Steemit is something unique and not yet known to many people due to its complexity. Its not a get you rich quick thing but can make constant income if you make the effort on daily basis.
I know of writers who have been writing on Steemit for a year. I caution you that if you aren’t willing to put in the work, you will be wasting what time you do put in.
The main feedback I hear about STEEM is that it’s damn confusing. Once you keep browsing through and click to various pages of Steemit, you will soon see the relationship. It will get more user-friendly, and people will learn.
I’m going to simplify things as much as possible to help you understand the minimum you need to know to start earning money on Steemit. If you’re like me, you’ll learn more by actually doing.
Where does the money you earn on Steemit come from?
The question I usually get asked first when talking about STEEM is “where does the money come from?” The short answer is that STEEM is a cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, that investors trade on the open market, and which you can track the value of through charts. When I joined Steemit, the price of STEEM was about 14 cents. Recently, it has jumped as high as over $7. With many cryptocurrencies climbing lately, you can imagine how valuable STEEM could become.
The long answer to where the money comes from is that STEEM is a cryptocurrency built on blockchain technology. Steemit is a social network built upon that blockchain. The STEEM blockchain is a database that holds all of the posts, comments, upvotes, and transactions of STEEM. Part of what gives STEEM value is people trading it on the open market. But, as you’ll see, STEEM has inherent value within the Steemit social network. Let me explain those pieces in more detail.
You can earn STEEM for writing a post, or commenting on a post. You can also earn STEEM simply for upvoting a post: The earlier you upvote a post that later gains a lot of upvotes, the more you earn as a “curator.” When you see an estimated dollar amount on a Steemit post, that is the amount of STEEM (in USD) that will be distributed to the author and curators. Developers can also earn STEEM when people use their applications.
When you earn STEEM, it’s not necessarily immediately spendable. In fact, there are different types of what I will refer to as “STEEM” from here on. Don’t stress if you don’t understand this explanation the first, the second, or the tenth time around, because this is where it gets more complicated.
STEEM POWER HELPS YOU EARN MORE STEEM
The first thing you can earn is STEEM Power, which increases your influence within Steemit. If you have a lot of STEEM Power, you earn more STEEM (in all forms) for your posts and upvotes. When you upvote a post, it also causes the author of that post – and everyone who upvoted it before you – to earn more money than otherwise, because an influential user (you) have upvoted the post.
As you can see, STEEM Power is important, and…powerful. The catch is that you can’t immediately spend STEEM Power. You have to do what’s called a “power down.” Your STEEM Power is converted into spendable STEEM Tokens.
Notice that you can’t spend STEEM Power, but STEEM Power is important to your influence within Steemit. This will be relevant in a bit as you understand where the money comes from.
The second thing you can earn is STEEM Tokens (which are generally referred to as simply “STEEM,” but remember, I’m currently using that term as a catch-all for all forms of STEEM). You can immediately spend STEEM Tokens. There aren’t many things I know of that you can buy directly with STEEM Tokens, but you can exchange them for other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin (which you can then convert to U.S. Dollars or other currencies, which I’ll explain later).
You can also do a “power up” to convert your STEEM Tokens into STEEM Power. Doing this of course increases your network influence, but it also makes your STEEM unspendable until you do a “power down.”
The third thing you can earn is STEEM Dollars, or SBD. Like STEEM Tokens, you can convert SBD to other cryptocurrencies (then to U.S. Dollars). You can also spend SBD to “promote” posts on Steemit, which gets them more exposure, in turn earning more STEEM. You can also hold SBD in savings – sometimes with interest – on your Steemit account.
Originally, STEEM Dollars were meant to be a stable currency, always worth $1 USD. Lately it has spiked as high as $13, and at the time of this writing it’s around $8. Apparently it’s due to it being listed on the Korean UpBit exchange.
Don’t be frustrated if you still don’t understand what I’ve explained so far in this beginner’s guide. The best way to learn is to simply join and try using Steemit. Now that I’ve provided a beginner’s background on STEEM and Steemit, I’ll explain how you can earn STEEM for your writing, and convert it into the currency of your choice.
As described earlier, you earn STEEM each time you:
• Post content, such an article (75% of a post’s earnings go to the author).
• Comment on a post.
• Earn upvotes for a post or comment.
• Upvote a post or comment (25% of earnings are shared amongst “curators” who upvote).
STEEM REWARDS COME IN AFTER SEVEN DAYS
At the bottom of your posts, you’ll see a dollar amount. That is the amount of STEEM, in USD, that your post has earned. Early on, this will be a very small amount. You can see that some posts make hundreds or thousands of dollars. 75% of this will go to the post author (you), and 25% of it will go to people who upvote it.
After seven days, you’ll earn your rewards for your post.
Your rewards don’t transfer to your wallet until you click this “Redeem Rewards” button. You can see ahead of time how much you’ll be earning. “SP” stands for STEEM Power, and “SBD” stands for STEEM Dollars.
If you’re a writer or creator who is frustrated with the economics ruling your work, STEEM is incredibly exciting. Yes, it’s complicated, and yes, it’s still hard to earn money. But, I’m confident this, or something like this, is the future of compensation in media.