IF I WAS A MINNOW ON STEEMIT I WOULD... - PART 1
14 Months Ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away...
When I first got started on Steem in May 2016, steemit.com was a completely different thing. At the beginning we couldn't follow or mute someone, we didn't have a feed, the curation algorithm was completely different and the rewards were...juicy to say the least.
Why? Well...imagine a giant jackpot being given everyday and only a 1000 writers to compete for it. It was glorious, I have to admit. Some people may complain about that fact but that's not going to help them climb to the top. Complainers never get anywhere...winners find a way and get to work.
In fact, in June 2016, not a single article has had payout yet because we would only get our first payout on July 4th. Only those who had faith and took massive action got to reap the reward of their hard work. I even presented steemit to someone I knew back then and they simply given up after 2 posts because they didn't believe it could be real.
There is something about being the right person, at the right time and the right place.
If I Was a Minnow Today on Steemit I Would...
That is the question I am going to answer for you guys. I see in the comment section that a lot of you are brand new, some of you are overwhelmed, some of you are confused about what to do and some of you may even get discouraged because your posts didn't make money yet.
I understand that. If it was as simple as Facebook or Twitter, this thing would probably have millions of users by now and that means that you are still a early bird...and the early bird gets the worm!
You have much to gain by investing your time and energy to understand the game we are playing here. STEEM as a currency could easily be worth $10 overnight...making you much more money that you've ever made by any other means. But it requires a bit of L.U.C.K (Labor Under Correct Knowledge.)
Step 1: Understand the Game
The basics of steemit are simple. People write posts and comments. People upvote and flag content. That shouldn't be too complicated for someone who used social media or blogging in the past.
You don't need to go in depth of how the curation reward or author reward function but a basic understanding will go a long way. A good place to start is https://steemit.com/welcome - If you get overwhelmed by the amount of information, please read my remedy for information overload here.
But more important than to understand the technical dynamics, it's the social dynamics that will make or break you.
Understanding the social dynamics
Much like reddit, steemit has etiquettes. There are certain things that are a big no no and that will get you in trouble. It's especially true because money is involved...and when people recognize a cheater or someone who looks like a cheater, it's doesn't take long before that person is flagged out of existence.
THE DO NOT DO LIST
- Never beg for upvotes
- NEVER BEG FOR UPVOTES
- NEVER BEG FOR...you've got the message.
- Do not copy and steal other people's content (from within or outside steemit.com)
- Do not create duplicate comments...it makes you look like a bot
Step 2: Get Busy Commenting
The "New" section of steemit.com is crowded. There are thousands of articles in there every day and it's difficult for us big holders with big upvotes to find the needle in the hay stack. Fortunately, the curation reward changed and made that process more feasible but still, most of us don't have 4hours a day to read articles to find the 5 or 10 articles that are worth our time.
Commenting is an easy way to get traction, make friends/followers and rewards.
When I upvote at 10%, it sends about ~$1.57 USD to someone who comment on my blog. If someone write a well formatted, thoughful and engaging comment, I will sometimes upvote up to 50%...which mean between ~$10 and $15 USD.
I'm not the only one who does that. More and more big author/holders are doing the same thing to incentivize participation on their blog. @jerrybanfield is one of them.
Once you are over 1000 SteemPower, you can start thinking about curation and rewarding the people who write comments on your post and it will help you get more upvotes over time.
Step 3: Consider Investing in SteemPower
I understand that it is not a possibility for all but if you can, it's the best place I could ever think to put one's money. This is not investment advice, only my personal opinion. But I was talking to my bank yesterday and he tried to sell me on a saving account with a return of 1.90% APR. I laugh silently because I didn't want to be rude.
Apart from capital appreciation which is a strong possibility in the years ahead for STEEM. The ability to upvote yourself allow you to make a good return as well as helping you climb into the "HOT" section much easier. From there, other people will start noticing you and start following you.
Conclusion
Well this isn't a real conclusion because I will go into much more detail of the plan of action I would take if I was a minnow. I hope you've enjoyed this article. Please let me know if you want more of them like it.
Your article can be entitled - "Practical handbook of stemmit . Vol 1. Level -Minnow" . A very well covered article. I totally agree with all your advice on dos and donts. Blogging is very new for me- as i do not have any socia network accounts.I find it very limited. Facebook tries to elaborate on what everyone else is upto and confuses on your primary priorities and twitter - i cant even write one full sentence on it. You sometimes want to share the most important thing that may mean everything to you yet it faisl to reach the intended audience. To contemplate from your picture in this article- those social networks make us fish in a small pond.I cant even imagine writing a similar blog like you in a year being on those networks- forget about once upon a time ina far far galaxy. :-) But here, while i post from Nepal, i see someone commenting from half way across the globe - showing appreciation and advicing. Your story your blog touched someone.This is what steemit is all about and this is what inspired me to be here. Its a common mistake that every human tries making money from anything they see its easy. If it was just for money we would never have people have Musk, Gates or Job. Although i am just a starter, i would tell it to the face of the people who are focused on asking or begging for upvotes, i think there are better places to beg at- which will probably earn you more than here. Share. Sharing is caring. Show that you care.Regards. Anadi
The sharing and touching is what has made me stay...it is an amazing platform ...well said!
have a wonderful day all!
Rose
I agree with you @anadikc that although Steemit is about money, it isn't about money. The people who are interested only in making money are struggling so hard to crack the system that they are not getting their times worth.
I am here to earn money and may work read and commented upon by people who are experts in the things that I write. It is easy to grab someone’s attention here on Steemit than anywhere else.
@cryptoctopus I'm agreed with your points commenting is important It encourages people to work hard on their content because receiving feedback, even negative, creates better users who will strive for improvement. It also creates a sense of community. Community is equally important because when people feel they are a part of something greater than themselves, they learn to put aside their differences and come together to create. It's what we as humanity have always done when something inspires us.
It's so amazing, the Internet. You can literally choose the "5" people you surround yourself with, that are in a position that you dream to be in. Those are great mentors. Another option in my opinion would be books, because you can think like the author by knowing what they've done. The last would be utilizing someone else's time which they have so very little of, even to get them on the phone. People are busy. Having control over time is a major key.
Your comment is close to what I want to say, except that we don't even have a chance to get constructive feed back (negative or positive) because of the sheer number of posts added every second.
As @cryptoctopus, this makes it hard for the established ones to look for the needle in haystack that is worth their time. And time is money too.
I think your comment is dead on. Yes, there is the opportunity to earn $ here but belonging to a community that one enjoys participating in is the real payoff for me. THX for your great post!
@cryptoctopus there have been tens of thousands of articles on this topic, but this is the first one that I feel fulfilled it's creation. Direct. Succinct. Informative. There isn't so much information that a person gets overwhelmed, but not so little that it is just a "good luck, guys" type of post.
Staying tuned for similar awesome posts!
Yes, I read at least one article each day that supposedly teaches us how to become a Whale but never seems to work out well.
Unfortunately, the people who would need the information from this post the most, won't read it. I am thinking about all those "Upvoted. Follow 4 follow!" posters.
I do not want to be racist or anything - but the large amount of those people comes from poor countries and just thinks that money is given away for free here. This might have been true in the past - and even to a small extend today. But it's not a free spring of wealth anymore. Sure, a post can still earn xxx$'s - But a lot of things have to be right fort this to happen - content, publicity, timing, and a lot of luck if you aren't as popular.
I hope that your post will help many people to go from spamming to giving away quality stuff. As in most parts of life, the saying "Quality > Quantity" also applies to this wonderful platform.
Really looking forward to where steemit is developing :)
it's not racist, it's just a culture clash. :-)
True - In our country we are always a little bit cautios with statements that might be concidered racist - bad history, you know -.-
Braunau?
yeah :/
@theaustrianguy ,this is unrelated to Steemit tho, but the mentality might be similar,I hear what you're saying about anything you say is considered racist, it's like that in Canada too. we have a flood of illegal border crossings from folks who face deportation from the united states trying to claim refugee status, and those who don't believe in helping the "Trump refugees" are considered racist or bigots. Those illegal border jumpers are given free tax payer money (700$, more than a person on disability receives) yet complain it's not enough free money and we are also racist for not wanting to give them more or asking our government to better protect our borders. It's just scratching the surface of what is going on here. I don't find your comment racist at all we come from a culture where we work really hard and go thru many struggles for what we have.
You're a wizard at this!
Hahahahaha, let me relieve you. You're not being racist, just not ... quite looking at the full picture. I am from one of those poor countries so I may be able to give a bit more perspective on the matter. See, those follow4follow types are simply operating under a combination of ignorance about Steemit and a belief that they do get how it works because they've been involved in -- let's call them, cryptocurrency earnings opportunities -- in the past.
They learn -- eventually or they see that Steemit doesn't match their particular skillset and they go do something else.
Me, I see my coming from said poor country as an advantage. For one, to you, 10SBD is nothing. To me however ... hahah, it's a nice little chunk of folding cash that can pay for haircuts (yes, plural) and transport and food and-and-and-and-and.
So you see, it's not all bad.
Interesting thoughts - never thought of vote4vote as an expression of despair.
That of course is awesome if smaller amounts help you guys even more :) Got another 11c more from my upvote!
Sweet. Whale-dom, here I come! :D
Good luck on your further way :)
I don’t think that these people are from poor countries, they are from all around the world.
And it is not only Steemit that has such kind of individuals, but there are many on each and every platform where there is no monetary compensation. I have seen people begging to like their page or posts on facebook and follow for follow on twitter.
No matter what, people will always try to fool the system and try to earn a buck. Some sites sell Facebook likes, Twitter follows, retweets and now here on Steemit we have Whale Bots who sell Upvotes and websites that help you with Upvote exchange.
On one side of the world where there’s a woman seeking donations and help so that she can see bury her father and take care of her children who suffered from Chicken Pox. And on the other side of the world, there’s an elderly man who said he is forced to power down because he has expenses and his posts aren't getting him much.
As a community, we cannot ignore them both. We need to help people in any way we can, I am trying hard to educate people about Steemit and not beg for Upvotes. Instead, comment, post compelling content and let people Upvote us voluntarily.
I hope some day soon people will learn this and stop spamming this incredible platform that has helped build the Steem Park and improved so many lives.
True words, true words! Unfortunately we will not be able to demolish all unequality on earth in the near future! :(
LUCK is of course a factor here and timing is important as well.
A travelogue of mine earned $114, and the second part of it failed to get an audience and upvotes. But one should not get demotivated for that and should keep publishing his original contents.
As you said about "people from poor countries", well, I am from India and our economic position is very low compared to certain countries. But what I strongly believe is, its an individual's thought process and a citizenship of a country has very less to do with it. Having said that, can't disagree with you when it comes to a comparative ratio.
I would like to ask you your thoughts about conceptualizing a Steemit Anthem with a message of global unity.
What thoughts of mine are you asking for? Don't get it ;)
Here is the link to the post I was taking about:
https://steemit.com/steemitanthem/@mathworksheets/we-need-the-steemit-anthem
Amazing effort.
After reading the norms of the steemit back in two or three weeks ago, i did not beg for upvotes or followers. It has been exactly 30 days and i managed to gather 90 follower only, but i know that these followers will be loyal and give me benefits in the future. Also it is better to have few loyal rather then hundreds of disloyal ones.
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by scorpionking from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews/crimsonclad, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
This comment has received a 3.13 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @scorpionking.
I think the best plan for a minnow is to invest into some Steem. Once you have several cents voting power you can then get noticed a lot more and the viral effect can kick in.
I'm trying this with 400 Steem right now, will see if it's going to be enough or not to get a kick start on Steem.
true that. :-)
400 Steem Power is good I guess, you get some enough cents with your Upvotes to get you noticed.
While my 1 cent per upvote doesn't, do much good, but I am producing content that is giving me good returns.
From my first week of having a 6 cent upvote, I would say that even 400 might not be enough.
My girlfriend and I have recently joined up on STEEMIT; and at a very momentous time in our lives. We've quit our kitchen jobs and are heading to Mexico for a fresh start.
I've always wanted to write and blog; and I'm having a fun time doing just that! We really appreciate the genuinely helpful and enlightening efforts that many good people have contributed to help us get started.
I've never been even remotely interested in "Investment"; But there's just something about this platform and the content here that has persuaded me to finally get involved. Thanks everybody!
I would Love to see more articles like this and maybe some more stories from the Early Days of Steemit. I Had NO IDEA Oo Sounds like it was a real Wild West and pretty much everyone I have come across that got in early, stuck with it and found their niche are doing JUST FINE. ... and are all excellent examples for newbies to learn from. Did you Invest right away or were you into Crypto already? How long did it take for you to invest in the platform beyond posts and time? Still on the fence about putting in real money but one idea I had was to purchase things for friends already into Crypto and have them pay in Steem. I hear the trading sites are a bit awkward right now, so it might be a while til a new 'normal' is found. Do you use any other tools for Steemit? Streemian? Busy? DTube etc? I am a minnow reincarnated. Decided to make a personal account to keep separate from my project @ecoknowme so I am taking my other account for walks in the comments sections... ;) Great stuff @cryptoctopus ! more please!
I invested all that I had in bitshares into steemit about 1 day after I started. It just made sense that it would be the way crypto get mainstream.
That's awesome! I think you will be proven correct. I am interested in how to make Steemit more usable OFF steemit. My buddy wrote this and maybe if you or someone you know would like to participate. I am in India and can connect people with spices, incense, yoga books, coffee etc and there are lots of things from afar that are tricky to get here. If you know of any other projects other than Peerhub and the like, I would love to know... I always feel like Steemit is a Monster Truck driven like a Tricycle. Time to off road!
https://steemit.com/challenge/@stortebeker/homesteaders-steem-around-the-world-challenge-preparation-2
Just a thought. Thanks for the boost man, you singlehandedly kicked me up a whole rep point! Maybe I should invest!
Hi @cryptoctopus, a very good explanation, thanks alot for posting!
Honestly it already feels overwhelming what happens on this platform and more and more people are joing this everyday.
I can only imagine how it must have felt in the early days when one could really read most articles that have been created.
I think we need to invent more sophisticated ways of ordering information of being able to find the relevant posts to oneself. Just by scanning, searching, crossreading and so on this mass of information is simply not manageable any more.
I certainly would be interested in more posts our of your view and iam looking forward to see the next posts you are already hinting at in the not so concluding conclusion.
Until then !
Gets busy commenting and does not beg for upgoat. Nice tips for minnows. Very good point about capital appreciation. I call it as paying interest on your investment.
right on! I personally can't think of a better investment.
Yes agree and people complain about it. Instead of complaining they can buy some steem and do the same stuff.
It is unfortunate that not everyone can buy some Steem.
There isnt for real inves your time in information and the truth will set you free from the bonds of debt/slavery
That's exactly what we are doing. Putting up nice content. Interact heavily with people by commenting and invest money in steem. :) it works for me now. But not quite for my husband. Hopefully it would work for him as well eventually.
This is the place to be in 2018 i feel it usd gonna crash information is the future truth is the future
@cryptoctopus,
One of the great educational article for minnow! Really appreciate the way you discuss things! I am a minnow too! Know how hard it is! But Whales like you do helping us to be dolphins, sharks and whales is a greatest thing ever. Yeah never beg for upvotes, but I believe, if I do something correct, if I write something valuable, it might bet rewarded!
Really appreciate your effort and guidelines! Thank you very much for sharing your great experiences with us!
Cheers~