Voting power is based on 200 votes a week (I think. I might be 40/day which would make it 280). Each time you vote your voting power goes down. Voting power will directly impact post rewards. If you have low steem power and low vote power and upvote a post that makes a ton you won't really earn anything. If you have high steem power when you vote you'll grant that person a large reward and still earn some back, but not if your voting power is spent. If you have less than 2000SP I'm not entirely sure it matters much because we're still talking pennies on average.

Also, @thearcanebear it no longer takes 2 years to get out. I think it's set to 13 weeks now, but it's roughly 3 months.

As for where to vote.. vote wherever you like. It's your page and your account. As for voting on things to make money I would suggest for short term thinking limit your votes to posts you think will earn high rewards so you get a bigger piece of them back. For long term solutions I would suggest voting on posts and comments that you like and who you want to support and in turn be supported by. Those votes can help build relationships especially if you're interacting with people with few followers and/or steem.