The learning curve for steemit and the Steem blockchain is steep especially at the beginning, but it never ends, since we are dealing with a platform and a technology still young and very dynamic.

If that's not enough, new users of steemit quite often start with the wrong foot, and as I see it, this is in many cases due to trying to do too many things at once, without paying attention to the rules and etiquette, to what others are doing, without having a long term strategy.

It is often the case new users arrive on steemit convinced they will find a place where money (or in our situation, Steem) floats around and everyone gets it effortlessly. Steem is presented as altenative the centralized online mediums like Facebook, Google and the like, which keep the profits for themselves.

Earning Is Not Easy, But Steps Are Simple

In reality, earning is not easy on the Steem blockchain, but the steps to earn are or should be known and the same for everyone:

• curating
• commenting
• posting
• powering up
  
  

To the above, some add the following, for additional benefits:

• investing
• trading
• delegating
• using or offering free or paid services
• being a witness

Choose the App That Suites You

Another aspect new users should be aware of, is represented by the particularities and characteristics of various apps gravitating around the Steem blockchain.

• @steemit - the original app, developed by Steemit Inc.; it is generally used as a blog-style posting platform, but it shows every post on the blockchain, regardless of the application it was created with; probably the best choice for wallet operations too.
• @busy.org - although not presented as such, it is in many ways a more modern, feature-rich alternative to steemit and the app I generally use.
• @dtube - alternative to Youtube
• @dlive - Steem blockchain alternative to Twitch or other live streaming platforms
• @dsound - podcast platform
• @utopian-io - earn rewards by contributing to various open source projects
• @steepshot - similar to Instagram
• @dmania - for memes and funny stuff
• and many more... Here's a new app on the Steem blockchain found under the user name @blockdeals, just a few days old, where you are rewarded for posting and curating online deals (including coupons). I found out about it yesterday thanks to @taskmaster4450.

What Else Should You Know?

Comments and Posts

One advice new users don't listen to and they should, is comment more in the beginning and post less. The better comments, the higher chances are they are remarked and the comments upvoted. If fact, with rare exceptions, most users make more rewards from their comments at first, than they do from their posts. I also wrote a post some time ago on the subject.

Choosing Tags

Besides selecting the right platform for the message you're trying to express, tagging correctly is also important, if you want your post to have higher chances of being seen by people interested in the topic you are covering in the post.

By tagging correctly I mean:

• using tags in relation to your content, not because they are the most popular
• using all 5 tags, if possible, for maximum exposure, but not if that means adding unrelated tags
• using popular tags for maximum short-term exposure and / or specific tags for long-term visibility
  
  

And within the range of posts having the same tag, what makes a post pop over the others are the title and the thumbnail image (the first image of the post, if more are used). No thumbnail image or bad title equals less views, upvotes, reads, comments.

Curation

Curation is often regarded as the poorer relative of content creation on the Steem blockchain, because the reward system favors content authors. However we should remember content needs curation to surface and be discovered. And there are certain techniques that can be used to increase curation rewards, but most only work when an account already has a high enough Steem Power, to make its votes count.

Marketers

Sometimes new users who are looking for new places to advertise online, see steemit and other apps on the Steem blockchain as just any other platform where they can expand their audience.

That's probably a mistake, because most apps on the blockchain are for now (and why not for ever?) free of advertisements, and such an approach is most likely seen as an intrusion and the respective user at best ignored, at worse, the content flagged and reputation ruined.

That doesn't mean marketing is not possible here. There are quite a few marketers on steemit, but if that's your endgame you've got to be careful and give something in advance, before asking for attention for your own or affiliate products. And by something, I mean something valuable like your time (as in months, years) and / or your money.

Why Don't I Earn Anything?

This is the subject most newbies are worried about when they start their steemit adventure.

If you look at my posts, you will see I barely make, if I'm lucky, a few dozens cents (in equivalent Steem, SBD and Steem Power) on my posts. I think I had two posts over $1. And if you look at my account with steemd.com, you see it's 71 days old at the time of writing this post.

With little exceptions, I've posted one post per day. That might seem like a long track record with little to show for it in terms of monetary rewards. But I've heard and read stories of much longer streaks of content that doesn't get noticed.

Some get a quicker traction. Others never get the necessary traction to earn a satisfactory amount. The idea is simple: if you are in here only for the rewards and you won't reach your goal soon enough, you will likely abandon this journey. If you won't, it probably means you at least believe Steem blockchain will grow and being here before it happens seems like a good idea.

Final Words

I could've expanded this post on several topics and probably a thorough approach would have required that. However, on any given smaller subject there are enough sources with detailed explanations. And the first requirement for success on steemit, is to search for answers to questions you might have. Don't wait until someone hands over the full details to you, be proactive and search for missing pieces yourself, until the puzzle becomes clear.