little bit about yourself and what you plan on making content about, you can also write about some of the things that you like or maybe even some of the things that you dislike. This will get people with similar interests to follow you and look people will forward to your posts!

It also never hurts to let people know WHEN you will be posting, if that is at all possible because upvote rewards have a lot to do with how early you upvote high quality content! If people expect you to post high quality content and they know when to expect your posts then they will be waiting and looking for your posts so that they can not only upvote it but so that they can be the first ones to do so! Early birds get the worm and that saying is so true here on steemit when it comes to upvoting!

Once you have put together a decent post, don't forget to add some pictures! The more the better (as long as it makes sense and adds to your post).

Before submitting your post to the Steemit gods be sure to tag your post! I can't stress this enough! ALWAYS tag your posts with all 5 tags because this is how people will find your content! It's a simple rule to remember but so many people forget when they are new! In our introductory post we will want to tag it as "introduceyourself" then some other good tags to add to an introduction post are "life" "steemit" and "blog".

If you want to find what tags perform the best for your posts then click on the Steemit logo in the top left hand corner of your screen.

Now, see where it says "All tags"? Scroll down to the bottom of the list of tags on the left hand side of your screen and now click "View all tags".

This is going to show you the list of all of the possible tags on Steemit and will allow you to sort by the most popular, most commented, and the highest paying tags that are used on the platform.

Rewards!

The last thing that you do before posting something is to select your reward payout settings. You can either:

a.) The option to set your rewards to 50% SBD (Steem Backed Dollars) and 50% (Steem Power) SP.

Steem is the cryptocurrency that can be traded on the platform and in between other users. Steem Backed Dollars is also a cryptocurrency used within the platform. The difference is that SBD are always tied to the price of the dollar in order to determine the actual value of content and accounts on the platform in USD.

b.) The option to set your rewards for 100% Steem Power.

Steem Power is used to determine how valuable a users upvotes are. Steem Power can be delegated to other accounts as a way to increase their "pull" within the community. And, yes, you can create multiple accounts. The more Steem Power that you have, the more that you will be rewarded for helping to curate high quality posts within the eco-system.

Basically, you can use Steem Dollars to transfer within the platform, trade for Steem, and/or transfer to other users. Some users offer bots or services that will upvote or resteem your posts and you can pay in Steem or Steem Dollars to take advantage of these services to get your posts noticed.

That is why as a new member to the platform, I think it is a wise idea to set your rewards to 50/50. This will give you some "power" as well as some "walking around money".

"Walking around money" (Steem or Steem Dollars) is great to be able to use to get views and upvotes on your content, especially when you are new to the platform and do not have a lot of followers, yet.

In our next guide about Steemit, we will go over some useful steem-bots and services that you can use so be sure to follow us if you are interested in having a successful long-term Steemit journey!

We will also give you a break down of the way everything works together (Steem, SBD, SP, Witnessess, Wallets, Marketplaces, etc) in our next guide because I don't want to overwhelm anyone that is just starting out.

Finish selecting the best tags for your post, don't forget to proof read/spell check, and then submit your new introduction to the world!

Congrats! You are now a part of the Steemit family! Welcome aboard!

Now, you do not have to do this but if you want to be successful on Steemit then I highly suggest investing some spare change into the Steem currency! Most people that are successful here have done the same.

This isn't investment advice and cryptocurrency his a highly volatile market but by investing into the Steem currency you will give yourself some much better options for earning more Steem within the platform.

How to buy Steem:

1.) Create an account with Coinbase because they are probably the most reliable and trustworthy fiat gateway into and out of bitcoin in the USA. You could also use Gemini or I believe Kraken and there are probably others. Coinbase is the only one that I know of that will give you free $10 worth of Bitcoin just for making a deposit of $100. That $10 is very helpful as it will more than cover any fees you have to pay for transferring your crypto into and out of the platform.

Sign up for Coinbase here: (Edit: Now takes 13 days to move new funds off the exchange, try uphold instead if this is an issue for you)
(https://www.coinbase.com/join/59fd6beea6ecfb00fffd9c90)

Sign up for Uphold: (You'll still get a $10 bonus for using my link)
https://join.uphold.com/?kid=T2VEH

Once you have signed up for Coinbase and made your deposit, you will want to create an account on Binance so that you can send your Bitcoin there to buy some Steem. If you are worried about slow transaction speeds or high fees than I suggest using Litecoin (LTC) or Bitcoincash (BCH). Both are tradeable on Binance.

Binance is GREAT because you can convert "dust" (which is what we call TINY amounts of unspendable change in Crypto) into "Binance" coin which is its own currency and by owning some Binance coin you get a massive discount on trading fees. (Pro tip!)
Sign up for Binance: (https://www.binance.com/?ref=13115625)

Now that you have your crypto on Binance you can buy some Steem and send it over to the Steemit platform.

For our example, lets just say that you put $100 in to the platform, which would be a good start. If you think about how many people you are competing with for upvotes on the platform, the more steem that you have to work with, the more of an advantage you will have when it comes to getting your content viewed. If you put $100 into the platform then at least you will be ahead of the people who haven't put anything into it.

You have multiple options at this point and the path that you are going to want to take is going to be based on what your strategy is going to be for making money.

There are a couple of different ways to make money on steem:

1.) Upvoting.

You get rewards for upvoting posts that become popular. The sooner, and earlier that you upvote content that you think is going to be popular, the better. If you are going to try to make most of your money from upvoting posts instead of creating content then you are going to want to have as much Steem Power as possible. Our Steem power determines how much our upvotes are worth within the platform. Therefore, the more SP that we have, the more we will be rewarded for upvoting content.

Don't downvote. Downvoting hurts your chances of earning rewards. If you don't like something then chances are that other people won't like it either, nobody will upvote it, and it will become lost into the oblivion. This is the best way to let bad content sort itself out without effecting the rewards that you gain.

2.) Creating content.

Users of Steemit LOVE original, high quality content!

The primary way to make money on Steemit and how most users of the platform earn rewards is by posting content. By posting high quality content you will earn followers. The more followers that you have the more people will see your content, and the more likley they are to upvote it.

There are lots of ways to contribute to the platform and make money. Maybe you want to be a blogger like @chbartist. Maybe you are a photographer and you have the ability to take amazing photos like @seetheworld.sgp or you're a journalist like @johndennehy. You can do anything you want here whether it be about art, life, technology, science, nature, sports... you name it.

Perhaps all you want to do is share some memes that make people laugh and contribute by re-Steeming and upvoting the content of others! The cyber-world is in your hands! Make the most of it!

If a user notices that you are posting/sharing content regularly and that you have a lot of followers then they are going to be very likely to be on the look out for your posts because they want to get in on those sweet sweet curation rewards by up voting your content.

Whatever you decide to do, as long as you are consistent at it, and don't give up. You will be successful here and you will make money. Especially by commenting regularly and interacting with others. This will lead you to become known within the community! You might even make some new friends!

Have fun!

Steemit is amazing because it gives us the opportunity to speak freely, without being censored, where our content can last forever. This isn't your average social media platform in the sense that once you post something here, it is permanent. Nobody can take your steemit posts away. In blockchain we trust!

Steemit would have been the perfect platform for Edward Snowden to post his NSA leaks about our government spying on us in 2013, or any whistleblowers for that matter that are trying to present leaked information from our government to share with the world, and without the risk of it being tampered with or removed. If you have something that you want you want the world to see then this is the best place for it.

Steemit keeps people honest and allows us to get paid what our content is actually worth instead of some giant corporation making massive amounts of money off of us, instead.

Hopefully this guide makes it easier for you to get started and begin making money on the platform. If you have any suggestions as to what we can do to be successful on Steemit then please share it in the comments. I am still learning the platform and always striving to get better so any advice is always appreciated.

Join our discord to share tips and tricks!
https://discord.gg/hBKnawB

Follow me on twitter!
http://twitter.com/kryp70kn1gh7

Crypto info:
http://dailycryptonews.org