A Starter’s Guide To Steem

in #minnowtips6 years ago (edited)

You’ve been invited to Steem!

Great. Now what?

Hi there,

You’ve probably read about Steem in one of my Tweets, Facebook posts or I personally recommended you to use Steem. But, I left you with more questions then answers. Or maybe, you already have an account, and after getting no traction and no up vote, you decided to give up and never try again. Or, we have already connected on Steem and you just read my regular posts. Welcome either way :).

This post is a step by step process on how to experience Steem in a way that you won’t feel left out, specifically written for Steem newbies or aspiring Steemians.

1. Step one: Make a Steemit account

Ok. This is by far the easiest step. Go to https://signup.steemit.com/. It might take some time before you get accepted, but no need to worry, you can continue reading this article and maybe try the course by @paulag at the bottom of this post to get familiar with the platform while you await your approval.

2. Step two: Download Partiko

Get yourself Partiko, download it here.

To be totally honest and fair. You can use any app or website you prefer to make your Steem experience better. I even enjoy just using Steemit sometimes because I personally feel the UX is great. Others however, beg to differ. Here is a list of options, if you want an unbiased approach.

Websites:
busy.org
steampeak.com
Apps:
Appics
Esteem

The aforementioned websites/apps all have their unique distinction and are all great if you want to experience Steem differently.

I ended up a @partiko user because:
A) Their UX is great. For me, Steem feels like a Social Media platform because their mobile app make me feel like I’m on Facebook or a similar platform
B) Notifications. You get notified if someone comments, upvotes or starts following you.
C) Partiko points. A little gamification element they’ve added. You can collect the points and try to get in their top 20 or use them to up vote your posts. You get points for upvoting, commenting and posting, which really rewards those who are interactive on the platform. They also have the opportunity to gain points by watching ads. Last but not least, you get rewarded for referrals.
D) SP delegation. One of the biggest issues for newbies is resource credits. Small accounts only have limited steem power, meaning they can post and comment only 5-10 times a day. Partiko helps you out by giving you 15 SP delegation if you are just starting out.
E) Their customer service. Questions? Just send them a message in Partiko and they will help you out.

If you decide to use Partiko, I would be really grateful if you use my referral link as a token of appreciation: https://partiko.app/referral/jeanlucsr

3. Step three: Get connected to the PAL network

There are really a lot of great people on steem that are willing to help you out.

The Minnow Support Project is one of them. It's a witness project run by @aggroed, @ausbitbank, @teamsteem, @someguy123, @neoxian, @followbtcnews, and @netuoso. Their goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows.

Go to their Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. Read everything carefully and follow the rules.

Once you register you will be able to apply for a free upvote on content of your choice every 30 hours. This is a real lifesaver for those just starting out. Most newbies only get a couple of upvotes which are often not worth anything. The minnow support upvote is a pretty big upvote to start with and sometimes attracts attention from more senior users if the content is really good. Don’t misuse the upvote option to upvote crappy content and avoid using it for dapp posting (I think I once had an issue when trying to upvote a share2steem post).

This step could be a hurdle for some, especially those who’ve never used discord before. But trust me, it is worth it. If you are on discord, feel free to hit me up (Jeanlucsr#8411).

4. Step four: Find your niche

I guess in a sense, the Steem platform is much like any other Social Media platform. If you just post random stuff (without having a big following), it will get you nowhere. Take your time to find a niche. There are some great country based communities, so do check out if your country has a steem community as well. The great thing about Steem however, it that it is a worldwide community with many different interests. Check out which niche fits you best.

I’ll tag some people you might want to follow based on your interests:

@tattoodjay - awesome photographer. Great follow if you are into photography, but also shares contests which you can join.
@mariannewest - must follow if you are into writing, also has a great daily freewrite which you can join anytime.
@detlev - If you are into beer. He is your guy. Also runs a weekly beer contest.
@dtube - If you are a video creator, it would be a waste if you didn’t upload to dtube.
@pennsif - Covers anything Steem related, gives daily updates on the community, as well as news related to meet ups around the globe.
@sagescrub - If you are interested in homesteading, but also if you want to use steem for E-commerce (builder of the Woocommerce Steem Payment Method plugin).
@stackin - If you are a hustler, grinder, entrepreneur or investor and you want to be stackin, Charles Fuchs is definitely worth a follow.
@thedarkhorse - Founder of @pifc and @minnowbuilder. Helps out a lot of beginners with free Steem Power (SP).

There are a lot of great people on Steem. Take your time to connect with people and you will be rewarded for it.

5. Step five: Learn more about Steem dapps

There are a lot of great apps (Decentralized apps) that are connected to the Steem blockchain.
Currently, the top 4 dapps on stateofthedapps.com are Steem related. So are 7 out of the top 10. There are 3 more in the top 20, and 6 more in the top 50. So let’s examine these 16 dapps.

Dapps already mentioned:

@steemit, @partiko, @busy.org, @esteemapp, @steempeak, @dtube

Dapps I personally use:

@actifit - Tracks and Rewards you for your daily activity @share2steem - Connects your Twitter, Instagram and other Social Networks to Steem

Dapps I don’t use, but have my interest:

@steempress - pretty cool Wordpress plugin that connects your blog to the blockchain
@fundition - A Steem based Crowdfunding and collaboration platform

Dapps I haven’t researched yet:

@steemhunt - Daily ranking for cool new products
@smartsteem - Investment and promotion-service connect to the Steem blockchain
@dclick - Incentived advertisement platform by Proof of Click
@minnowbooster - Steem Power delegation and post promotion markets

Games:

@drugwars and @steemmonsters are currently the 2 hottest crypto games on the market

Dapps that I haven’t seen listed, but I also use:

Steemworld.org - awesome website by @steemchiller that gives an overview of your Steem account
Dpoll.xyz - A decentralized poll app on the top of the STEEM blockchain
@steemitworldmap - App the shares your travel stories by pinning the photos/posts on a world map.

6. Step six: Power up

I guess I can’t stress this enough. Community matters, so does investing in yourself and the platform. It is seen as common courtesy that you power up your earnings at least until you reach the level of 500 Steem Power. Trying to cash out your earnings early will raise some eyebrows from bigger accounts that have been supporting you along the way.

In the end, it is all about your intentions. If you abuse the steem blockchain, people will call you out for it and might even respond by unfavorable action. If you open up and are transparant about why you need to do a withdrawal, it might be better accepted. But powering up is the best way to show you are willing to invest in Steem and dedicated to the platform.

7. Step seven: Participate in contests

Growing on the platform can be quite a long and enduring process. That’s why a lot of accounts over different contests for Steemians to empower them.

Currently @nathanmars is running a #Seven77 competition. It means doing 7 creative push-ups for 77 days. The goals is to get more people familiar with the Steem blockchain while doing a healthy exercise. You can #share2steem or post on dtube, but posting on Twitter is mandatory, to improve the awareness outside the steem blockchain.

If you are dedicated, you will get rewards. And if you keep it up for 77 days, you will definitely be rewarded, not only through Steem, but with your health as well ;).

On to some contests I came around recently:
@jaynie runs a weekly contest track of the day in which you can comment your favorite track
@czechglobalhosts run a lot of different photocontests
@gogreenbuddy runs a daily green give away
@jaybird runs a weekly steemit sandwich contest
@jayna runs a weekly micro-fiction contest

Again, just a small collection, but enough to get you started on your Steem journey. Good luck and Steem On!

Bonus tips

If you want to learn a bit more, make sure to check out this minnow tips post by @fitinfun
https://steemit.com/busy/@fitinfun/monday-minnow-tips-for-everyone-from-fitinfun

Make sure to check out @steemsavvy as well.

Also, @paulag has a free Udemy course on the Steem Blockchain. If anything follow this:
https://www.udemy.com/understanding-the-steem-blockchain-economy/


Let’s built #SteemAwareness, connect on Twitter!
Steemians on Twitter


#Lobi
@jeanlucsr

Special shoutout to @zord189 for this awesome signature

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excellent post and tips for steem users. thank you so much for mentioning my FREE course. And at the moment, those that complete it and send me a dm via partiko can get some free delegation :-)

My pleasure. Just enrolled and planning to finish it this week 👍

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Thanks for the mention. Just trying to do my little part. New people really should check out the @pifc community and our efforts to promote them.

great article!! This will help a lot of newbies get started!!!

Thanks @mariannewest!! 🙏

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Awesome post of tips, and thank you for the shout out, @jeanlucsr.

I totally disagree with directly powering up when new though. This is fully explained in my minnow tips post you referenced. Instead, new people should use the leverage of @minnowbooster and lease delegated sp instead. I give this advice up for 500 sp at least and even higher.

If you power up 10 sp, you could be leasing 100's of sp depending on the length of time you go for. This gives a much better bang for the buck. You need to curate well to take advantage of it, but this is not hard to do.

I have been here two years and started leasing after 2 months and I still do so. This is because I DO power down weekly and live off the money.

But others I have given this advice to who do not need to power down end up growing their own sp far faster than those who don't. Mine grows, but much more slowly.

I will also mention a few ways to get more rewards and otherwise do better:

Wow. A lot of interesting info I did not know about.

Thank you!!

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I'm full of it in many ways lol. I'm glad you like it :)

Sharon, you make more Steem out of your delegation than you pay for it? I don't see how with the current price of the delegations...

Below 500 sp, the price is irrelevant. It can take a year to get to 100 sp without it. fitinfunfood is 12 weeks old and already has over 150 sp owned and 540 total. Most will not grow that fast, but they will at least go way faster up to 500 of their own. Under 100 sp you are still worried about rc if you work hard here. Bump to 150, and no trouble at all with rc.

In my case I have 3 blogs voting many posts for each other - totally worth it until about 2500 sp. I pay 14.2% and grow over 100 sp a week - some back to delegation, some to other programs and most to live on. And I also take most of the sbd. My total owned sp is about 1000 sp. with delegation about 3800.

It's also not purely about the cost benefit ratio. Bigger votes means I can do more for other little people. Without the delegations, I could do nothing for anyone.

This post has been included in the latest edition of SoS Daily News - a digest of all the latest news on the Steem blockchain.

Thank you!

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Excellent starter guide, @jeanlucsr! Thanks so much for giving my contest a holler!

Posted using Partiko iOS

My pleasure @jayna!
Will participate more often once I've survived March Madness 😅

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Good luck! It was not in the cards for me due to too many other commitments. It will be a great achievement!

Great advise to new arrivals on the platform and thanks for the shoutout

!tip

Good info here man and thanks for the shout out 🙌🏼🙌🏼

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Thanks man! Have been following you for a long time. Just realized I'm still a member of the Steemit Superstars FB group 😅

Posted using Partiko Android

Great! We from from henceforth add this guide to the recommendation section of my weekly SP giveaway contest.

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Feel free to my friend 👍

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Very good information
I'll save it in my bookmarks to analyze better.
Some steps are in standby , because I do not have a telephone.
Others I have already put into practice.
I try to keep 100% on.
But sometimes without configuring, 50% 50% appears.
I do not know what is due.
Greetings.

Thanks for commenting. Glad to hear it's useful 😊

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Esteem works more for me, I would agree to pretty much rest of the list, Well done with posting it. It could be helpful for many

Esteem is awesome. Gives amazing upvotes if you are an frequent user. Nothing against them. Just got hooked on Partiko.

Thanks for sharing 💪

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Partiko keeps giving you points on each post and comment, but those points combined don't value as much in upvote as one single esteem vote does. But, both platforms are good for engaging

True. Esteem upvotes are currently much higher. If I were to use it solely for the upvotes I might still have used the app.

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Which app is better for upvotes? except for esteem?
The upvotes on esteem depend on the amount of time you spend on esteem I guess

Thanks!

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Hope it helps! 💪

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I could totally use your help @jeanlucsr, with the PAL network. Discord is new to me (and so busy) I struggle to even send a DM. I registered with PAL and then nothing, can't post in any channels, or find any help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated in this space

In the time I left this message i've figured out how to do the upvote... Turns out there are some good moderators there happy to help! Thanks loads for your article, i wouldn't have known about the booster if it wasn't for coming across it :)

I see blzn88 has just registered you, so I see you're getting some help. If that doesn't help I'd suggest contacting @aggroed.

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💪

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💪😉

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Thanks for mentioning eSteem app. Kindly join our Discord or Telegram channel for more benefits and offers on eSteem, don't miss our amazing updates.
Follow @esteemapp as well!

You're welcome 👍

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🎁 Hi @jeanlucsr! You have received 0.1 SBD tip from @tattoodjay!

@tattoodjay wrote lately about: Sepia Saturday Statues At The Shrine Church Feel free to follow @tattoodjay if you like it :)

Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide :)

This post has received a 26.43 % upvote from @boomerang.

Thank you so much for being an awesome Partiko user! We have just given you a free upvote!

The more Partiko Points you have, the more likely you will get a free upvote from us! You can earn 30 Partiko Points for each post made using Partiko, and you can make 10 Points per comment.

One easy way to earn Partiko Point fast is to look at posts under the #introduceyourself tag and welcome new Steem users by commenting under their posts using Partiko!

If you have questions, don't feel hesitant to reach out to us by sending us a Partiko Message, or leaving a comment under our post!

Hi @jeanlucsr

As a follower of @haccolong this post has been upvoted by @hoaithu's Curation Trail with 20user.
This is free upvote first when you follow @haccolong

To get 3000points and receive additional rewards from your activities on Steemit, you can use Partiko app for your phone.

Saved it and shared it and finally was able to read it, but... what do you do if you have a lousy connection like I have and joining discord is impossible, you can not watch a video and seldom are able to load a video?

This is amazing. I wish I had seen this long ago. Thank you.

Great post as you cover a lot.

Maybe add the fact that there are plenty meetups to exchange knowledge while sipping a beer....