We have a ton of new people on the site. I interact with a lot of them. I founded and help manage the Minnow Support Project, which is the Steemit official welcome group. We have about 6,500 active members and they ask a lot of questions and have a lot of misconceptions. So, let's start with the basics.
Begging for votes, resteems, and "will you please review my post" will help you grow.
What you really need to grow your account on Steem is a community that stands behind you. Nothing erodes confidence that you're a good man/woman/furry to get involved with like begging for upvotes, resteems, or post reviews. Most of the folk that I know on the platform want to see good people succeed, and begging is a great indicator that you're a selfish person not worth the effort. Start by helping others and offering services as that's much better way to make friends than simply asking others for their charity.
I need to author more
When you're just starting authoring isn't gonna be a big help for on you. You don't have a network, people don't know you, and unless you have a following from some other social media platform you're not bringing a lot to the table. Good writing/art/creations/projects is really just the beginning of what you need on the platform. It's like the minimum requirement for success. What you really need is to grow an audience and that takes time. You need followers who support you and help you grow. One of the best ways to do that on the Steem block chain is to comment a ton on other people's posts.
Try to set a goal of 20-30 comments a day when you're starting. Your wallet and follower count will thank you and you'll actually be ready to start posting in no time!
Flagging is evil
Nothing is gonna set a minnow off like flags. Just about anyone who catches a flag wants to go full melt down and burn everything to the ground. Flags can be healthy. Flags return rewards from individuals to the reward pool and that ultimately helps the entire community. It just sucks when it's you getting the flag. The rules of this place let you place upvotes and downvotes. It's your stake. If they think your content is overrated or shit or whatever it's their choice to take yours down a notch.
If you're getting 20 views on a $100 post expect some flags. You can melt down... or you can work on behalf of the platform to try to get your views up by posting your content on other social media platforms. Sometimes you gotta work for it.
If you happen to catch a flag try not to melt down. It might be the biggest thing that happens to you and can help you grow, but not if you're writing your rage quit letter. Take a breath and try to see where the other people are coming from.
It's impossible to get ahead
What new buisness do you know that starts and immediately earns $1M per year and starts handing you Lambos? It doesn't exist. Steem isn't any different. Crypto is better than just about any other place on the planet right now, but it isn't instant. This place isn't a scam, but it isn't a money press built just for you either. it takes time. It takes a community. It takes effort. The people that make it work through the slow times because they love it anyway will reap rewards after they have become an overnight success over a year in the making.
I only have to interact on Steem
Last time for the people in the back. The most important thing you need is a community around you that helps and supports you. It's hard to build that just on Steem. Steem doesn't have any instant messaging. It's basically like having Pen Pals, and it's hard to make life long friendships with penpals. So, here's my suggestion. Join PALnet, join SteemSpeak, join whaleshares, and join as many of the Telegram, Discord, and Slack groups that you can and be active in them. That's how you make friends and that's how you'll start making progress on the site.
Thanks for the guide. i'm new here since a week and I hope it works. I put a lot of effort in my posts and it frustrates a bit to see that hardly anyone sees them while a post with some pics from internet and a few lines of text get a lot of attention.
It's hard to be picked up in the stream of messages. It's also caused to the way steemit shows it's content. When you have only the 'trending', 'new' and 'hot' menu you only see a rapid passing flow of content and your message has to be picked up and voted within minutes to get some attention.
I also saw some posts with only a few pictures, and a few lines with way more attention than some great articles I tumbled across. I'm still learning how this platform works. This article was very helpful. It's going to take a little getting used to but I like it so far. I'm sure I will get the hang of it and you will too.
Noticed this also. Some great content sometimes gets picked up, sometimes not. But those rubbish posts highly voted are just ... posts of those who have loaded friends, whale friends voting for whale friends regardless what the content is. This is a weakness of this platform.
The 20-30 comments a day is paying dividends. I am not a good writer but I have a voice. I use it where I see fit and apparently some of the comments are accepted well and get upvoted. If it were not for purchasing upvote bots I would likely have earned more commenting on other's posts.
You have a great summary of all the points red fish and minnows should learn and follow to succeed on stemmit. Now it is up to us to follow through and do all these things. Thanks.
I agree with you. I like putting content out, but it takes me a while. Commenting is a lot easier and I can also discuss ideas with people pretty easily. @aggroed also knows Steemit and has a lot of helpful insight on how to work with it.
I think this is the most pernicious myth: "Begging for votes, resteems, and 'will you please review my post' will help you grow."
The problem with vote-for-vote or follow-for-follow is that it isn't real engagement and these people almost always immediately disappear. One follower that actually cares about is probably worth 100 follow-for-follows.
I'd be open to hearing otherwise, but I can't see how it is a long-term strategy. I'm extremely skeptical that is it the most effective path.
This here makes so much sense. Like the instagram hustle for followers feels so shallow cause most of them disappear almost immediately. Thankfully it's different here
And it just feels better to be authentic! It's nice when the right thing and the effective thing are the same option.
or you can be a lazy cheater like this jerk
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
You are absolutely right. Spend a week on Instagram and you know fake followers are worth nothing;)
Absolutely agree, I mean it's a no brainer really.
I've seen too many people flagged, mocked, and mugged in dark alleys for that to be called an even a mediocre strategy. The very best I've seen is that they are ignored.
i sometimes use booster to promote my posts, i often get 100's of worthless votes (meaning they are worth $0.00) from random accounts. I wish they wouldnt do that, but i cant stop them.
Thanks for the tips! I can't wait to get more familiar with this amazing platform!
Thank you for teaching us newly minted minnows! My apologies for my missteps, but this is the type of permanent discussion that should not be restricted to the 7 day rule due to it’s significance.
Yeah, I surely appreciate any support, and I'd be happy to see any restrictions lifted... But what are you referring to when you say it should not be restricted??
Perhaps there could be another website in and of itself that describes all of the Steemit for Newbs...
I especially liked the whole 'comment 20-30 times a day! WOW I need to do that...'
Oh, I meant the 7 day rule to earn monetarily on each posting. This one is significant and should continue earning because it is beneficial. Thank you for letting me clarify.
@papa-pepper said something like that (about commenting) and it turned my Steemit experience around. Before that it was all about getting people to my blog but since then it actually has been bringing people to check me out, I'm getting a lot of upvotes on my comments which can easily add up to more than what my posts do and I'm having so much more fun than I did to begin with. Bringing people to my blog is pretty much secondary to meeting all the people and following the ones I like.
I can't remember who said it in their 'success' post but in addition to finding friends you might want to keep at least one post up and current on your blog so that the people you find who have similar interests as you do will have something of yours to read, comment on, and upvote.
When you say keep one post current what do you mean? A post or resteem daily?
Thank you
A resteem generally doesn't help you, it helps the person you resteem. It can show your interests but it's my opinion that if you don't have something of your own to read (that can be voted on/curated) you won't get a lot of repeat visitors .
I would suggest that you have at least one post or more that is < 7 days old. Your potential followers votes do no good after your reward is given (7 days after you post) and therefor, while people can still comment on your old post it is a waste of their upvote if they give you one on a post that is ≥ to 7 days,
Steem is going places!
I Like the Stuff !!
I love the package, and it was an interesting fact about steem ,how people beg for vote and comment and it has been a world wide service which ia not suppose to spread out,,upvote all my posts and comments to them @horlly.
Very Nice tips...Kudos
I found the the best way to get started is to start commenting meaningful things on people's posts. I gained a few followers and got even a few bucks out of it, way more than I did at my first attempts of posting myself. I haven't had much time to check out the support groups and discords, but by whati've seen everyone is pretty supportive and you usually get helped right away.
I agree, commenting is probably the best thing. Long, well thought comments, are really appreciated.
Yep, I have had people being really reluctant someone actually read their post and ivesting in my comment although my vote is worth barely nothing. I'm very new to the site and like this post states, i don't expect to make a fortune overnight. It just seems more meaningful and productive than being on facebook or youtube all day like I had been doing.
or you can do this horrible thing
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
WTH, that is some way to make a living. Just pumping money out with self voting. never saw it so obviously executed. That's just taking advantage of the platform.
Worst part: it only takes ONE user with insane SP to make it work. Meaning, it's a very easy scam.
Definitely! If you have some average/great content as well, a lot of those who read your comments might turn into followers as well.
Yup, I am trying to get a small followers base and then start posting about stuff i like. I am not going to hop on the trends of crypto's and stuff that everyone likes, but try to create a niche, which is what this site needs, more diverse content.
That's great! I originally got here through my crypto research, but I really want this platform to evolve in other areas as well. When I first spent some time on Steemit (about a month before I made my account), it seemed to me that almost all posts were about Steemit itself. Luckily, the trends are changing and we're starting to see some great content creators from many fields here.
I really like how involved this makes everyone. In facebook or instagram you will have a ton of people look at something but not like it. There's no real incentive to say anything back to people on there. The fact that you can get paid, and gain some new friends and followers makes it much more fun.
I also agree with the importance of commenting. It also "forces" you into exploring more and seeing how things truly develop here!
Good commenting not only gives you few bucks but also a follower based and good reputation, it's advisable to make meaningful on any post you find interesting.
for shure. I want to be personally invested here now that I still can make a difference.
I may need to change my strategy then and take part in more community building activities to get more followers before trying to author the high quality health content that I want to share with the platform.
It just really tough to know where to spend your limited time on here while still keeping a business going in the real world.
I agree, commenting seems to be undervalued to those coming. I consider myself quite new still, since I don't have platform experience, I thought posts were the way to steem. I think commenting is a good way to build up reputation before you have a respectable following. -Cheers!
Another tip I only just learned is that until you have gained enough voting power to make a difference, voting with a herd of people for the highest paying posts returns a reward so minimal that when you are just starting out it is more profitable to save what voting power for people you can make a difference to and who will notice you for it. I like the way that some posters always have a little voting appreciation for those (non-spammers) who visit their posts. I also like to give upvotes for people who give curation on my comments.
exactly!
That's why I prefer email. There I have time to answer things or communicate.
With real work on my back, it would be hard to follow on every chat here around.
And if you have something to say, comment one of my posts.
It is definitely a time sink. Commenting adds a lot to the health of the community. Writing good posts is certainly important too, but I think there has to be some balance of viewers and writers. I think a platform where everyone is a creator and no one is a consumer is off balance. Granted, I also think people can fill both roles, but it's important to split evenly between consuming and creating.
I'd recommend you just spend a good part of your free time commenting around, such as stated in the post. And as you said, when you do have the correct following, and probably only then, start posting at your heart's content, cause at this point, the only thing that could ruin your work would be yourself (by posting shit lol). But good luck my friend, we're all in the same boat
you don't need to try hard or spend a lot of time if you can cheat the system like this jerk
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
True story! That’s what I think every time I look at all of these groups 🤔
Commenting your way to success is a totally valid method. Comments are making more money now than they were when steem was stuck at a dollar it's the golden age for comments. When you factor in high sbd prices you can really make a lot commenting
Good post. Enjyoing the journey on Steemit is the best way to succeed in Steemit I guess. I am bullish on long term prospects of Steem as it has a good community and an eco system. I have written post a regarding the same https://busy.org/steem/@gokulnk/steem-to-the-moon-again would love your feedback on the same.
Great post aggroed, one question on content, is there any way to keep great content around, like stickies? I know there are some posts linked in the welcome and faq pages, but great content needs to be kept around, especially in regards to how to use and thrive on steem
Steemshelves.com is my favorite answer to that.
StumbleUpon lets you create lists from your shares and it can drive thousands of visitors to steemit at the same time. It would be nice to get a stumbleUpon share button added to posts
Thanks @aggroed! Steemshelf had a super-excellent HTML post by @harshallele with info that I've been looking everywhere for!
Also, I bookmark on my computer great content and advice @jakeybrown.
Bookmarking is a good way to save content. Though I generally use it to save the long reads for later. I like the idea of saveing quality posts for reference later, that could be a feature to suggest.
I totally agree man, #5 really changed thing for me, being active on discord and making real friends and connections with other users.
I started out at Steemit chat and went on Discord which seemed very "busy" interface-wise. Yesterday I listened to a radio show on PAL and got involved in chat. No promotion, just having fun interacting with the host and others, while listening to some excellent Rush tunes as a backdrop.
Lately, I've started going to the "new" section and welcoming brand-new users to Steemit. I can tell you guys; it's enjoyable to give a little pump of encouragement and share a digital smile to newcomers.
Thanks @aggroed Someone like you came along when I was thinking about folding and gave me that little boost I needed. This is my way of paying it forward! :)
source
I do that, too, @evernoticethat! It just seems like the right thing to do. It felt wonderful to be welcomed even by a few people in the beginning!!
All great points, they are definitely taken to heart. As a newby I really don't have much for complaints posts like this are plentiful, just the numbers of good, positive people to interact with. Bottom line there is a ton of support and really no need to whine about really anything, that to me is a huge deal breaker on here.
My experience is like you mentioned, that yes, growing takes time and that it's important to be part of the community, on Steemit and other channels.
It's good that you point at some things many new people "believe they have to do/not do". I think it's easy to be very fast and just start doing things, when you don't get quick results you give up and leave. That is sad, and it's a great idea to help people realise that it's mostly like in real life. Hard work, engagement, honesty and helping others that will make yourself grow.
Great post!
Yup. I’m just getting started here on Steemit and I’m learning what it takes. A lot of people post comments like “nice! :)” and expect to get upvotes. A lot of people make a post with 1 picture and 10 words expect rewards. But that’s not how this community works. It’s about contributing to the platform and that doesn’t. Getting involved and connected with others here on Steemit is very important to your success.you have to put time into this platform
you won't believe how well "nice" posts work for those who cheat the system
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
the witnesses are seemingly not concerned with this. i dont get it. asking nicely for him to stop is laughable. he's not breaking any rules, really, so the only recourse we have is downvoting, but the system is totally flawed because there is no real incentive to downvote. And it takes too much to get the value all the way back down - not to mention that these posts can just go unnoticed.
I'm extremely bullish on steem in general but i am pretty surprised that this type of abuse, along with many others, is not being addressed at all. i would give all my witness votes to anyone who would deal with this, but i'm just a little guy...
It's not an easy fix. It requires a lot of new ideas and consensus on changing rules in the game.
As things stand now, should a whale or witness have to personally spend all his voting power on miscreants simply because he has more voting power than you do? Should that be considered fair simply because he has a good following? How much of his time should be spent on monitoring and trying to control others instead of creating and curating? Is it fair that he has less time to have fun in the community that he has helped to build and is a part of?
I not certain that someone with a lot of voting power should be blamed as 'not caring' or 'not concerned' even if their interference can (only to some degree) help others feel justified and secure about the rampant crime. Changes need to be made but not just to individual players.
You've got 30 possible votes for witnesses. Start doing the research, go to their sites and start voting the people who will make a difference
https://steemit.com/~witnesses
I agree. I truly believe Steemit has a place in the future and I expect that Steem will grow exponentially, but these fights and cheap workarounds make me worry that new users will be reluctant to delve into a platform with so much volatility.
Just give incentive to flagging (getting a part of the canceled reward) and have the witnesses double checking each reward.
problem is that 100 witnesses cant check that volume of rewards, it's not even close to feasible. As it is, they don't even have to check steem most of the time, just keep their node running. I do agree that there has to be some kind of moderation, whether by witnesses or something similar, but it would have to be at the user level (i.e., reporting users for abusive behavior to have them banned/punished or whatever) instead of at the post/comment level.
or double the witnesses and have a second layer of witnesses for large rewards
Imagine successful flagging being rewarded by giving the flagger a portion of the rewards that get canceled because of a flagged topic.
Great example. It’s ridiculous how people exploit the system. But hey. I guess if its there go ahead and do it. Good example though
It shouldn't be allowed to happen, since it demotivates everyone else from trying to produce good content
Agreed. There are some things that should be fixed in order to make things better here
I couldnt agree more
ey aggroed! great article!! im one of these minnows , finding it all just fascinating and trying to figure it all out here on steemit. my reason for being here has more to do with the way youtube and facebook treating their creators.. im not realy intersted in the money thing, but i find a realy cool way to see how blogposts are valued. and in some way it motivates to make better posts and trying to "convert" my friends to come on steem, most of my friends are somehow active in the creative field. anyway thanx for the article, its has some great tips ill be following, also i hope its will demystify the steemit experience for newcommers. peace!
Facebook was fine in rewarding you with likes and pokes and Farmville cows while there weren't many other social media to match its style and success. Now, it feels hollow when there are better alternatives.
i never realy understood those FB pokes... but yeah, you say what i was thinking :-)
I see their appeal. It's people asking for your attention for no actual rewards besides instant gratification. It was a more innocent form of feeling rewarded compared to what is going on in the shady parts of Steemit right now. Check this:
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
Compared to that, FB pokes look like the better moral alternative.
hehehe, still.. i wish i had the technical skills to put off somethin like that :-) i guess these actions over time will result in a better steemit experience, becouse some off the initiaters of the platform will somehow push back on these "hacks"
you dont need technical skills. just a lot of money. it's just an account with like 600k SP upvoting another account which just posts nonsense.
hmm, fascinating.. just by looking at it i would say there's some automated system at work doing the upvoting.. im new here dont realy have clue whats going on under the hood of steemit... but flaging should somehow take care of this kinda misuse? would be nice if someone who is experienced would make a video to educate steemit users on this subject
Interacting outside of Steem is huge.
Commenting is also huge to help you grow your earnings in the beginning, but I don't think it does much for your true followers. What I mean is your follower count will go up, but won't do much to help with interactions/upvotes on your pots (from what I've seen).
Overall, great advice and just thought I'd share my experiences to this point.
it helped somewhat for me, but I need to remind those lazy fools every week XD
THis is going in the MU discord! Loving your recent post aggy! Do you sleep anymore?
Are witnesses allowed sleep?
NO SLEEPING ALLOWED, just kidding they can nap. Naps are always allowed.
As a newbie, I found this extremely helpful. Thank you. I think one of the scariest things about getting into this community is the idea, which might quickly become an obsession, that the only way to succeed around here is to start writing great articles right away. It is somehow comforting to know that mingling with the community, for a new user, is more important. So yeah, this article is solid advice AND good encouragement. Thanks!
I've absolutely found that a good way to make friends (i.e. follow/follwers) is to comment on posts that have interested me. The flip side of this - commenting to beg for follows, votes, etc. - is of course, annoying and pathetic. Thanks, I resteemed this to refer to and hopefully, help out some people in my network.
Your network is your net-worth.
The best way to improvise networking is to comment, interact with people, I've found this very effective in my growth. Have a growth mindset, i have seen a lot of people blaming the whales for not supporting the minnows, this is so wrong, you cannot expect someone to push you up. They have their own lives and interests, so you cannot wait for them to push you up, so playing the blame game is a waste of time.
just keep doing your best, steemit is the community where people WILL get rewarded, sooner or later, but people gotta work for it.
Good advice you give here @aggroed!
I think a lot of people come here having forgotten that this is actually a social media site, and they get 100% focused on "how to extract money" like Steemit is some kind of magic cash dispenser. If you simply interact, are your authentic self, post something interesting, or funny, or educational, or of value or whatever else floats your boat... things will otherwise fall into place.
And PATIENCE! We may have almost 10,000 twitter followers and an active Facebook page but we pretty much have nothing here. And we didn't get that following on other social media simply by showing up and and shouting "Follow me! I'm awesome!" It actually took years and years of gradual building of a targeted base of people who (mostly) authentically cared about our content to get there.
And really good and relevant idea about joining external interest groups.
So true.
Thanks for the tips. What do you tell to people DMing you on discord with "please upvote?" is there any blacklist for those? should I contact the admins of the server we share?
@originalworks
The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @aggroed to be original material and upvoted it!
To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!
Thanks for sharing informational post .it is lovely post.
commenting is the most underrated way to grow on steemit
Yes! That!!!
Going to link to this post on the Israeli steemit group wall.
Thank you very much for the link @techslut
This is one of the most important posts that appeared here
I have some tools that can make running communal accounts better. Message me and we can figure it out.
We don't actually have communal accounts yet. But yeah, as the group grows I will need a lot of advice. And if you're willing to help - I will be grateful.
Thanks for making a post like this. I want to make my channel. I feel that I can improve a lot especially when it comes to focusing on getting a follower. Sometimes I feel like should I type about whatever I want or should it be about specific topics.
10% inspiration, 90% perspiration
Extremadamente productivo, lo pondré en practica, muchísimas gracias por la información. Saludos y éxitos.
You are making so much sense, with this post. When you focus on the enjoyment of having others reach out to you, and sincerely give back with thoughtful comment, you have instant joy and good things will naturally follow. Thank you and best wishes.
or you can be a greedy bastard who ruins the fun for all the rest with this
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
man how many times do you need to comment about this on one post? we get it
you assume everyone checks out for new posts, every hour
most don't
really appreaciated..
thnx for your voice..
great to hear that.. 😊
I really needed to read this. Thanks for sharing
This is also the platonic; yeah it's like being in love. no one will ever recognize you; you'll see it there, here, read your tracks. my friend lan this is me, why can not you say? from lonely, not drawn to the head, my dear, from human love. anyway, this is the kind of way of getting a friend who comes from loving insance. time, space, etc. What is important is that you are already friends, even if you can be away from the passion. because of these hundreds; Platonic friends are also possible. he does not know you, you make him friend as far as you know him, them. Yeah. why not? @aggroed
Great advice for noobs :) The thing I don't understand: If you just go around commenting, without posting, how would people know what you're up to? To recognize you as a part of community with similar thoughts, goals, interests? @aggroed
I did something different that could count as vote begging. I told my Youtube audience to show their support by following me on Steemit. It was a way for having many followers, many likes and a more interactive community right away.
Authoring can be a huge snag for anyone who is not deep into economics or travels around a lot. Commenting is indeed the easier way to gain rewards as long as you provide something other than "good job". It doesn't have to be a long reply as it has to offer a new perspective.
I never flagged something so far. Not only I get nothing out of it, others with almost double my reputation do it for me XD.
Obviously, you start small in every new platform. Having a pre-existing fanbase from elsewhere like me helps a lot to not feel lonely in the first months.
i would state that introducing your youtube audience to steemit would be considered a heroic act :-) MUCH better than replying "hi nice post, please follow my ass @hereandthere" to each random blogpost imho.
As one whale told me,"It's a slow go, but if you produce quality posts, followers and fortune will find you."
"quality posts" you say?
https://steemit.com/sbd/@checkthisout/sbd-correction
What in the actual Hell ?!?
that is one of the biggest demotivator scams on Steemit right now
Lets be honest: circle jerks arranged in Steemitchat or self-voting by proxy are the best bets to succeed on Steemit.
It's time to get real or the game will soon be up for everyone:
https://steemit.com/steemitabuse/@steempolice/steem-has-no-future-unless-self-vote-abuse-is-stopped-steemit-inc-and-whales-do-your-part
Finally, we start seeing posts that answer the most asked questions here.
Your excellent post explains the order of priority of the really important things.
The things you have written here are important and significant and can contribute to other users, This article is primarily aimed at those just starting their way on steemit.
Nice write-up, this will definitely help people like me that coming on board had the impression that its all about having posts, I now understand better, am hereby suspending my posting and activating my commenting skills.
Thank you @aggroed
Thank man! This'll be really helpful for new Steemeans like me. It clarifies so much. Steemit is brilliant. I really like the idea. The community has been awesome so far too.
Thank you for posting! Great tips, very helpful in this new world of Steem.
Im trying to approach steem this way. However i just tried a couple of bots out maybe not in a efficient way but still now just off donating a couple sbd im seeing way more veiws and upvotes and increased reputation from the bots. I see how and why people complain about them. Now however i see hope and a positive way forward to generating a audience that may want to stick around thus encouraging me to create more content and participate more. How do you feel about the bots?
I always find your post because your work is so good 100% informative
Good explanation 👍
Goo advices, this ones never get old... There is always new people coming and making the same mistakes over and over... Steemit is really a totally different animal compared to other social medias, we must try guide new users into understand the best way to go around...
without community, Steemit is nothing.
Thanks to this Information .
Hope be like you.
:)