THE STRANGER - PAPA'S ADVICE FOR NEWER USERS - PART 1

I've given out a lot of advice during my time on steemit, and here is a little more.

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Because of my position in the steemit community, a lot of newer users approach me looking for advice. Most of the time, I try to help them with what I can, but it does take a lot of time some days. When I am able to, I'm blessed to be of assistance.

The other night I was talking with another user in a private chatroom. His questions were good and valid, but they were also common. Basically, they can be summed up as follows:

• What is it that I am not doing right?
• How can I grow?

They are good questions indeed, so I'll share some of my response to him with you now, and add in some other insight as well.

BACKGROUND

Often, people see a user like me and they think, "I can do that!" (Maybe not all the venomous snake posts and stuff, but the rest of the posts anyway.)

When someone says something like, "I can do that," I fully agree. In fact, many of you can even do what I do better than @papa-pepper can. Why then is it that you are not doing as well?

That's a tricky question to answer, but the background is important. You see, I did not join last month, or 8 months ago. I've been here for over a year. In that time, I have posted every day without fail, and often it was three or four posts per day. Additionally, I have made tens of thousands (over 20,000) comments and replies, interacting with other users each and every day.

I have worked hard, stayed up late, slept little and invested a lot of time and effort into this community and platform. The posts I make are original and I even provide almost all my own images. I try to be helpful and encouraging, and I have given away thousands of $$$ in prizes, donations and other opportunities.

No one would be able to show up a month or two ago and accomplish all that I have. Basically, I've poured myself out into this community daily for over a year, and the community has responded positively to my efforts. Like everyone else, I never had a guarantee that I would ever get a payout here, but, unlike just about everywhere else online, steemit gave me an opportunity, so I took it!

I mention all of this not as some lame attempt to brag or show how supposedly "great" I am, but to provide you with some insight and background to help you understand. Unless you have multiple friends who are whales, you may have to work very hard for a very long time to achieve similar results on steemit to those that I have attained. If you are not willing to work hard and invest yourself, then you might as well not read any further. I'm not trying to be mean, just serious, because I seriously want to help those who are willing.

A SPECIFIC EVALUATION

When the steemian asked me for help the other night, I had to check out what he had been up to so I could provide him with the honest evaluation that he was asking me for.

Upon looking through his blog history, I realized something, he was basically a "stranger." The posts were few and far between, and the interaction was minimal. As far as the community at large would be concerned, the man was a stranger.

MY ADVICE FOR ALL

In order for people to know you, you have to exist. I know that sounds simple, but it is also true. Millions of people all around the world are not on steemit. From the perspective of members of our community, they do not exist, or at least not in our realm. Sure, they are out there somewhere, but they do not exist in our community.

There are also tons of usernames on steemit that have never posted, voted or commented. The username exits, but people are unaware of their existence. Why? Because the proof of their existence in our community is very small, being just a registered account with a username and nothing more.

Additionally, many have joined steemit, made a post or two, and then stopped. The situation is basically the same for them.

What's my point? My point is, that the easier you are to find, the more likely it is that people will find you. When I checked out the previous month's worth of activity by the user asking for advice, seven posts had been made in the previous month. Basically he posted almost twice a week. Again, unless you knows some whales... this is really not how to grow.

During that same time @papa-pepper would have posted over 100 times. Posting every once in a while is most likely not going to create a huge interest in you. No one will be checking your page every day to see what is new when most days nothing is new there. It is so easy to get lost in people's feeds, that it may be best to create a continued interest by posting consistently.

For those who follow @papa-pepper, they know that there is always something new on my blog page. The worst case scenario in my entire time on steemit is that they would have to wait 24 hours for my next post. Every day people know that I will have something new for them to check out. Sure, they may have been hoping for a gardening post and I posted some humor instead, but still, something new was happening.

INTRODUCING YOURSELF

Here on steemit you pretty much get one shot at a formal "introduceyourself" post. Whoever misses that misses your introduction. Basically, you moved into our very large neighborhood and we missed it. So, will you live out your time in our neighborhood as a stranger, or will you stop by and introduce yourself personally?

Those who missed being part of the welcoming party on your intro post may still want to make friends with you. Perhaps you need to stop by and say hi, just so that you are not a complete stranger. By upvoting a post and leaving a comment, at least they will have seen your username. Whether they reply or not, they should be aware of your existence, and you are now no longer a complete stranger, though they still won't really know you yet.

By commenting on the posts of other people, you are in essence introducing yourself to the neighborhood one person at a time, although others may notice you this way too.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Imagine that you are at your house, and two new neighbors move into your area. One comes over and looks at a pot of flowers that you have on your front porch. They knock on your door, so you open it to greet them. Then, they say, "Nice flowers, can I have them?"

When the other new neighbor stops over, they too notice your pot of flowers and knock on the door. However, this time when you answer, this neighbor says, "Those are amazing flowers there. You must have put in some serious effort to make them look that incredible. I grow flowers too, and brought a few pots with me when I moved. They may not look as nice as yours, but I'm learning."

Which neighbor made a better first impression? Which one will you be more likely to seek out or talk to?

It's the same thing here on steemit. Some strangers are not good at making first impressions. After an author has worked hard on a post and invested a lot of effort, some user that they have never heard of replies with "UPVOTE ME!" How is that for a first impression? For most, people will not seek to get to know such a stranger. For others. they might as well have said, "May I have a FLAG?"

However, when someone leaves a relevant reply, it makes a much better first impression. It may spark an interest for the author to find out who would write such a reply. It may even make other members of the community curious as well.

TRUST ME, WE KNOW!

This may seem like a strange thing to some of the newer users, but those of us who have been here a while already know a few things. Personally, I already know that if someone has an account on steemit, then I can follow them. There is no need to ever tell me that I can follow you, because I already know that I can. I even know how to do it, if I choose to.

Also, many of the more seasoned users on steemit know that if someone with an account makes a post, or even just a comment, we can upvote it. This is common knowledge. Therefore, there is no need to tell me that I can upvote you. I already completely understand that it is an option that I have available. And again, I even know how to do it if I want to.

CONCLUSION OF PART ONE

If you want to be a part of this amazing community that we have, I'd recommend not being a stranger. Exist, and let us know that you do. Invest your time and effort knowing there is no guarantee that you will get a return on that investment, if you are comfortable doing so. If not, just about the entire rest of the internet doesn't even give you the option of possibly reaping a reward for your investment.

Also, as a stranger, you may need to introduce yourself to others. Find interesting authors here and let them know what you think of their posts. Remember, first impressions matter!

Hopefully this post has been useful. If you want even more advice, stay tuned for Part 2, or check out my video series. Here is the 5 minute version.

If you would like to check out the entire 18 part video series, follow the link below and look in the comment section. All 18 videos have been linked there.

https://steemit.com/help/@papa-pepper/the-best-advice-i-can-give-in-5-minutes-one-short-video-to-help-newer-users-on-steemit

Until next time…

Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com

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