The Old Dog Makes: A Personal Welcome to @bit-sp And to All Newcomers! A Comprehensive Guide!

in #steemit7 years ago (edited)

A Warm Welcome to Steemit! You're going to love it here! You've made a great choice in getting on board the world's fastest and most used blockchain! This article helps explain why the future is so bright!

In order to make things more enjoyable and to help you have greater and quicker success here are some helpful hints for newcomers!


I met Ash (now member @bit-sp) in Tenerife. He saw our Steemit gear and we had a great chat!

Successful Blogging

Frequency:

Whatever your interests are don't forget to be consistent. If you can post every day that would be great but if not try and publish something at least one or two times a week. The old adage "Out of sight out of mind" really holds true in this case!


Formatting Your Blog: 

Good looks count! A blog with headlines, bullet points, proper spacing and good visuals is both easier to read and professional looking. Don't present your readers with a wall of text!


Branding: 

One of the best pieces of advice that I got early on was to develop a brand. In order to do this I purchased a logo and I insert it in every one of my articles. You can use the services of one of our many skilled graphic artists here on Steemit to create a logo for you. Just use the hashtag steemgigs and away you go!


Commenting: 

One of the mainstays to success on Steemit is to make meaningful comments on other member's blogs. This will help them to get to know you and don't forget that your comments can be upvoted which can earn you both SBD and Steempower! 

Commenting is a fast track to success and should never be underestimated. Please check out the article I wrote that shows a great example: The Old Dog Asks: Can YOU Succeed On Steemit Simply By Commenting? Meet @eric-boucher

Do not copy and paste the same comment in many posts or promote your posts in a comment. This is considered spam and is likely to be downvoted thus harming your reputation!

Stay Positive: 

Positivity breeds success and is attractive to others. If you don't have success as quickly as you'd hoped for keep at it. For some inspiration have a look at  this article here: @meesterboom Steem Card. He's a great example to follow towards success!


Following Others:

 This is NOT a follow you follow me environment. Many make the mistake of following anybody and everybody as is the custom on other social media sites like twitter. However, ask yourself if you can possibly read and curate material from hundreds or thousands of bloggers. Also, you can't possibly vote for them all in any meaningful way as you would completely deplete your voting power rendering your upvotes useless!


Voting: 

When using the interface at Steemit.com until you have at least 500 Steempower all of your votes will automatically be at 100% power. After reaching 500 Steempower you can use the slider to adjust the value of your vote. This will allow you to vote many more times over a 24 hour period. 

Please have a look at his article on voting which explains it well and has a work around for the use of the Slider.

For Minnows🐠: How To Have A Voting Slider Before Reaching 500 Steem Power And Adjust Your Voting Percentage

Here Are Some Sites That Can Help You to Enjoy Steemit Even More 


First of all, to get an idea of all of the apps, sites and front ends that have been developed using the Steemit blockchain have a look at steemtools.com. Amazing! Are you now convinced that you're onto something special? Oh Ya!


Post Promotion:

1.) Steemit.chat Here you can private message other members as well as promote your posts. Just join the various rooms but don't forget to post the link to your initial image separately like this.

This first one is the link to the article:

https://steemit.com/steem/@kus-knee/the-old-dog-reports-learning-to-see-things-the-steem-way

The second one is the link to the image:

h ttps://s10.postimg.org/43ucvsucp/IMG_5775.jpg (I added a space after the first h so it wouldn't load)



In the sample above the link by nobutsd has no image link therefore nothing shows up! The second one has the link to the image and it makes for a more interesting presentation.



2.) If you use Facebook you will also find many Steemit groups where you can promote your posts. In this case just paste the link to your post and the image will appear automatically.


Search for Steemit user groups on Facebook and you can promote your posts there!

3.) Telegram channels. Here you will find all kinds of groups including other languages!


Here you can see some of the channels that I frequent including Bitshares which is the father of the Steem Block chain.


4.) Discord is being used more and more by many Steemers! Just search for the groups that interest you!


You can search for and join different groups on Discord


Alternative Front Ends


All of these use the Steem Blockchain!


Note  that whatever you post using these sites will also show up on your Steemit.com blog.  


1.) Busy.org provides a slightly funkier interface with different bells and whistles and remember that if you post through this site using the tag "busy" you will get an upvote from their account!


2.) Chainbb.com  Forum style interface. A percentage of your rewards goes to them. It was developed by the very talented Steemit Witness @jesta  and you can read the original announcement here: chainBB.com - a blockchain forum platform for Steem


3.) DTube is Steemit's own version of YouTube but it is decentralized! In this case 25% of your rewards go to the creator of the site. A very successful and happy user of this platfrom is @exyle. You can check out Steemit's very talented vlogger here.


4.) Zappl is a twitter style micro blogging site.You can catch up on all of their news here.


5.) Dmania is Steemit's interface for memes. You can read more about it here


6.) esteem, available as an app is another great interface for blogging on the Steem blockchain. It's creator @good-karma is alos a steem witness and you can read all about this project here.

7.) Dsound is a web application that allows you to upload, listen to and discover music and other sounds stored  on top of the IPFS Network. It uses the STEEM blockchain as a decentralized  database, which allows authors to earn rewards in Steem and SBD! Awesome! @prc is the force behind this project!

Here is the latest Bitshares hangout posted on the Dsound platform! Oh Yes!


There Are Many More And New Ones Every Day! Search For More Here


Sites That Help You Examine, Access, And Use The Steemit Blockchain

These are the ones that I consult every day!


1.) Steemd.com you can quickly see all incoming and outgoing votes as well as comments and rewards. You will also see at a glance what your voting power is. Just take out my username and add in yours!

 


2.)
Steemworld.org will give you all kinds of info including a chance to see how much your vote is worth, how much you have made both in curating and authoring in both the past 7 and 30 days. Again just take out my username and add in yours!


3.) Steemify is a nifty notification app available for iOS devices and built by @blockbrothers


Here is a partial look at the notifications that you can receive!

Help For New Members to Get Votes!

One of our dear members @xyzashu has put together this guide to help newbies. It's great!


101 Ways to Get Easy Upvotes!


Voting Bots


Love them or hate them bots are a big part of Steemit. Many make use of them to automatically upvote some of their followers. The one that I use from time to time can be found at Steemvoter.com.  You can adjust the time of your vote as well as the percentage.


In Summary

So my dear newcomers I hope that this fairly comprehensive guide will help you to get a good start on Steemit!


Until next time,


@kus-knee (The Old Dog)

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What a start for 2018 and my first days at Steemit! Thank you very mutch, this is kind of fantastic. I did already understand this community is something special before I joined, but I must say I am overwhelmed and very happy. I will copy and paste into my notebook for easy access anytime. And I will use the resteem button for the first time, my followers is quite few so far but I want to share this with them. I wish you the best 2018. I follow you:)

Thanks @itshim for your kind words of appreciation.

Man, this is well beyond the new comer. It underlines your thorough experience as a Steemian among us as well as the wisdom that shines through in each part of this article.

Thanks a lot for the education, pointers and heads-up!

Namaste :)

Thanks so much. You have a prominent mention in the article!

I definitely noticed and it is with much gratitude, as always that I find myself surprised by the gift of this mention. Again, THANK YOU @kus-knee!!!

Namaste :)

This post should in steemit Guide......you put all you steemit knowledge in one blog...amazing man....resteemd

Thanks so much. Many of us had to learn the hard way!

Wow, lots of info to go through here. I notice most bloggers have some sort of logo at the end of their post. Do you think it really does make that much of a difference? Would it hurt to not have one?

I think that it helps in many ways. Almost all companies have a logo right? Think of your blog as a brand or a company. It's omething that makes you instantly recognizable. Sure you could be fine without it as well but at worst it will give you a slight edge and will make your blog look professional.

I love your username and you could have a great logo/avatar built around that! You might even find a volunteer to do one for you if you write a post about it or you can pay someone. The one for my company cost me $10 on Fiverr.com and I paid $25 for the one I use here.

In any case, take your time. Have fun, read, explore, interact, learn, help others and earn!

That is true! I would like to have that little picture (avatar is it?) next to my username, but I don’t know how to add one since it wants a url? I may not be old but I guess I’m falling a little behind in the tech world lol

Go to postimages.org and set the image size to avatar. Upload your picture and then paste the URL that it supplies into the the appropriate spot in the settings for your blog page.

Done!

Simply a fabulous guide!
It is comprehensive in itself. Still, thanks a ton for mentionong my post here! 💓

Thanks. It was a good exercise for me and in order to succeed we need to do so together. Your guide was excellent!

Anthology!! To be readed every once a year at least

I wrote it on the plane because I was bored and I had time!

You make your phone dance then! You've probably payed out your ticket (and maybe more...) :D!

Thank very much, I can tell I was lost, but now I am found. thank you once again for welcoming us newbies.

Got get em! You can do it!

Just the post I needed to get actionable tips to inch my way forward and fulfill my 2018 Steemit destiny!

Have a great journey!

how awesome is this - will follow him immediately. You are simply a fab personality my friend of bones!

Let's hope that he shows up soon. Joining and blogging are two different things! :)

True that too - however it helps the entire community, not only noobs - even I found 2 tools I was not aware of lol! Resteemed this of course! Have a great 2018 my friend!

WOW I had no idea all this was available thanks so much for sharing. It is apparent to me I have so much to learn. Upvoted and resteemed this for sure.

Step by step. You're doing great!