1 year on Steemit - 7 Simple tips for newbies!

What's up guys! I've been on Steemit for over a year now and still see many people ask about tips on how to get the most out of their blogs and grow their profiles. I'm by no means an expert. In fact I'm so hopeless with computers I didn't even know what a blog was until I found Steemit. This place can be much more complex than you first realise and just about every week I'm learning something new. I've learnt a lot of tips and tricks over the last year that I thought I could share in a simple fashion to those who are new to the platform and hopefully may get some value out of what I can share.

Steemit strong!

Join a group

Communities build each other up, we all know this and Steemit is no different. There are lots of people who go it alone but the greatest #1 tip I've learnt on here is to become part of groups who help each other reach Steemit success... or if you fail at least you have people to cry to. It usually starts with country groups, such as my own #TeamAustralia or #TeamWhateverCountryYouAreFrom. Unless you're from Mars there will be a country team for you on here (maybe there will one day be a #TeamMars!). Aside from country groups there are many groups you can find simply by asking around, especially on Discord. Groups such as SteemArtists are willing to help you grow your art-based blog by resteeming each other and offering upvotes on good content.

No one bites... that I know of

Interface

A great asset to reading and producing blogs, something I've just discovered 2 days ago (or approximately 400 days after I began), is different interfaces. If you're completely computer-noob like I am and don't even know what an interface is, it's what you're reading from now. You may start off on the Steemit interface and discover there are actually a number of them you can use to connect with the blogging platform such as Busy, chainBB, Steepshot, eSteem and more. I have not used all these so I can't comment on how great or not-great they are.

I've recently started to use the Busy interface. I've found this much easier to keep track of your followers, resteems and comments and I like how it will give you a boost for using the 'Busy' tag in your post. However as I've only been using it a short while I'm still open to using both while also planning to check out others to see what may suit me best. Busy can be a bit straining on the eyes as it seems the font is almost like a 'bold' style which just doesn't feel relaxed. It also adds an 'Interesting People' sidebar which I really dislike but this is easily ignored. Check out @just2randoms more detailed comparison of Steemit vs Busy interfaces.

Look at my beautiful interface

Auto voting

By now most people would've at least heard of using bots on your blog, if you haven't already used them. These can help your blog grow in many ways with the most popular being resteeming and upvoting. There is a particularly handy program called Steemvoter and what this does is you can set up your followers to be autovoted each time they post. For example, some members have set up an autovote for our SteemArtists group to allocated a 50% vote at 30 minutes, so they will receive an automatic curation reward every time this happens. I won't go into too much detail with this as there is already a lot of information out there. My point is just to say it is a hugely useful tool that you should be taking advantage of.

Autovotingbots... transform my wallet!

Know your bots

Speaking of bots, it seems all too easy to give an upvoting bot 10SBD and then seemingly make a profit. As with everything, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. If this worked you'd have every man and his dog just botting their way to the top. I have a bit of experience with bots and while I didn't go full accountant-mode on the results, I'm pretty positive most of the time I came out at a loss or even. The bots are designed to make the creator money, not necessarily you. From what I've read they are more used as a promotional tool with the psychology of being like money in a tip jar. People are far more likely to put money into your 'tip jar' if there's already something in it and if others are also doing it. So use them wisely if you'd like to try and get more activity on a post but don't expect to make any kind of return on your investment. There is lots of information about this out there so do your homework. Here's @aghunter's post going into more depth on if bots work or not Upvote Bots - Do they work?

We won't take over humanity... we promise

Talk to people

If you're anything like me, you came here to get away from people. Sorry... but they've followed you here too! Make yourself know, join Discord or just be a human and talk to people in their comments. No one is buying the same old "Follow me I'll follow back" crap. Even if you do get a follow there's a good chance that person gives ZERO care about your blog and it's just a waste of your time. I am 100% more likely to post on someone I know or shows they provide good quality content than someone who just spams like a robot. No one here is a robot until Elon Musk says so. Also, the old "nice post, follow me" is crap too. I've seen that written on a post about a gang shooting!! Read the article and offer a useful comment and people will be far more likely follow you for long term upvotes on your posts. I'm pretty sure a fairy dies every time someone puts up a boring spammy comment.

Somebody kill me pleeeeease

Make a decent effort

Lastly I'd suggest just make a decent effort. What have you got to lose? If you're having fun then it's a win already. So many times have I clicked on a post, such as a great work of art, only to find nothing along with the picture. Just a lone painting on the page. It's immediately clear the person just made no effort at all and just wants upvotes or even a chance they have plagiarised the work. This might work for Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms but Steemit people want more. We want to know the person behind the blog. Feel the blog. Be at one with the blog.

Use markdown and get to understand how different sized texts and alignments look. Many people only post centred but it often doesn't suit the post at all, so use your own trial and error but also see what looks good on other blogs. Make your blog beautiful! Straight up, people are far less likely to give a decent upvote on a post that took 10 secs to create than someone who loving crafted a thoughtful post (such as this wink, wink). Use your images wisely and sparingly. Keeping with the example of artwork, you can add your process pictures, a nice poem, a helpful tutorial, your artistic tools of the trade or even a simple write-up of what the painting is about is often enough... just put something!

To infinity and beyond!

Do it for the love, not the money

Sure there are a lot of people that could really use the tiny amount you get on most blog posts, but if you're thinking you're going to explode with popularity on here and become wealthy, I think you should take a walk in the park and have a good long think about how many people get on Steemit each day. Maybe your walk in the park might even make you realise money isn't everything. Maybe you'll walk in the park and stand in a dog poo and scream, "Damn you SpaceGinger, this is all your fault!!" Either way a walk in the park is good for you alright, so get out there!

Not saying you shouldn't aim for big success, but keep your expectations realistic. This platform is amazing in how it can offer many people the chance to make some extra money but for a lot of people living in first world countries with full time jobs, you'd be better off just working an extra shift or something if money is what you're chasing. You have to be here because you enjoy it. I've seen the statistics and a massive number of people only last a week on Steemit before they quit. I've also seen many angry people crying, "Why can't I make money!!" while also creating completely boring posts. Not sure about you, but a boring whinger isn't exactly on my list of people who I love to follow. I suggest be here for the love of sharing and community or go find another hobby and I mean this with sincerity.

Viva la revolution!

I hope you got some value out of this and some of the tips help you on your way. This isn't an exhaustive list, if I did that I'd be... exhausted. So these tips are just a helping hand for newbies and a reminder for oldies, not just to grow your blog but helping you to find joy in it. I've always said if you do something for the love, not the money then you'll win either way! 😊