General thoughts about success on Steemit [advice for new users]

What does it take to get successful?

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1. If you are here for the money, you are doing it wrong

You will never succeed on steemit with purely selfish intentions.
Why is that?
We are all here to make money and it doesn't matter how we do it. Some write long thought-out articles, others post memes without end. They both have an equal potential for a high payout. In the early days a whale vote was worth many hundreds of dollars. Single picture posts were regularly on the trending page with ridiculous payouts. But Steemit has evolved over the year . We, the users, have changed Steemit. We have expressed our concerns and ideas for a better platform and today a single image post with no context has a very slim chance to get to the trending page. While the high payout potential remains, the majority of users no longer upvote lazy content. We have developed values here. Values that have stood the test of time in the real world: integrity, consistency, morality.
Sure, we all got lured here for the REWARDS, but there are no free meals anymore. If you want a piece of the pie you have to contribute your time to the platform. Socialize, communicate, teach, learn. If you are willing to put so much effort into it, are you still here only for the money or is there something else?

What I like most about Steemit is how cruel it can be. You might not earn anything for the first month or two. I believe in that time most users will "drop the act" and simply post what they like - act natural. And that's the real you people actually would like to hear more from.
If there's one thing I could change about Steemit it would be to reject all payouts and upvotes for the first month. Too often do some random users get a hefty motivation boost with their first post or "get on the payroll" of some whale before they have matured on the platform.
Blogging should come naturally and the rewards are an added bonus you may receive for your efforts.

2. Life is unfair. Get used to it.

You'll never get the same rewards for the same amount of work as others. Don't even bother wasting time thinking about it. It all comes down to luck.

Many have pointed out that being a woman can mean success or not. While it's true at times I can't really agree with that. While I've seen many female life-style bloggers here go from 0 to 100 really quick I've also seen many cryptogeeks do the same. I don't know how the demographics of Steemit looks right now, but I guess it's still mostly male dominated. So there's no wonder pretty girls and geeky stuff get upvoted a lot.
Over time that trend has decreased significantly, but it's still there.
And it's normal, because life is not fair.

3. Steal from the best

Open up the trending page and create posts similar to those.
You'll find that those posts are often times:

well written - right grammar, good style, compact

well composed - headings, lines, pictures, graphs, a footnote, an introduction, a conclusion

part of a series - consistency

*don't steal

4. Communication breakdown, it's always the same

Commenting THOUGHTFULLY can go along way.
While the recent influx of users has spiked the amount of followers every more established member has, the follower amount doesn't mean anything if those followers won't upvote nor engage with any of your posts.
If you want to gather a meaningful following you need to connect with people: comment and reply. Start conversations as much as possible, but don't push it. No one want's beggars and "ass-lickers". If you just read an interesting article, but can't contribute in any meaningful way, a simple "Thank you! I find X topic very interesting" is enough.
Don't beg for upvotes and followers, you'll likely push everyone away by adding that to your comments.
If you consistently comment thoughtfully and show interest in someones posts, they'll check out your account sooner or later.

5. Contribute to the STEEM network

If you have the technical know-how, reach out to developers and start helping out. There's still lots to do.
Needless to say, most posts by developers are well received.

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Hope you like it! Feel free to share your thoughts :) Upvote, resteem and follow only if you like! I don't do follow for follow, vote for vote. Have a lovely day!