You're welcome. Being consistent is the way to do it, from what I've seen. Sooner or later what you're doing will start to click. I was so discouraged at first from actually spending quite a bit of time on some content and then getting 0-1 cents that I had to leave for a couple of weeks. But then I came back started to pick up a few things. I've seen that many new comers have done a lot better than I have in a short period, but also that most don't but keeping moving along and keep moving up steadily. There are little tricks to everything, like in where to post, how to comment and upvote, who to follow, using your feed well, etc., and nothing works quite the same for everyone.
On my FAQ, I have two links that were helpful to me at first. The first one is the Steemit tags page. It tells you how different tags are doing in terms of number of posts, comments and their payouts. If I'm not mistaken it used to be on the main page but I don't think it is anymore since they put a drop-down box on the side instead:
From that page, I made up one that has most of the most popular/highest paying tags, and will try to use one of them as my initial tag, though I also post much in #christian-trail and I know #pizzagate does well too and both have little communities. I would say it's good to pick some tags and get to know the communities that are there, and let them get to know you.
Now about turning those magic internet dollars into USD, and I haven't had that problem quite yet, either. I'm hoping to soon, though. I know it involves getting a wallet, and I believe in my FAQ somewhere there's an article I included about how it's better to take an intermediate currency exchange step because steem itself is worth I think $2 or something, maybe $3 now. I'll have to try to find that information and see if it applies in my situation.
I understand about it being frustrating that this place isn't more user-friendly in some ways. I've certainly experienced that and some other negative things, but I believe the ways in which it is good and user-friendly can really off-set that. This site really breaks the mold on what the internet has been, I think, allowing the actual users to be part of the whole process from beginning to end - the tech part, the user interface, content, and social media parts, and the financial part. And it's much better for free speech. You see much more dialogue here. So overall it's something I'm glad to be involved in. I think if you stay consistent, as you said, that you should do well pretty quickly, given that you have already have an audience outside Steemit.