steemit starterPack #1; why steemit?

I bet you use one social media or the other already; facebook, instagram, twitter, youtube. Steemit.com is much like any social media; except in this case users benefit so much more!!.

In summary this is why I say so. . . .

1. Steemit has great SEO (search engine optimization; matters so much to bloggers):
2. Steemit is decentralized (democracy and freedom; as opposed to the centralized regulatory bodies and restrictions/censorship on most social media) :
3. Steemit pays (I know; this should have been point one! lol):
4. Steemit is the mother of many other apps (steepshot, d.tube, zappl,dmania):
5. Steemit has a "great content" culture (people strive to write awesome stuff):

Let me go into a bit of the details. . . okay this is a lot of talk but I will keep it relevant.

1. Steemit has great SEO (search engine optimization):
   
   So you might have your own website somewhere, you do great posts there and work so hard to try and get people to view your site. Sometimes you wish people would see posts from your website (blog) when they google search the topic but you still aren't even on the first page. Try steemit. Because it is a very huge community it already has so much hype and is very well optimized for search engines like google and bing. You could even reference your private blogging site as a link when you post on steemit so that when people discover you on steemit, they will be led to your website. This is one very inexpensive solution to a big problem for most new content creators.

2. Steemit is decentralized:
   
   Even though steemit.com (the website) was created by @Ned and is owned by Steemit Inc it runs on the block-chain (relax, I will explain) and rewards with a cryptocurrency called "steem". Running on block-chain means steemit stores the information (posts,comments,data and your rewards) in a block-chain (a technology that preserves the content in several different locations and makes it very impractical to be changed by any single authority-like a company that suddenly says that they don't want anyone to post about cyptocurrencies or controversial topics.) This means whatever you write on steemit.com is stored in a database that no-one can censor. This is real free speech on the internet.

1. Steemit Pays:
   
   So sometimes you wonder why the social media channels like facebook, instagram, snapchat are so rich. They are rich because so many of us use their websites. BUT VERY OFTEN WE GET NOTHING. Example, even youtube that pay content creators a bit of the money also do it with strict regulation and high targets. And for we watchers of youtube, we aren't paid at all. ( I don't blame them, it is a business they are running and . . . . . well they have the control).
   Steemit is significantly and incredulously different. You get paid for curation (discovering; upvoting, resteeming and commenting on new good content) and also get paid for creation of any content. Now here is the catch, as tempting as it can be, don't sign up JUST because of the money because it might take you a while to ger noticed. But remain authentic, do what you like doing. Vote up the posts you like and simply socialize. Before you know it you will see steem being creditted to your account. It works so well when you have a group of your friends also signed up, you can keep voting for eachother's content and helping eachother to make some few extra dollars on daily basis. Sometimes i see a funny post on one of my whatsapp pages, I copy and paste in steemit and earn a few cents as people see it and like it. What a waste of posts if you can do the same thing on steemit and get paid. Ikr!?

2. Steemit is the mother of many apps to come:
   
   So steemit forms the foundation for more exciting apps; I have tried d.tube (which is a clone of youtube but even better; it pays you steem as people watch and like the post. . . . Up to 3 decimal places. So every like earns something. . . . i gets paid directly to your steem account without the interference of any big cooperation). Others like steepshot (like snapchat) and zappl (like twitter). These all connect using your steemit.com account; so your followers on steemit automatically become your followers on steepshot. It's just lovely. and you can make money/steem on all the different platforms. In a short time, an entire ecosystem of social media platforms will be built around steemit.

3. Steemit has a "great content" culture:
   
   Steemit is fun but it also has a serious culture of people striving to put out the best pictures and posts they can think of. In a bid to be discovered and earn more from posts most people are undeniably more diligent with their postd and even more polite in comments (than on other social media platforms). People are always eager to be the first to read and promote your quality post because they know they get paid for discovering content. Steemians put in more effort to understand your post and identify with your content. I have found myself translating posts written in Chinese and indonesian out of curiousity and a desire to be a curator for one good post or the other.
   I am not a "whale" yet (the term used for a big earner and great influencer on steemit) . Far from it at this point. But even as a newbie I think that steemit has great potential now to help your blogging, add more value to your social media utilization time and perhaps earn you some money (steem).

SIGNUP PROCESS

1. Simply visit steemit.com
2. ‎Choose a very cool username (you have one shot at this)
3. ‎Submit your email for verification.
4. ‎Provide your mobile phone number. A verification code will be sent to your number instantly. Input that number
5. ‎Wait for steemit to do their magic (verify your sign up info and set you up). Should be done in about 5 days.
6. Open the mail steemit send you and get your password. KEEP THE PASSWORD SUPER WELL. IF YOU LOSS IT YOU LOSS ACCESS TO YOUR ACCOUNT PERMANENTLY AND THERE IS NO WAY TO RECOVER IT. (you can write it down and back it up somewhere safe online).
7. ‎For your first post tag it introduceyourself. Take time to make this awesome and natural. It's your first impression on the platform so

When that is sorted you are set to start with steemit.
(Anything else you need will come to you almost naturally. Google search or use the search on steemit for anything that you want to understand)

All the best.

If I introduced you to steemit (i probably sent you a link to read this). Follow me at https://steemit.com/@michaelaffare and let's keep in touch on steemit. Would love to make friends with as many newbies as possible.

Leave a comment below and I will follow you; let's form a community of friends on steemit.

IMAGE SOURCES:

1. https://medium.com/startup-grind/seo-is-not-hard-a-step-by-step-seo-tutorial-for-beginners-that-will-get-you-ranked-every-single-1b903b3ab6bb
2. https://steemit.com/blockchain/@scifiannemarie/decentralized
3. http://www.fintechist.com/steemit-social-media-platform-pays-us1-3m-users/
4. https://steemit.com/dtube/@lukebrn/steemit-success-initiative-the-different-apps-that-you-can-use-on-steemit
5. http://mta-egypt.com/creating-great-content-can-need-succeed-online/
6. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/773422935979354968/