Noobs - Don't hang onto your STEEM Power - Delegate it

I know this might seem a little controversial but just hear me out, even before you become a Minnow your STEEM Power is almost worthless. And for the first month on STEEM you'll be just treading water anyway.

Did you know the 14.5 SP you get in your new STEEM account is actually delegated and is progressively taken back by Steemit INC as you earn more STEEM Power?

Most learn this the hard way and feel like they aren't getting anywhere fast for the first few months, but even after you've earned your first 15 SP, it still isn't worth anything.

It's depressing I know, but there is hope.

You see, after some recent changes by Steemit INC to combat SPAM accounts, they put in a policy to round down post and comment payouts worth less than 2 cents.

Comments and posts awarded less than $0.02 receive no payout.
The amount is rounded down to $0 at post-payout.

This was to combat spam accounts that would simply up-vote themselves against auto-generated SPAM content. And be paid out a few cents per post.

But in doing so they also capped the comment upvote value too, so as a Plankton level Steemian (less than 500 SP) your upvote on comments is virtually useless until you reach at least 80 SP according to the upvote calculator.

Of course, this is a variable number and depends on the price of STEEM, but right now it's low, so you need more SP to actually share your 2 cents.

But there is a better way to earn STEEM with the small amount of SP you have.

Just Delegate Your STEEM Power

Yeah, I know, SP is like having a bag of gold and if you delegate it away it feels like you've lost it forever. But in reality, it's still yours and you can always get it back within seven days, no questions asked.

So until your voice is actually worth something, consider delegating it to a project that actually uses it to upvote community contributions. Then contribute to that community.

A couple of STEEM projects come to mind. BlockDeals and SteemHunt.

Both appear to use their delegated SP to pay back the community in the form of upvotes. So to be honest, you'd earn more money delegating small amounts of SP to them, and then contributing to their community.

For BlockDeals, this is posting deals and bargains from around the web. And the cheat here is to use sites like SlickDesl.net And Retailmenot.com to find deals and coupons and re-post them on BlockDeals.

Right now their upvote is worth around 60-70 cents and it's growing. And it's a lot more than you'll earn even if you reached a Minnow Level of 500 SP (still only worth a $0.10 upvote) Ho Hum.

And for SteemHunt their upvote is around $1-$2 but they don't always consistently upvote. However, to earn a decent upvote you'll need to find interesting products around the web and post them at SteemHunt.com.

The cheat here is to check out ProductHunt.com first as this is the website they are trying to mimic.

Being generous is great for your reputation

No, I'm not talking about your Steemit Reputation, because that can be bought. I'm talking about your reputation or standing in the community as a giver and not a taker.

Believe me, they are too many takers around here, so it makes the givers stand out so much more.

Be a Giver and Not a Taker

New projects are hard to fund and when you jump on board in the early days, you're noticed and could even get a few extra upvotes because of it.

Contrast that to jumping onboard when you're in a sea of delegators. You just become another number.

Anyway, the choice is yours how to best invest your SP but my advice is to delegate as much as you can until you reach a Minnow Status (500SP) and use the platforms on STEEM that pay you back in upvotes for contributing to their community.

As trying to get upvotes for your lengthy posts on Steemit isn't as easy as spending 5-10 minutes on these other platforms and getting a guaranteed upvote. But you probably already know that.

Of course, delegating SP is optional, but will increase the rewards for everyone.

If 100 people delegated their 1 cent vote (50SP), then suddenly that vote becomes $1 and means so much more to a lot more people.

Be a giver and not a taker

If you know of any other STEEM Projects out there that guarantee an upvote for user contributions, let us know in the comments below.

And I'll call TipU for some delegation links to the two projects I've mentioned, to make it easier to delegate.

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