What is Steemit and how does it work?
Every day we get questions from new users about what they are supposed to do with Steemit. Well, we decided to create this guide so that in just 15 minutes, you’ll be able to learn Steemit’s basic structure and how to get started with Steemit.
Let’s get started by stating what Steemit is and how it works.
What is Steemit?
Steemit is a blockchain-based blogging platform with social media features that pays users for making posts, voting and commenting on good content. Yes, that’s right. Steemit allows you to write and submit a post, comment, and vote on other people’s posts and in return, you earn rewards in the form of Steem or Steem dollars.
What is STEEM?
Steem is a cryptocurrency which is used as a reward for making posts and curating (voting) on the Steemit network. Steem is underpinned by blockchain—the technology that powers Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies. A fixed amount of Steem is produced every day and this is made available as rewards to both authors and curators (voters).
What is STEEM Dollar?
Steem Dollar is similar to Steem except that it is pegged to the U.S dollar. Each Steem Dollar (SD) can be used to purchase approximately 1.00 USD worth of Steem. But you’ll have to trade SD with another cryptocurrency as direct trading for U.S dollar or fiat currency is currently not available.
It is worth noting that Steem Dollars accrue interest to protect your funds from any possible inflation. Users that hold SD will earn an annual 10 percent interest, paid out in Steem Dollars.
What is STEEM Power?
Steem Power (SP) is a special form or Steem that you require to vote on a post on the Steemit platform. It is a network influence token. That is, the more SP you have the stronger your vote is.
Steem Power can be acquired in two ways: Convert Steem to SP through powering up; or earn SP through posting and curation rewards.
Since Steem Power is not a ‘liquid’ currency, you may want to convert it back to base currency of Steem. In that case, you can cash out some of your SP by powering down—a process that pays out in 104 weekly conversions.
How can I earn Steem on Steemit?
You can earn Steem in two ways. First is by making a blog post. You as the writer will earn Steem when users vote on your posts. However, the amount earned is dependent on the total number of votes you receive and the amount of Steem Power each voter has.
For example, a voter with 10,000 Steem Power has a higher voting influence that one with 1000 SP. If you are a writer on Steemit, you may want to convince the large Steem Power holders to give you upvotes so as to earn more Steem rewards.
The second way to earn Steem is by voting on posts. When you vote on a post, you earn curation rewards paid out in SP. Only vote for content that you believe is of high quality since posts that do well tend to earn more SP than the ones that don’t do well.
Moreover, voting on multiple posts decreases the strength of each of your votes depending on the time duration between each vote.
Once an author submits a post, they will receive rewards distributed evenly between Steem Power and Steem Dollars within 12 hours. The second reward pool distribution is done one month later. Voters, on the other hand, will be paid entirely in Steem Power.
How to get started with Steemit
Now that you’ve grasped the basics of Steemit rewards system, let’s delve into how you can get started with Steemit and earn money.
Note that Steemit is constantly evolving and will continue to update the features on its platform. But I will try to keep this as up to date as possible.
Steemit is simple to use and you can be sure to get the most of your experience.
Creating an account
To sign up to Steemit, you need a username, email address, and a password. Make sure you select a username that best reflects your image. Also, choose a password that is longer and secure—a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols will do just fine.
Do I really need to fund my account?
No. You don’t really need to put funds into Steemit, but having Steem Power can protect you from Steem price fluctuations. Holding Steem Power is similar to owning equity or stock. Furthermore, your voting influence increases when you hold some Steem Power.
To fund your Steemit account, you’ll need to purchase Bitcoins. On your dashboard, there’s a button labeled “Buy Stem Power” from which you can convert Bitcoin to Steem Power. Alternatively, you can purchase Steem Power or Steem Dollars via Exchanges like Bittrex, Kraken, Poloniex etc.
Making a post
On the top right corner of your screen, there’s a button called “Submit a Story”. When you click on this button, a submission form will open up. Use this to create your posts including blog articles, photographs, videos or any other useful content.
Exploring and curating content on Steemit
Curating on Steemit is the process of organizing, sorting and tidying up the platform. It includes voting on posts and also making comments. You get paid for dedicating your time to improve the platform, whether by voting, posting or commenting.
To begin exploring and curating content, search for the tags or topics of your interest. Browse through the list of articles and if you find some that you love, vote for the post, comment or reply to the post.
You also have an option to filter contents by view (i.e. hot, trending, new, active, popular, responses, payout time) to make your voting and commenting more purposeful.
Get paid for voting and commenting
You get paid to vote and comment on posts, but the best strategy for making money on Steemit is to search for posts you think will become popular and vote on them before others do. Steemit will reward you for discovering hidden gems. In fact, earliest curators of would-be popular posts, reap the most curation rewards, provided all other things remain equal.
Furthermore, your voting strength is also affected by how much Steem Power you hold. The more Steem Power you have, the greater influence you’ll enjoy with your votes.
Because all the curation rewards earned by voting are shared with the author, you should not vote right away on a new post. When you vote less than 30 minutes after a post is submitted, most of the rewards go to the author. Wait a little bit longer to upvote posts, but don’t wait too long as other people may vote ahead of you, get an earlier spot in line, and make it hard for you to receive a higher payout.
Choose the best time to jump in and vote. Also, explore further to seek out new authors who are relatively undiscovered. Your ability to discover good content from new writers before other users find it may well put you in line for much bigger rewards.
How to create your first post
Once you’ve understood what others are doing on Steemit and what works for them, it’s time to create your first post.
As a global community that focuses on social identity, Steemit provides the opportunity to build your reputation with every post and the comments you create. As a result, they want you to create good content—posts that generate high amounts of community interactions and give you the best returns.
The first post you create on Steemit should be an introduction post. But before getting started, search for the tag “introduceyourself” in the search bar so as to learn from successful introductory posts. When you’re ready to get started, click on “Submit Story” button to begin crafting your post.
The key to creating successful posts on Steemit is, to be honest, and genuine. Also, use proper formatting for easy reading. Use titles and subtitles, paragraph breaks, commas and proper grammar. And don’t forget to proofread your work before submitting it. Try adding images to give your post some life and to help illustrate the text better. If the content you create is of high quality, readers will love it, and vote for it.
You will also notice that short posts (less than three paragraphs long) do not usually do very well in terms of the number of votes. As a beginner trying to establish your reputation, it is essential to create a unique and thoughtful post. Let your content be original, relevant and engaging to the reader. Ask yourself while you write whether your post adds any value to Steemit.
Reputation scores
You get reputation scores for how well your posts are performing on the site. If your post receives votes from users who have positive scores, your own reputation score will begin to rise. However, if users flag your posts repeatedly for spam or community rules violation, your own score will drop.
If you want your reputation scores to increase over time, make positive contributions to the community.
To wrap up this brief guide, I suggest that you spend the first few days browsing and reading other posts on the platform so as to learn more about Steemit from different angles. I hope you found this guide helpful.