As a new user to Steemit, I know you want to dive right in and start posting and earning!

But resist!

You first must have a good following in order for your posts to be seen, otherwise -- who's going to vote on them??? I go over how to build a following here:

• Steemit Tips: How To Get Popular - Comment And Respond!

And to avoid wasting a post you've spent hours writing, I advise splitting big posts into segments in order to increase your chances of getting it noticed and increasing your earnings:

• The "My Well Written, Detailed Article Gets No Attention!" Complaint -- SOLVED!!

Here in this post, I'll tell you how to construct your first post, which will be your:

IntroduceYourself/Introduction post

As an example of how to do it, I'll share my "STEEMIT: Introduce Yourself" post with you so you have an idea of what a good one looks like.

I put it up on my YouTube channel so I can embed it here.

Now, here are the main things you need to know about your introduction post

Make SURE that #introduceyourself is the FIRST tag

The first tag is the one that identifies the "topic" of your post.

You want to make sure you have #introduceyourself as the FIRST tag.

Many seasoned Steemit users and whales search the #introduceyourself topic. The reason for this is to make sure that new users have an encouraging entry into Steemit, both financially and community-wise.

By putting the #introduceyourself tag FIRST, users will easily be able to identify your post as one to pay attention to, and if the post is well-presented, you'll likely get really good starting support.

Use other tags to identify the other things that you express about yourself in the post. Put those after the introduceyourself tag.

Be VISUAL

Use pictures at least, and video if you can.

If your post doesn't have a photo, video, or some kind of visual, it'll be easy to pass it over.

The first image or video you use in the post will show up as the thumbnail for the post, which is the image that will go along with your post in searches. So make the first one a good one.

Posts that show yourself and/or your face are very good because they count as verification of who you are. Which goes a long way towards proving that you are an authentic person who wants to contribute to the Steemit community as a whole.

Display your @ name and the current date

This verifies that you are indeed the person who is operating this account.

You can see in my video that I use a piece of paper with the Steemit logo, " @shayne ", and the date.

If you can find a creative way to do this that relates to the content you want to post on Steemit, that's even better.

• If you're an artist, draw a picture
• If you're a poet, write a sonnet
• If you're a musician, write a short song

These sorts of things will help to not only make your introduction post stand out, but also help people know more about you as a person and give a heads-up about what kind of content you'll be posting in the future.

Go over who you are and what you intend to do

Did you come to Steemit to post creative writing?

Did you come to Steemit to post about technology or news?

Did you come to Steemit to post about investing or cryptocurrencies?

Make sure to mention these things in your introduction post so people know what to expect from you. And also use these interests to fill out the rest of your space in the tags section.

If you aren't sure what to use as a tag, check the Steemit home page "Tags and Topics" and see if you can find a popular tag that relates to the interests you talk about in your post.

Don't be afraid to get personal

Obviously, you don't want to reveal so much that it'll get you into trouble, but you want to be as emotionally naked as possible.

People on Steemit respond strongly to authenticity. It has something to do with the incentivization structure of this platform: Steemit does a good job of filtering out people who are real vs people who are fake or abusive.

Steemit is kind of like Buddhism: the more you try to get something out of it, the less you'll get; but once you submit your ego and greed to Steemit, the more it will reward you for it.

It's kind of like a natural order on a digital platform.

So be yourself. Let us all know what you fear and what you desire out of life. Be spiritually available. Tell us about your anxieties and your triumphs.

And before you know it you'll have a KILLER introduceyourself post.

Let me know what you think!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!

I'll do my best to answer you.

I care a lot about what my followers and the Steemit community at large think -- so feel free to leave a comment!

Follow me @shayne