When you earn Steem Dollars for creating content, you have three choices:
You can convert the Steem Dollars to Steem and sell it immediately on the open market for real money, essentially cashing out.
You can hold the Steem Dollars, which keeps the money in the network and pays you 10% interest. You can sell them at any time. If you think the value will go up and want to sell at some point in the near future, this is your best option.
You can exchange your Steem Dollars for Steem Power. If you want to invest in the future of the currency and reap the biggest rewards, this is the way to do it.
How are the newly created Steem distributed each day?
Every day 90% of the new Steem units are rewarded to the people who hold Steem Power Units.
10% of the new Steem units are paid to content creators, curators, and commenters.
When you create content that actually earns money, 50% is paid to you in Steem Dollar Units that can be exchanged for actual money right away (or converted into Steem Power). The other 50% is paid in Steem Power. The Steem Power Units are locked up for 2 years.
How to cash out your earnings:
Once you start earning Steem and you want to actually cash out, what do you do?
Well lucky for you, several other Steemers have created fantastic guides for doing just that. So rather than go all technical on you, I will pass you along to the people who can explain it better than I can.
Now you’ve been paid in steem dollars an What should you do?
BlockTrades adds support for directly buying/selling Steem
Where does the money come from?
Steemit user @Steemrollin has written a fantastic explanation on this:
Steem: Where DOES the money coming from?
Why you should start now:
The short answer is that you have nothing to lose. It is 100% free to join and you can actually get paid for your work!
Unless you are a professional writer, you’re not going to find this kind of action anywhere else.
Also, Steemit is growing at an explosive pace! Hundreds of new users are flocking in every single day. And even though it’s only been around for a few months, it’s already become one of the top five digital currencies in terms of market capitalization.
In the last 24 hours alone, the value of a Steem has increased a mind bending 277%!!!
Remember, Bitcoins were basically worthless early on, but are now worth close to $700. You have the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new currency without spending a penny, but also to be a part of an incredible new social network.
How to get started:
First things first, you need to setup your account. You will need to use your Facebook account or Reddit account as you do this to verify that you are who you say you are. Your account will be very valuable so make sure to set a secure password.
Your Steem account is worth money! How to secure it with a new owner key to keep it yours forever
Creating your first post:
To start publishing content, all you have to do is click "Submit a Story" at the top right of the screen.
When publishing content, it’s important to format your articles in a way that will make them easy to read. Use images, headings, and subheadings to break up long blocks of text.
Use the “” button in the editor to activate the quote feature when quoting someone. And give the quote its own line like this
(The quote formatting button looks like this
No one ever wants to read a solid wall of text, so taking the time to format your article in a way that makes it pleasant to read will be crucial.
Posting Images:
As it stands right now, there is no way to upload your images to the Steemit website so posting images in your articles will require a workaround. The easiest way is to use https://imgsafe.org. All you have to do is create a free account and upload your pictures.
(It seems like the serveres at imgsafe.org are down. Use https://ipfs.pics instead. It's a great alternative.)
Once you have an image uploaded, simply click it, and copy the URL for the picture. Imgsafe gives each picture its own unique URL that you will use in Steemit to insert the picture into your post.
In the Steemit editor press the insert image button and paste the copied image URL. (If the URL starts with HTTP:// change it to HTTPS:// when you paste it into Steemit.)
What to write about?
That is the million-dollar question, isn’t it? The best advice I can give you is to explore the trending topics/tags as well as the trending posts within those sections and see what kind of content people are responding to.
The introduceyourself tag is hot right now and a great place to start.
Here is my introduction post as an example.
This may be helpful as well: The Secret Formula to a Successful "IntroduceYourself" Post...And The #1 Mistake to Avoid.
Try to remember that it’s not about how much time you spend creating a piece of content, but how valuable/entertaining it is to everyone else. Try to create content that delivers the most value.
So my fellow Steemers, I have one question for you: what are you waiting for?
Get out there and start creating!
Best regards