Nice tutorial. I am coming from the very bottom of Steemit. I have been guilty of the "vote for me and I vote for you" type of tactics. Well, I think we all have to start somewhere and however we can. The good thing is that I am an affiliate marketer and have managed to earn some bitcoin on various sites; Now I'm focusing on increasing my Steem Power. And this is my advice to other people, if at all possible, increase your Steem Power.
I'm currently working on the creation of a videogame, so I better kind of, err, get off Steemit for a while and get working. :)