My Suggestions and Advice for new Users on Steemit.

in steem •  7 years ago 

So I'm coming up on my 6 month steemiversary and wanted to share some insights for new users. Recently I've been spending more time seeking out and helping new users, and trying to get a few of my friends to join, with limited success. So if they do ever come I will send them to this post.


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1. Find you Niche

I think it's important to know yourself and your blog plan a bit. Now I'm not really taking this advice since my blog is a mess, it's got a bit of everything (although if you dig down it mostly has some recurring themes), but I started niche and have been adding layers. If you like cars, find others talking about cars, or fitness, or silver or travel, there's so much going on here on Steemit. Many of these niches have there own communities so it's a great way to start to establish yourself in them. Follow those tags and comment regularly, soon you'll start to notice there may be 50 or 100 active users in those tags and that's going to be your core group to start.

2. Comment, Comment, Comment.

I think commenting is the best way to build you following when your new. When I started I remember someone suggesting only comment (and don't bother posting) until you have at least 200 followers, but I'm not going to go that far. Leave insightful and engaging comments on users with similar interest to you. Most people will follow people who leave good comment, and especially when you see a few from the same user. Others reader of the blog your commenting on may follow people who leave good comments. Plus they'll likely get upvotes. When I started my comments often paid way better than my blogs. And since your following people in your niche you know something about the topic so it's easier to showcase yourself. I wouldn't start commenting on all the crytpo whales if you don't know shit about crypto, you'll just look like a fool. Don't hesitate to tell people your new around here and ask for help and ask about the platform, most are happy to help, but don't milk the newbie status either and for goodness sakes don't beg, or ever ask for votes and follows. It's also a faux pas to drop unrelated links, unless it's super relevant for some reason.


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3. Get Involved, Join Contests

It's hard to get noticed in the wide world here, but entering some contests or events in a great way. Some pay a few steem to everyone the enters. That's a lot starting out. Plus those contests often have an established following, those tags might be less busy or come with a resteem for people that enter. This was a game changer when I started. I got in a writing event and my account just took off like crazy. Of course same thing, get involved in something your interested in. There are also lots of events that occur in the comments of some blogs as well. Take part you'll build some comradery with those other users, and don't hesitate to comment on other comments in a blog, get a conversation started.

4. Join a Discord community

Discord is a chat app, that a lot of steemit communities use to host chats between members. The largest is the minnow support project, it's whole mission is to help and support minnows (new members) on steemit. Check out there account @minnowsupport and I'm sure you can find out more about them. They are massive and very ambitions, there are vote bots you can use, geographic communities to be part of. They even have live radio shows put on by members, there's some serious stuff happening there. And everyone is so nice their.
Another one is @thealliance, but there are so many more, don't be shy, it really helps, take a look around.

5. Don't worry about all the curation, vote power, HTML markdown etc stuff

All these technical things that happen behind the scenes can really get overwhelming and lead to paralysis by analysis. Ignorance is bliss! Your curation rewards are small and so are your votes, so trying to get this all balanced and limiting the votes you cast isn't going to make a difference. Don't worry about all the external sites that show your voting power and votes and all that. It quickly gets overwhelming. Take your time and learn about this stuff slowly. Hopefully you have it by the time you have a vote slider around 500 SP. Don't get bogged down in HTML markdown either. I never used this stuff when I started, it will come and eventually your posts will look better and you'll get the hang of out, but don't get overwhelmed with it.


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6. Blog, but don't pour your soul into it(at first)

I don't know if this one may be controversial, but this is just my opinion. Not a lot of people are going to read you stuff at first, sure maybe your lucky and your amazing post does get found and resteemed by a big curation team, but that's like winning the lotto. It will probably even happen, but probably not on the post you expected it to. It's discouraging to spend 4 hours and blog your heart out only to make $0.10. I'd say start by just having fun. Make your introduction post, tell people about yourself, it's a great way to start. They have fun, don't overthink it. Don't right your manifesto and give away your best stuff just yet, But don't shit post either. Try for like 200-1000 words and a few pictures. Showcase your interest and what you have to offer the community. When you start building your following then you can slowly start ramping it up a notch, give them the real good stuff, then your follows may start sharing your content, but it's damn hard to get noticed at first. Also don't get overwhelmed buy the idea of "blogging", it's really just posting a few photos and talking stuff, don't overthink it. Look back though my feed, I'm doing okay around here and my stuffs not earth shattering.

7. Be Persistent

It's like anything, you get what you put in. Commit to post something everyday or every second day. Commit to make 10 comments, or whatever you decide. It will pay off dividends in the long run, understand that if you want to come around once a week, things will happen for you much slower, but be aware of that. There's nothing wrong with taking a slower approach as well.

8. Focus on the community

Have the right mindset, if your here to just make post rewards and get rich, people will probably see through you. There is a community here, make friends, learn stuff, get your eyes opened. The best time I have hear is just chatting with the friends I made on discord. Some nights, I'm having so much fun there, or listening to a radio show I skip posting, or just stay up way later than I planned(like every night) I'm learning so much about homesteading and gardening by just reading material in those communities. My eyes have been opened to the future of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The other creators here have so much to offer, focus on that and the rewards will come.

Wow, did I say community Enough

I just proof-read this and heck I said that a lot. To me that's really what steemit has become all about. This is like one corner of the internet world were people are pretty nice, and sharing and supportive. We are all early adopters here and passionate about the platform. People are deeper here and have discussions and debates, I've never encountered a troll here. So don't be shy, or nervous, just get involved and get started.

Anyways hope that helps a few people, and good luck here on Steemit


Remember it's only my opinion too,so feel free to forge out on our own as well.

PS if your not a new user but one of my followers, feel free to drop any other tips in the comments. I'll likely link back to this as I find new users to help out


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Solid info right there. I made the mistake of putting too much time into posts in the beginning and not getting many views. Commenting and building followers is definitely the way to go. Thanks for the share.

Great post. Being new to the community I feel like it’s really hard to capture an audience vs some of the new steemers that just join.

It will definitely come, just stay active and get commenting!

Thanks for the moral support @phelimint!!! happy Sunday

TIP: DID he mention community?

Yeah, thx. I hope people don't overlook that part.

Being involved and part of a community is one of the best things I did once joining steemit. It has helped expand my goals and grow.

  1. FIND YOUR PEEPS! Yes, commenting is key, but you can't force it. The real key is to find more creators who you find stimulating. Don't troll a feed of strangers looking for convenient ways to insert yourself. Instead, spend some time in site search for cool, awesome, custom content that appeals and challenges you. Those people are gold. Follow them. Then you'll be commenting naturally, the way it's supposed to work.
  2. SEED YOUR FEED! It's all about your Feed. You want a rich river to stick your paws into. This is important because we pass out our 'follows' like its Vegas. Go to church after you cruise the strip. You want a good, quality catch to make your comments effective and empathic. Keep your feed clean and learn to spot re-toolers. You are here to find and support people who are creating STEEM content. Reward your followers with a real commodity, your human attention!

Great words, I would like to resteem your comment if it was possible. You mentioned correctly that commenting must be natural desire after reading. It must come from the heart.

Perfect, this is great advice, it's not about fishing for whale votes but users your actually interested in.

This was certainly the most useful 'new user' post I have found. Thank you. I am only on Steemit a week. I was unsure of posting comments, at first, for fear of trolls here. But, I agree with you, the comment sections here are not war zones like other platforms. I appreciate the sense of community the most. So thankful to find Steemit. Following. Thanks & Happy Holidays. Blessings.

Welcome to Steemit, we Steemians like new members as it shows the growth of community. I like the feeling of connection here and when I see someone read my post or comment and replied, it means a lot to me.

Yes, the interaction with others is key. I love getting feedback from others, even in comments. Thank you! Blessings!

You are welcome :) It shows that someone brings his/her precious asset (time and focus) to the author and this is a true gift

Thx so much for stopping by, I'm glad people are finding value in this, I think I'm going to follow it up with a more elaborate post about how to make a good comment.

Welcome to Steemit!

I had exactly the same words for @phelimint. I'm 27 days old to Steemit and have gone through various new user posts in this website. I really feel this post to be one of the best. There are still lots of gray areas for me about this website to explore. But, I got to learn a lot from this post. Thanks @phelimint.

I'm glad you found some good benefit from this! It great to see this post living on and still getting so many views. Good luck on steemit!

Thanks buddy, really appreciate this post for beginners :) it’s really well written and will be a great reference to use. You’ve done a good job outlining areas to focus and pitfalls to avoid. What’s key to hear is the sense of community and having fun...don’t overwhelm yourself with the platform or over analyzing stuff.
The Force is Awakening 🐺

Thx man, I wasn't going to upvotes in front of all these ppl, but they you dropped that Star Wars reference now I have too... lol.
Good luck around here dude!

Well explained!
I am here as well for six months already and i can say that all the points that you mention are an excelent advice even do i am the same like you my blog is a little bit of a mess as i wrote about so many things and did not concentrate on just one niche.
The best i think for new users its to comment a lot to be very active on the platform and to keep their wow blogs for later when they build a bit of reputation around and made some friends around.
It is as well for me very difficult to recruit new people... dont know why... maybe i am bad explaining....
But i think the golden rule here is to enjoy the time that you spend and have fun... if you start with this mentality all the rest will follow!
Have a great Saturday and always Steem on!

I am a newbie as well, after a week joining, i dont see much opportunities here for me since I am not good at writing and posting. i just go here to read news or somethings good .
As you and the author has said, the newbies should comments the post first to get involve in this community. I think its a good idea.

Are there still greeting bots like wang?

Yeah you can earn more reward at first just focusing on good comments than you can blogging and it's way better for the community

Yeah the commenting part is so important, i think it deserve a follow up post as well. I wasn't sure if the saving the wow blogs was going to seconded, thx for the support.

Merry Christmas @phelimint!

Thanks for the motivation phelimint. I have upvoted and resteemed.

This post is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience with us new folk. It goes a long way I can assure you of that. This is also just another example of how the Steemit community never ceases to amaze me. Thank you again, it is greatly appreciated.

Of course man, most people that have stayed this long have a vested interest is seeing this platform succeed and retained new users who are going to be valuable members of the community. There no benefit not helping helping.

One of the best summaries I've seen. Resteemed. Peace.

My eyes have been opened to the future of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

The same thing happened to me. Before, I am very much negative and somehow against the idea of crytopcurrencies, but after reading articles here, and knowing there is a community behind some cryptops, I started embracing it.

Thanks for the tip! I really want to join some contests, so hopefully, I'll have the time to do so. :)

You said community a lot because it's really important to success. A good network is built around and through a community. Having success here requires a good network, and building one is far better and longer lasting if it's got some real connections in it.

Thanks for this article. It's a bit of relief to hear that we shouldn't worry about all the curation stuff. Also I agree, I am new here but I am here for the community. I amsharing all of my permaculture and organic farming knowledge and even though the steem community around this is small (but growing), it is Soo supportive and just fun. And I also feel that it is a wise piece of advice to niche yourself. Thanks again.

Hi fellow Canadian!
I'm really happy to stumble across your post. My strategy here on Steemit started to look like what you have just described. So I keep it up!
#upvote #follow

Your steemit about information very important information.so my steemit work very help

I like your suggestion on starting a blog slowly with casual pictures and captions, working your way up to full blown blog posts. Definitely more natural and a good way to test the waters.

Great post. I'm relatively new and have learned most of your point the hard way. Thanks for your comments on my posts and thanks for these pointers.

Thanks. I've been here about a week. Wish I'd read this post to start with (I got burnt by an angry whale type). As per your advice, I found you by reading one of your comments on another post, which piqued my interest enough to click on your profile. Your advice is most appreciated. :)

Wow, I liked this post very much. I already can't call myself newbie here, as it is 65th day on Steemit for me but I realize that there are many things I have to learn. It is like seeing people on the trending page and newbie may think that it's so easy to earn so much rewards here but then experience may disappoint the one. Those who get rewards are the ones who create value to the community and its good to be posts like this. It will shorten the way to success and happiness for minnows here. I already realized that interaction and having fun must be focused :)

Great sussinct post! I'll definitely be sending this to folks who ask me how ti grow here on steemit :) Thanks @phelimint

haha. I have been around on steemit for about 6 months now. But with limited success. One thing is for sure, I'm still not really to throw in the towel yet.

Very nice and informative post. @phelimint every newbie should read your worthy post. Resteemed n upvoted your post to share with maximum people. Keep sharing

That's right, posts like this help really many people and give them the right mindset, including me.

You forgot one tip lol, join the #steemsilvergold community, best ever

Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for the tips, I'm new on steemit. Its a bit confusing on how to use the site properly. Still trying to understand how its works.
Your tip really encouraging me, thanks a lot.

I liked this post too well done. And looks like you are very nice person too. Keep up what are you doing and God bless.

Good advice. I even learned a couple things from it.

Thank you very much, I am trying to do everything for the suggestions

Thank you.

Well said, new users to the platform will greatly benefit from this. Thank you for sharing!

Honestly that was one of the more helpful posts I have read since being on steemit since November. Thanks for the insight.

thanks for tips!
one think its must for me is persistent and consistent. Its little bit hard for me. But i always try to give the best.

Thanks for the great tips as I'm finding my way around here! Happy holidays :)

Thank you for sharing!

Great post. I've been doing quite well as a new-ish user, and the bit about communities and using Discord is a new aspect for me to check out. Thanks for sharing your experience and info.

I'm over a dozen steem moons old... how many moons are you?

Oh hey new users reading comments.... ##sentence## makes bold large titles

Great advice. Resteemed!

This post was very helpful, cheers mate! ;)

Beep! Beep! This humvee will be patrolling by and assisting new veterans, retirees, and military members here on Steem. @shadow3scalpel will help by upvoting posts from a list of members maintained by @chairborne and responding to any questions replied to this comment.

Spot on, mate. Take the pressure down and don't worry about trolls.
This place has the best sweetheart:bastard ratio of any site on the net.

That's for sure, Man have you ever checked out reddit! Those dudes are fierce

Excellent post andcsuch great advice I have been on around the same amount of time and if only I could have written it half as well as you did I would have said the same

Great Advice.

I have found my niche yes ;)

this is a very helpful guideline to new users, thanks a lot @phelimint

I've recommended the same to people for #6. You're not alone there. :)

Thank you very much for your advice and tips, I have just joined here.

very useful for those who just joined in steemit, I will look for millions of experience here

You have received an upvote from STAX. Thanks for being a member of the #steemsilvergold community and opting in (if you wish to be removed please follow the link). Please continue to support each other in this great community. To learn more about the #steemsilvergold community and STAX, check this out.

You just motivated me with this article... Just invoted ....

Thank you, a lot of newbies need to see this, definitely what we need to kickstart!

Thanks for all the useful information Phelimint! I am new here and I am just going to follow your advice and make a whole bunch of comments before I start dropping my epic blogposts...=)
Gave you my first upvote by the way, you deserve it, keep up the good work!

Great information! I am looking to grow my steemit channel in big ways. I will tell anyone I know if they want to get into steemit. Read this blog first!

Thx man, it does really help to have a plan. There lots of new activity here on steemit and it looks a promising time for the platform. Your making a good call getting started here.

I'm a newbie here and I love your advice to focus on comments first to really get involve in the community and doing so learn steemit along the way. Thanks!

What a cool guide to a starter like me, I'm really get what you trying to teach here. cheers mate!

Thanks for explaining everything in layman language.It will help many users to understand more about steem.

Thanks much for this post. I'm a newbie here and was looking for such articles. Appreciate it.

Thanks for your tips !

well i actually am very great full am new around here at steemit but i have got the best way to start off thank you a lot phelimint i am truly blessed by your post

Much encouraging post.... Thanks for the good work.....

Hi, great post btw. :) I have a question about -1. Find you Niche
okay, that's the thing ... I don't wanna be one thing,what should I do?!
Can I make my blog a mess ,like you said ? :))) I am a crazy mom and I really don't know how to be one thing or post only one kind of content.

Start with a particular focus at least then start branching out. Even if parenting and mom stuff is you first focus, seek out others with the same content and interest, comment on them and make friends, see what kinds of content in the sphere does the best.

OK. thank you so much. :)))

Thanks for your advices! Make sure to check my first post (it is in German though)... Will post the same in english later!

I am happy to have come across your post. I joined steemit few days ago and it seems so hard to understand for me. I even decided to give it up. Now, I am giving it a try and hopefully this time it will be a success for me. You are an ispiration and thank you for trying to help us new users in here.

My pleasure, it takes some time, starting out and it can be slow, but stick with it. I've only been here six months and my first month I made pennies a post just like everyone else.

Came upon your post via @jerrybanfield top 25 steem post. For a newbie like me, your post definitely provided good tips. Hope to see more great posts from you!

Thanks man, there's a couple more in a similar series, one about comments and one about the post payout structure.

Thank you for sharing this @phelimint. As a newbie, now I have a more vivid outlook of how things should be here on steemit. Yes, giving relevant comments is very important as it builds a community of people who shares and learns from each other.

Very insightful! Just signed up the other day 😊
Looking forward to growing with the community!

well i just got into steemit for the first time and waoooowwww i came across this post and its like butter on bread.....keep the good work up for us type of newbies.......looking forward

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Hey, thanks for your advise, I just started yesterday here and your article is very helpful for me.

By reading your article, as a newbie, it gives me a lot of insight on how to improve here in steemit. Thank you for sharing your opinion. ☺

This is all great information for people that are just getting started. Thank you. Lol now I am off to ypur next one.

Thank you for the practical advice. You folks who are offering this kind of support to those of us who are new is priceless. Time, more time, to read all these wonderful posts, and to be involved.

Thank you for the advice! I've been on this amazing platform for a week and I managed to make around $10. That's pretty good! I love it so far and for tomorrow I have a post that is making a little over $20! I will re-read your suggestions and put them in practice! Thank you!

We should not take advice from others and do what we think is right. The reason behind this advice is that others will advise us on the basis of what they experienced. But it is not necessary that whatever happens to others will happen to us also. Most good pieces of advice look correct to us because they are designed to suit the circumstances. In one situation, saying ‘Actions speak louder than words’ may look correct. But you cannot deny the correctness of the exact opposite saying- ‘Pen is mightier than the sword.’ Some more examples-

  • Half knowledge is dangerous. Something is better than nothing.
  • Birds of a feather, flock together. Opposite attracts.
  • The face is the index of the mind. Appearance is often deceptive.

So do not rely on pieces of advice as they are just meant to suit the situations. Take your own decisions for your happiness.

I really needed this read. It's comforting to know the path your trekking has been trekked before.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Thank you very much for this insightful one, i find it really helpful especially because I'm still a minnow with only about 7days worth of experience. I've not joined any community yet but i think i would ASAP, at least that's second to the greatest lessons I learnt from this post. The first is to learn not to blog one's heart just yet, something i never knew...I've been given my bests so far and i don't want to relent anyway, just more meticulous and articulate. Thanks really.

And yes, please how do i resteem this post?

Hey, thanks for the tips. It took a wait off my shoulder knowing that I can use steemit without knowing everything up front.
Thanks again.

It's great I stumbled onto this just in time. I was already in a process of participating in a concert. Thanks for the info and moral support

Hi @phelimint. Im just new at steemit community. I believe your post is an ultimate guide for beginners like me. I learned allot and will do it step by step. Its hard for us beginners to post a very relevant post since we do not have enough followers and only few will see our posts. So now
I know the key! Super thanks!

Good advice. The point about relationship building applies to many social media networks, not just Steemit.

Thanks for this info...been here only a few days<~ see I got to right there and then froze...I have a hard time with commenting...not sure what to say sometimes.

I searched a lot for new user posts but this one was really outstanding, Thanks a lot !