The Top 10 Things to Know When You Join Steemit

Hello Steemit Friends: Writing has always been a passion of mine. Even as a little girl, I always kept journals, wrote poems, or songs. I've always been a list maker, it just makes things feel more organized to see it on paper. Even though I can keep notes in my phone now or on my laptop, there's just something about writing it down. It's like the movie, The Secret, when you write it down, thoughts become things.

So, I've been thinking, and I know this is a little different from my typical posts, but I just wanted to share with you guys some things I would've liked to have known sooner when I joined Steemit. I’m hoping that maybe some of this information can help someone else.

There are definitely some very important things to know about being a new Steemian. Here are my top ten things I wish I would’ve known when I joined Steemit. Keep in mind, these are just recommendations for success, there are no rules per say.

#1 Secure Your Account
Change your password to something secure. Store your keys offline in a couple different safe locations such as a bank vault and in a fireproof and waterproof safe deposit box at home. The reason this is important, is so you don’t risk losing your entire account to a hack. Since there is no one managing Steemit officially, there is no way to recover a lost password. You don’t want to lose everything, including all the Steem you’ve earned.

#2 Do an Introduction Post Right Away
This will give you instant exposure. Be real and be yourself, this will create a well-rounded community. Being yourself is more likeable and genuine than being what you think others want to see. Definitely use the @introduceyourself tag first. This is where people will upvote new members, known as minnows, that are new to the Steemit community. This gives other users the chance to get to know you and get an idea of the kinds of posts they will be seeing from you. Another great tag is @minnowsupport to get your first upvotes. This in turn can generate new followers for you to give you a good launch. Don’t get discouraged if in the beginning you aren’t receiving any votes or followers, sometimes it takes time to build and to be seen. I would also recommend making your account visually appealing and putting a description about yourself so that others will get to know you and want to follow you.

#3 Know How to Use Tags
Make sure to use relevant tags to what your topic is about. The first tag you use will be the main category your post will go to. Use five tags when you post, if you want to create a new tag, make sure it’s your first tag. Keep in mind, a new tag will not give you the exposure that a frequented one will. It just secures the tag you want to create. Since Steemit is still new and growing, there are many new tags to be created that don’t have content yet. Don’t be afraid to just explore the site and navigate your own way through, that’s the way I learned. There is no way to search all created tags on Steemit yet. If you want to know if your tag will be the first, type in the URL www.steemit.com/created/yourtag.

#4 Know How to Improve Your Reputation Score
Your reputation score is the number next to your name. It will start at twenty-five and grow as you develop a reputation for good content and comments that are useful or meaningful to others. Upvotes from members with higher reputation scores or more Steem Power (SP) are the only way to increase your reputation score. Your reputation is not based on money in your account, only the content you create.

Being downvoted can devastate your reputation very quickly. To help prevent abuse of members, spam, plagiarism, and content promoting hate, there is a downvoting system in place.

“It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
-Warren Buffet

#5 You Have a Limited Amount of Voting Power Each 24hr Period
As you upvote, your voting power goes down. It’s important to keep track of your voting power. It’s recommended to keep it at 80% or higher. The less value in your vote will mean less curation rewards you’ll receive. If you are voting too much and depleting your voting power, it will take a while for it to go back up to 100%. This regenerates at 20% of your expended voting power over five days. A good “best practice” is to upvote no more than eleven times per day at 100%, which is 2% of your voting power per vote. It may be confusing at first, but you can get familiar with the details by reading the white paper . If you want to read further, and see some updates to the white paper, @steemitblog did a fantastic write up on it.

Here are a couple of links to see your stats, voting power, and activity on your site:
https://steemd.com/@yournamehere or https://steemnow.com/@yournamehere
(type in your name in at the end of the address in the URL)

#6 It’s Not Recommended to Upvote Posts Older Than Seven Days
Posts older than seven days stop generating income and the author receives no reward for the upvote. In fact, it will make your reputation score go down. I personally, love to build others up and when I see something I like, it only feels natural to want to vote it up. Some of us put a lot into our writing and for it to be seen for only one week may feel discouraging. Just know that your hard work will pay off if you don’t give up. People will still use your older posts and comment on them, there is just no monetary reward. That being said, make it count when you do a post! Also, try to get as much exposure to it as possible during that week by connecting with others and using the right tags.
@stealthtrader did a great post on this here.

#7 Understand a Little About Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrencies are a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units and verify transfers, while operating independently of a central bank. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized and based on blockchain technology. Read more about the blockchain and how it works here.

One of the most important thing about cryptocurrency that you need to understand, is how to purchase cryptocurrencies, and transfer them to your Steem wallet. I’ll be doing a post on this soon.

#8 Know What Steem Power (SP) is & How it Can Benefit You
The three Steem currencies are:

Steem - units that are used as actual money on the open market. You don’t want to hold on to Steem for very long because they will lose value.

Steem Power (SP) - units are long-term investments in the currency, and are locked up for two years. This helps create a stable economy.The more SP you hold, the more value you add as an active Steem user. In short, the more SP you have, the more rewards you will receive, and the more others will make off your upvotes.

Steem Dollars - are a stable currency that you can sell at any time. 50% of your author rewards are given in Steem dollars. You receive 10% interest for holding Steem Dollars.

#9 Make Sure You’re Posting at the Most Optimal Time of Day
Mondays and Thursdays are said to be the best days to post and the best times of the day are 12:00-6:00pm. Post at 2:00pm for maximum upvote potential. There are some really great tips below!

This photo is courtesy of: coschedule.com
If you would like to see some graphs and tables to support this, check out these posts:
@bitcalm - When is the Best Time to Publish on Steemit
@scrawl - The Best Time to Post on Steemit

#10 Have Patience
Steemit is not a get rich quick scheme. It can be a slow process. Just keep posting good quality content that others can use or enjoy, and you should be successful. Try to post at least once a day to keep your readers engaged. Of course, there will be days when you may not be able to post, just make it your goal.

Useful Links:
Here are some Steemit FAQ’s
I found some very useful information for getting started here.
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