If you REALLY want the best advice that I can give you…
This post is a continuation of a series started by 
Since this series is primarily geared towards people coming to steemit from YouTube, I am guessing that a certain interest in videos exists. Over six months ago, I was asked to do a series where I shared the best advice that I could give to newer users.
Many who have shown up more recently have probably never seen this series, and I think that a lot of the basics that I covered in it are crucial for newer steemians to understand if they really want to succeed. In this post I will offer it up in its entirety, and add some thought about each subject that I covered. To truly digest all that I share here will take some time, but it may be worth your effort. If you are looking for a condensed version, here is the attempted “five minute version.”
THE BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE IN 5 MINUTES
The rest of the videos below are all "supposed" to be about 10 minutes in length, but they vary depending on what I was covering. If you are serious about posting here on steemit, you may want to bookmark this one and make your way through the whole video series as you have time.
THE FULL 18 PART VIDEO ADVICE SERIES WITH ADDED COMMENTARY
In my 18 part “Advice From Papa for Newer Users on Steemit” series, I covered a variety of helpful things to understand. A lot of my “success” here was not really do to any specific plan, but, as I reflect on what things I had done that may have attributed to the results that I received, I believe some important components were revealed. As always, individual results will vary, but these are just some of the things that I would strongly recommend that newer users think about doing to help them as they attempt to interact and post on steemit.
VIDEO 1 – Intro Posts and Commenting
In this video, I talk about the importance of simple things that you can do in your posts to make them more professional and eye-catching. Grammar, images, and paragraph breaks are not crucial, but they do help. As I mentioned before, introducing yourself to the community through an “introduceyourself” post and by making real comments on the posts that you upvote and like.
VIDEO 2 – Quality and Quantity
Quality should never be sacrificed for quantity, but consistently putting out a good quantity of posts can also help. Remember, it’ll take good quality to “get noticed” and gain a following, but this may mean that you “use up” a lot of good content without really “getting paid” for it. I would look at it as an investment. If you continue, it could pay off. If you quit, I can guarantee that it will not pay off.
VIDEO 3 – Comparisons and Discouragement
Comparing yourself to others can be disastrous. Simply put, you are you, and you are not another user. You have not been here for the same amount time that they have, you have not made the connections that they have, and your content is different from theirs. If you compare yourself to others, chanced are that you will get discouraged.
Instead, try comparing yourself to yourself. Post excellent material and comment on the posts of others daily. Learn and apply on a daily basis, and see if you are not improving. Is your content getting better? Do you have more followers? Have your posts gained any traction or began to get slightly larger payouts? Progress on a daily basis, and over time, you’ll should be doing better than you once were.
VIDEO 4 - Realistic Expectations and Off-Site Resources
Realistically, if you are a newer user, you shouldn’t expect very big payouts, and if you happen to get some periodically, they often will not be consistent. While some people from YouTube may have gotten paid for their content before, most people have never really had a ROI on their online interaction. Steemit offers that potential though, and we want to take care of it.
A few good offsite resources are also readily available for you use too. You may have noticed that sharing links in the comment sections of the posts of others is frowned upon. However, there are rooms in discord or on https://steemit.chat that are specifically designed for authors to promote their own posts in.
VIDEO 5 – Consistency and Series
Practicing what I preach, this video on the importance of consistency and why I think that making a series is a good idea was recorded at the hospital shortly after the birth of our fifth child. Obviously, I kept up with the consistency of the series. The basic ideas shared here are that you should keep your audience coming back for more. Whether it is starting a series that will keep them wanting the next installment or just daily posting so that your followers know that you’ll have something new for them every day, keeping the interest of your audience can be important.
VIDEO 6 - A Good Number of Popular, Relevant Tags
As I mentioned earlier in this series, tags are important. Often, this is the main way that people search posts. While people can use any tag that they want, even creating their own new tags, obscure or uncommon tags may make it very hard for people to find your posts. A photo shoot of some dragonflies tagged “dragonfly,” “outside,” “picture,” and “camera” will get A LOT LESS attention than one tagged “animals,” “photo,” “photography,” and “nature.” I highly recommend checking out some of the popular tags here: https://steemit.com/tags and seeing what ones best describe your post prior to publishing it.
VIDEO 7 - Steemicide
STEEMICIDE is a term that I coined a long time ago in steemit history. Basically, it is "committing suicide on steemit." Often, newer users can get frustrated and "go off" on others, whales, or the entire community. Often, this not only leads to a drop in their reputation, but sometimes it can effectively end the potential for that user to ever earn anything again on steemit. If you want to read my full post from last year about How To Commit STEEMICIDE, click here otherwise I share more about it in the video.
VIDEO 8 – Getting Mentioned
Every time that another user mentions you, you are basically getting free advertising or free promotion. Having a username that is easy to remember and spell can help, but there is more to having others mention your username than just that. From making gifts for others or helping them out, to running contests, there are a lot of things that you can be doing to get others talking about you.
VIDEO 9 – Endearing Yourself
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VIDEO 10 – Professional Posts
Once money is potentially involved, things can take on another level of importance. There is a good chance that you will need to publish some posts that look professional in order to get noticed or be taken seriously. From closing signatures to other things that add some flair and a touch of professionalism to your posts, I share some sober thoughts about this matter in this video.
VIDEO 11 – Being Yourself
A lot of people out there in the world fake their personas and lives. Simply put, they are living a lie and promoting it to others. You may see what is working well for someone else and try to emulate them, but this may not be the best idea. Ultimately, we are all individuals and bring different things to the table. If you focus on your skills and talents and making real connections with real people who are really interested in them, I believe that your time will be much more wisely invested here than if you pretend to be someone else just to try to appeal to others. Sure, you may be able to get paid for it, but there are more important things than money.
VIDEO 12 – Work Your Butt Off
I'm tired, I've got blisters on my hands, and my body aches. Very often, this is true in my life offline. However, I've worked my butt off online too for a very long time on steemit. There have been many hours that I have devoted on a daily basis to steemit, often while working more than twelve hours a day at other jobs. Please do not expect to get something for nothing or t get paid just because you exist. To really get out of steemit what you want to get out of it, you have to pour a lot of yourself into it first. I know that I certainly did!
VIDEO 13 – Trying to Understand What Steemit is and How it Works
Steemit is so different from just about everything else on the web. Therefore, it can seem like a pyramid scheme, ponzi scheme, or scam at first. However, the more that we understand about this platform and the incredibly blockchain technology that it is based on, the easier it is for us to fully grasp the potential. The more that we understand about it, the easier it is for us to explain it to others. Trust me, my "understanding" of all of it is still not flawless, but I am still learning.
VIDEO 14 – The Tone of the Text & Non-Native Language Writers
One of the first things that I learned in the business world about communicating via written text (as in emails) rather than spoken word (like a phone call) is that the words you choose to type really matter. This is also true here on steemit. The reader can assume a tone of your message, and the words that you choose can completely change your intended meaning or the attitude with which you hoped t convey your message.
Once we add in the factor of people who do not speak our native tongue, this situation can become even more problematic, if we let it. Ultimately, is we ask questions rather than assume, interact with compassion, and cut one another some slack, we will build up this community a lot more than if we just view everything how we interpret it at first glance and get offended over it.
VIDEO 15 - Perseverance
People used to ask me if I ever felt like giving up on steemit and quitting. Honestly, I used to think about it every two or three days. Looking back, I am so glad that I never got to the point that I actually gave up. Perseverance is key, and without it you may very well never progress. Simply put, if you give up, if you quit, there is no chance that you will succeed, but if you continue, there is the possibility and potential that you will succeed, although there is no guarantee.
VIDEO 16 – Non-Original Content
Non-original content can be a somewhat touchy subject. Because steemit can potentially pay you for your posts, simply linking someone else’s video or sharing some quoted news may not be considered to be “worth” a payout. Unless you are actually sharing some of your own thoughts about the non-original content that you are sharing or adding some sort of value to it by what you share, I would recommend that you consider selecting the “decline payout” option.
VIDEO 17 - Positively Encouraging
Negativity and complaining is not exactly what keeps people “coming back for more.” There is enough of that attitude in the world, and often people will just choose to avoid you if you are consistently negative or discouraging. I believe that my positive and encouraging attitude has been part of what has helped me do as well as I have on steemit.
VIDEO 18 – The Power of Interviews
Interviews are a very good way to create content. First of all, they allow you to ask real questions to other users. Not only do you get the answers that you want, but you now have the opportunity to share them with others in a post. You can build relationships and encourage others in the process, and perhaps the steemian that you interview will even resteem your post featuring your interview of them. This can potentially expose all of their followers to your work. If you are trying to figure things out around here, why not ask to interview some active steemians?
UNLOADED!
I figured that if I unloaded as much as I could in one post featuring as much advice for new users as I could, this would do it. It's kind of a "one stop shop" for practical advice on "how to steemit." Many others have mentioned to me how much these videos helped them in the past, so hopefully they can be used to bless an entire new generation of steemians as you all attempt to figure this community and platform out.
This will wrap up some of the things that I wanted to share. Now I'll pass this series off to 
THE PREVIOUS POSTS IN THIS SERIES
This series has a lot of great information presented by a few Steemit users that have learned a few things. Follow along, vote and become a GREAT STEEMIAN!
So welcome to steemit, read, respond and be real.
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@weetreebonsai/day-1-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@weetreebonsai/day-2-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@weetreebonsai/day-3-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@weetreebonsai/day-4-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@daddykirbs/day-5-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@daddykirbs/day-6-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@papa-pepper/day-7-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
- https://steemit.com/steemit/@papa-pepper/day-8-steemit-the-foreign-country-for-those-getting-here-from-yt
Until next time…
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