4 Months has Passed - What Can I Tell You About Steemit?
I've been getting quite a few requests on strategies to improve Steemit accounts and while I'm not the authority on the matter, I seem to be one of the few that will speak about strategies openly. Good, solid information is harder to come by on Steemit than I would prefer.
Therefore, this week and next few after that I'm going to talk about some of the things I'm doing and what I would suggest others to do in order to make their Steemit journey more profitable. These are my suggestions based on my own successes and failures on the Steemit platform. Although I've done extensive reading and research on all the topics I will discuss, I strongly suggest you do your own due diligence before you make any significant financial decisions. For most of you that won't be a problem because you're dead ass broke anyway.
The other caveat to Steemit is that things move quickly. When I first bought Steem and joined Steemit, the price of SBD was significantly higher than Steem. Now it is actually cheaper than Steem. Bots didn't have caps or minimums, gaining a bunch of "followers" still seemed to matter and the Trending Page was worth reading. Like I said, things move and change quickly and your strategies need to be flexible enough to change with them.
4 Month Anniversary
Yesterday, I hit my 4 month anniversary on Steemit. It seems like a long, long time ago, but I'm now over 1200 posts/comments into it with over 1000 followers and I will break 1600 actual SP in the next couple of days. I'm hitting my goals and targets regularly now on growing my account and growing my network of friends and communities. Am I making fantastic money? NO This week I will have my best week ever and make about $250 USD profit of which $125 will be liquid and the other will go to Steem Power.
I can live with these numbers because that is what I targeted to make and I understand that my expertise and my content don't appeal to the majority of people on Steemit. Understanding your limitations is important. I don't do charts like Haejin, I'm not as colorful as 
What I've learned in 4 Months
Here is a quick breakdown of some of the things that I've learned on Steemit in 4 months.
- There are genuinely wonderful people on Steemit that are friendly, intelligent, and wise. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of fucking blithering idiots. liars, and scumbags here too. Just like anywhere else in the world.
- You can make money on this platform. Making money is hard work on this platform just like anywhere else and lazy people don't manage to do it. However, the lazy people will blame the non-lazy people for their success. Just like anywhere else in the world.
- Writing good content matters. People don't like or trust you nearly as much when you don't do quality work. Just like anywhere else in the world.
- People will try to help you succeed here as long as you are trying to help them succeed or they benefit in some way (emotionally, spiritually, financially). Just like anywhere else in the world.
- Friends and Networking matter! Relationships and Trust matter. Just like anywhere else in the world.
So you see, Steemit isn't some Utopian paradise where we all show up post a few thoughts, sing "Kumbaya" and get paid. I know you watched a YouTube video and they said that is how it was gonna be, but it just isn't. It's place just like anywhere else in the world. The only difference is that the rules of the game are slightly different.
Tools, Resources, and Lessons
These are some things that I've learned through my experience in the first 4 months. The good and the bad have visited me with all of these. I will be posting more detailed articles on many of these subjects later.
- Voting Bots and Upvote Services have many positive qualities and some negative qualities. Yes, you can make positive cash flow with them, but you can also lose your ass if you don't know how. I've done both. I don't care if any of this goes against your "principles" or your "vision" of Steemit. Bots and upvote services aren't going anywhere. They are a tool to be used and I will post on that later.
- Resteem services can be great for your exposure or they can be a total waste of your money. The factors that determine which of these outcomes you get can be slightly complicated. More on that later too.
- Delegating SP and Leasing SP can both be profitable depending on your situation and activity on Steemit. I have done and still do both.
- Curation can be a total waste of your time or it can put your week over the top in profit. It depends on your strategy and goals for the week, month, etc. I see too much time spent by people chasing curation rewards that they don't even understand. For example, most of you aren't getting your share of 25% like you think. You are getting more like 12%. More on that later too.
- There are Great Communities on Steemit and within Discord to help you to get better at Steemit and to grow your account. There are also communities that will suck your time, energy and life away while promising a bunch of bullshit that they can't deliver. In many cases they are no better off than you in the Steemit world but want you to allow them to mentor you. I've written about some of these communities already - Qurator is Awesome-Sauce Post
- There is absolutely nothing wrong with Self-voting. The only people telling you not to self-vote are gigantic whales (most of them tell you to self-vote also) and evangelistic Social Justice Warriors that are still preaching Steemit Utopia here and don't have a pot to piss in. Pay yourself first!
Beware of advice from people that haven't invested as much as you in Steem or Steemit.
My 3 Biggest Payoffs
Short section here. The 3 biggest contributors to me reaching my goals on Steemit have been these and in this order:
- Some may argue, but to me they are the best group I'm involved with and I'm involved with a bunch. The people that run this group are honest and straight forward. They know the platform and they don't accept shitty content. All these things follow my Core Values. I paid 2 Steem to join (currently 4 Steem), upvote them 2 times a day and delegate 300 SP. They upvote me for about $1.20 STU every single day and I get hit with their curation trail for more. It's like doubling my self-vote plus some.
- The #PayitForward Contest, Discord Group, and the community that has grown around it. Especially
,
, and
. My engagement, relationships, and network have grown immensely in the last month and this project is a HUGE part of that. These are amazing people and the group is growing exponentially now. I'm so excited about it.
- #Kryptonia and #Superior Coin - In just about 2 weeks, I am making huge strides in building my network further and earning not only Steem, but Superior Coin (SUP) in the process. Through this program I have met even more cool people like
,
,
and more. My paid for votes haven't cost me any SBD and have taken me over certain target thresholds for my posts. Thanks
and
. Sign up for Kryptonia Here
Honorable Mention - @Steembasicincome The jury is still out on SBI. They are upvoting my posts and I like everything about the concept, but the return on my investment is lukewarm as of now (14 or 15 Steem invested for .10 STU upvotes daily). Granted, each Steem I invest helps someone else also so that is cool, but I'm not ready to dive in much more than I already have at this point. I will keep you posted in the future (pun intended).
The 4 Best Tools for Managing Your Steemit Account
I've written about all of these before, but let me go through them again for those that haven't read those posts. Hyperlinks are to my posts about each.
- Still GinaBot - She is the sexy secretary that I never had. She notifies me about everything that I want to know in real time and I can take her on my phone and still get those notices. Instant updates on upvotes, comments, new posts with the #payitforward tag, etc. If you don't have her, get her. She's free.
- Steemworld - 2nd only to GinaBot because the updates sometimes lag and I don't get phone notifications. However, the reports here are amazing and I can find out nearly everything that I want to know about my Steemit account and activity. It takes some time to master, but the basics are easy enough.
- Steemauto - This is absolutely necessary for automating your upvotes. There are a ton of other features, but I use the "Fanbase" (autovote) function the most. You should too and set me up in there while your at it. haha
- SteemSupply - I love this tool because it keeps me updated on what my expected payouts are going to be. I like to budget for the coming week and this is a great tool. It has colorful, easy to read charts as well and it even shows the Steem/SBD exchange rate based on Coinmarketcap's figures.
Concluding Remarks and What to Expect This Week
I've invested about $4000 USD into Steemit as well as a great deal of time. Half of that was when Steem and SBD were trading higher than they are now and half when it was trading at $2.5 USD. My account is now valued at almost $8000 with my payouts due this week (Thank you Steem Supply).
That means that I'm very small potatoes in the Steemit world. However, not long ago I was struggling through the swamp of understanding this incredible platform with a severe learning curve that kills many newbies off before they even get started. Even spammers don't know how to make money on Steemit - their efforts are laughable.
It is tough, but I'm having fun, making a little bit of money and meeting some fantastic people along the way. Hell, if Haejin and Jerry Banfield are right, Steem is going to "Moon" and my investment will pay off no matter what I'm writing here.
Here are the posts that are planned for this week but not in any particular order because I'm waiting for some research and test results to conclude before I finish writing them.
- Strategies for Comments and the Curation of Comments
- How Curation Actually Works and How Can You Maximize Your Votes
- Upvote Services That I Like and Use
- Using Bots to Boost Your Returns and Visibility
- Using Resteem Services to Boost Your Returns and Visibility
- What You Should Expect To Give and Receive in a "Community"
- Delegating and Leasing Steem Power - Do's and Don'ts
- Maximizing Returns from Kryptonia and Superior Coins
It's family time for me. Wish you all the best and remember - all intelligent comments get an upvote.
Like this article? Please resteem, upvote and comment.
Don't like it? Comment and tell me why. Let's discuss it.
All intelligent comments get an upvote for effort (even if I disagree).
Send me a copy of one of your posts and I will try to read it quickly.
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