Easy guideline(User Friendly) way to get started on Steemit

When I came on Steemit a few weeks ago I wanted to see if it was a good investment. The best way to find out is to see how the ecosystem works along with the different Steem crypto involved with it. I had to read several articles to actually make my own post with pictures ( maybe I just didn't find the best article to get started). So I want to simplify this for new people joining Steemit so they can get started right away posting your own article. It is not difficult to post an article on Steemit. I signed up and told a little bit about myself and began by searching through different articles to see how they did things.

The first thing I wanted to know was if I actually need Steemit crypto to make an article. Would I have to go buy some Steemit and send it to my account.. And to my surprise it didn't cost any fees whatsoever. So if someone wants to post a article on Steemit it doesn't cost anything. You don't have to go on a exchange and by any Steemit. So don't worry you can get started right away.

What confused me the most with Steemit was how the different Steemit money worked. On the right side of Steemit website, where we have an avatar picture next to Submit a Story click on the circle avatar and go down to wallet. They have Steemit, Steem Power and Steem dollars.

So Steemit crypto is something that can be traded on exchanges for other crypto currencies. Its the base token of the ecosystem. It is the most volatile of any of the 3 choices as it can go up and down in price at a very rapid pace. If you want less risk these tokens can be converted to Steem Power or Steem Dollars.

If you convert to Steem Power ( called powering up) is where you get more voting power. You can also power down and they pay back over a 104 week period I believe every 7 days( so remember if you power up to Steem Power its slower process to power down back to Steemit). If you write an article and you get a few pennies for it but someone with a lot of Steem Power votes and it jumps to 2.00 then that is an example of how your voting has more power to it and the author gets more rewards. So Steem Power helps build a strong eco system for the community. Also the more Steem Power you get the more Steem Power can be earned over time.

Now Steem Dollars is pegged to the US Dollar. It keeps the value of your Steemit in a non volatile way. If your writing a lot of articles and making a lot of Steemit you can convert some of it to Steem Dollars to protect your profits. You also get a nice 2% APR for putting your Steemit into Steem Dollars. You can also trade the Steem Dollars on an exchange just as Steemit.

The next important thing for me was figuring out how to post pictures in a easy simple way. When I wanted to put a picture I found on google in a post I used http://imgsafe.org/ It is very easy to use and pictures can be uploaded. Once they upload, click on the picture and it takes you to a link that you can copy and paste into your post where ever you want the picture to be. Now with nice pictures integrated into the article it can make it more interesting for some readers. When I see articles with no pictures, for some reason it makes me feel like it will be long boring read. So I recommend posting a few pictures.

After your write your article and your pictures are in place you want to click post but can't. You see a long rectangular box that is empty and see something has to be put in. I tried to put in my name at first I thought it was for my signature. But its to put tags on your post. So words that relate to your post so people can search for it. You can put up to 5 words. For this one you will see the 5 words I use to relate to my post to get more views.

So this will get you started on how the eco system works for Steemit. It is just quick guide you can get your foot in the door into posting your first article. I tried to keep it as simple as possible so you don't have to search a bunch of articles like I did, but I do recommend to researching more so you can make even better articles over time. Whatever I left out that other veteran Authors believe is important please post it so people don't have to search around to much making their first article on Steemit.

The more user friendly it is to use the more people will be drawn to it. I do think Steemit is a great long term investment that will be around for a very long time. I love how the ecosytem works and think the key is making it as user friendly as possible. The Steemit community has done a great job. I am proof of it because I have never posted articles anywhere online before. Just want to say I appreciate everyone's help and figured Id try to give a little back myself to the newbies that are about to get started. Good luck to the new Steemit members. I know you will enjoy it more and more as you get more involved with it like I have.

Pictures:
steemit help- steemit
My First Earned Money on Steemit- Steemit
Group of people in picture- Small Business - Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
user friendly cup- Neubrainer Blog