(Photo by Alexa Mazzarello on Unsplash)
If you're like me, you haven't invested any of your own money into Steemit. You're hoping you can make your way to the top with some good old-fashioned hard work.
The #1 easiest thing you can do on Steemit to increase your Steem Power and Steem Backed Dollars is to post thoughtful and engaging comments. Use the tags to find a topic you know a lot about, are interested in, or are wanting to learn more of and look for posts that you think you could contribute to.
For example, I really like looking through the science posts and I'll find a post authored by a high rep user with fewer than 10 comments on it. After I carefully read through the post, I'll leave a comment asking a relevant question, write a short anecdote, or add to the discussion already in the comments.
Oftentimes, this results in an upvote from the author. If you put effort into your post you will usually stand out among the comments and the author will be happy to engage with you. How many times have you seen a poorly written comment such as, "excellent text, quite complete, and interesting" left on a user's post?
Be sure your comment provides value to the post or the discussions taking place within the comments. Use Grammarly, Microsoft Word, or Google Docs to type up your comment first if grammar, spelling, or the English language are not your strong suits. Or ask another user to help look over what you wrote. You can even ask me, I'll be glad to help!
Now not every comment you make will get you a bunch of valuable (or any) upvotes. The key is consistency. Engage with the Steemit community in a valuable and helpful way and you'll be rewarded. Users will remember you and you'll gain followers without even asking for them, as well as making friends that may regularly interact with you in posts.
Here's a screenshot of a comment I left a few days ago.
The post was asking if sending memos to followers and non-followers was spam. This took me about 5 minutes to write and so far I have 6 votes totalling $1.19. Not bad for a few minutes of work.
Leaving comments doesn't require you to decide on a niche or to write a lengthy post. It's an action you can take immediately that will build your Steem Power and SBD while deciding on how best to present your profile.
Thanks for reading!