Are witness votes the most important we make for Steem? How do we find new witnesses to vote for at https://steemit.com/~witnesses where our vote will help the most? Where can new witnesses openly ask for votes in a way anyone can easily find them? What can we do to set up our votes and forget about this?
Would you read this post for answers because the system here might help a few of us have an easier time making a difference with our witness votes, earning votes as a witness, and adding value to Steem.
Witness Votes = Paid Positions for Steem!
The first month I was on Steem I saw the word witness a few times, viewed the list of witnesses at https://steemit.com/~witnesses and then figured I was not technical enough to participate in being a witness. I also therefore assumed that who was on the witness list did not matter to me much. I was way wrong on both of these first impressions.
Fortunately, I read posts like this one by 
To summarize, anyone that can host and manage an Ubuntu Linux server can be a witness for Steem! Witnesses are effectively paid positions funded by the Steem blockchain in exchange for running an Ubuntu Linux server according to the specifications I list in the guides below.
With no previous Linux experience, I read the guides I link in my posts and asked questions in the witness chat to the point of setting my server up without help from anyone else on the inside. 
Steem Witness Guides!
- Steem Witness Basic Training at https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/steem-witness-basic-training explains the basic of what a witness is and an overview of all the steps needed to participate.
- Launch a Steem Witness Today at https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/launch-a-steem-witness-today shows where I started getting my witness online and provides further reading from others.
- 12 Steps to Secure a New Ubuntu Linux Server at https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/12-steps-to-secure-a-new-ubuntu-linux-server shows a deep look inside the steps to follow to secure a new Ubuntu Linux server.
- Steps 13 to 19 to Prepare an Ubuntu Linux Server to be a Witness for Steem at https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/steps-13-to-19-to-prepare-an-ubuntu-linux-server-to-be-a-witness-for-steem
- Get a Steem Witness + Seed Online Today with These Ubuntu Linux Commands at https://steemit.com/witness/@jerrybanfield/get-a-steem-witness-seed-online-today-with-these-ubuntu-linux-commands shows the complete list of commands to get a witness running from zero. This guide is much easier to follow after reading the more in depth security tutorials first.
- Our Top 20 Witnesses Earn 250 Steem Power A Day at https://steemit.com/witness/@jerrybanfield/our-top-20-witnesses-earn-250-steem-power-a-day describes the earnings possible for reaching a top 20 witness position.
- How to Start Getting Steem Witness Votes at https://steemit.com/witness-category/@jerrybanfield/how-to-start-getting-steem-witness-votes provides tips on getting the first few votes
- Steem Secret #7: Appropriate Methods to Ask for Votes gives more tips on getting witness votes at https://steemit.com/steemsecrets/@jerrybanfield/steem-secret-7-appropriate-methods-to-ask-for-votes
How Much Do Witnesses Earn?
Outside of the top 50 ranks at the current Steem price, a witness is lucky to get enough Steem power to cover the server costs. From rank 20 to 50, the earnings range at $1 Steem from $20 to $60 a day. Every top 20 witness gets about $250 worth of Steem every day meaning that these paid positions pay well.
The ranks of witnesses are determined by the amount of Steem power placing votes for those witnesses meaning the weight of a vote is equal to the amount of Steem power in the account. 
Voting for Witnesses = Electing Paid Positions!
Witness votes are effectively electing twenty full time equivalent positions paid by the Steem blockchain combined with 30 to 50 more part time positions. The people we have in these paid positions can make a huge difference to the return we get as voters out of our investment on Steem because witnesses are generally some of the most trusted and active members of our community.
When we help witnesses with votes that we see making a contribution we feel is valuable, we are helping ensure that witness earns enough money to be able to make Steem a priority and keep working to add value to Steem. With witness votes lasting indefinitely once made, voting for witnesses is one small step we can take to help make a giant leap in favor of the value of Steem.
Who to Vote for?
Unfortunately for everyone involved in the witness system, figuring out who to vote for is extremely challenging. This new witness voting system I am using will hopefully make it easier for everyone by offering a simple way for those that would benefit the most from the votes to connect directly with those of us that want to make sure we are voting for 30 active witnesses every day.
While on https://steemit.com/~witnesses we can find the top 50 witnesses and easily click a white check mark to turn it green after entering in our active key, how do we know which names to choose out of a possible 30 votes? Where do our witness votes help the most and which votes do we make that do little good?
Meet on #Witness-Updates Tag!
To find witnesses to vote for, the https://steemit.com/trending/witness-update page is extremely helpful because often the most active witnesses looking for votes and those already at the top that are consistently communicating with followers post updates. Browsing these witness updates is a great way to see where witness votes will do the most good. Several of the largest increases in votes for my witness have came after posting an update.
Witnesses Making Direct Asks in Updates?
One of the challenges as a witness asking for votes and a voter looking for new witnesses to vote for is figuring out why to vote for one witness specifically. Looking through the witness updates does not exactly make it easy to immediately figure out who to vote for because many are structured more like a diary featuring what the witness has done lately.
What tends to work best to ask for a vote according to behavior research studies and my own experience is a direct and open ask with a reason. I will demonstrate in my ask below which starts with "Would you please" and includes "because" in the explanation of why to vote for me. As a witness voter myself, I will now be looking to keep my votes updated with this same system and hope it is useful for any witness and witness voter seeking to connect!
Asking an Individual Voter in Updates?
While currently it seems most witnesses, including me, have asked for votes privately in steemit.chat or in discord as well as putting generic asks in posts targeted at everyone, how much more effective would it be to focus on a small number of specific voters in updates? With the witness voting power focused among a small group of 20 to 50 people making the majority of the decisions for what rank witnesses are, would it be most logical to just ask a small number of those voters in each update directly? I will demonstrate.
Making Witness Voting Transparent!
When we as witnesses commit to making open, honest, and vulnerable asks for votes right on the Steem blockchain in a post like I just did above for witness votes, we have a chance to help everyone from a new witness wondering how higher ranked witnesses got votes to potential investors in Steem wondering how the process works to active witnesses enjoying more voting consistency over time to top witness voters being courted instead of spammed.
How to Get My Witness Vote?
If you would like me to vote for you as a witness, would you please follow this system here along with using tag jerrybanfield on the post because then I will be able to see it and vote for you when I read through the posts I see at https://steemit.com/trending/jerrybanfield and find your witness update? When you use a style of ask like I did with
Which Witness Votes Do The Most Good?
Ultimately I am looking for my witness votes to do the most good by voting for witnesses where my vote inspires adding value to the Steem blockchain. I hope you can help me with that because working together we can do better than individually.
To ask me for a witness vote while I already am voting for 30 witnesses, you will need to recommend a witness for me to remove. I would like to see this directly in the ask because you can do more research than me and if you expect me to remove the vote, you should be comfortable sharing why for anyone to see. You can recommend I remove a vote for any reason with the better the reasons, the more likely I will make the change. For example, when I am voting for a witness in the top 10, that vote is not helping that witness earn any greater reward. On a rank 200 witness, it would boost up to the top 100 and guarantee 1 or 2 blocks every day which would make a big difference. The top reason to ask me to remove a vote would be if one of the witnesses I am voting for disables.
I am grateful to those of us setting jerrybanfield as a proxy at https://steemdb.com/@jerrybanfield/proxied which has made my witness vote a big responsibility worth almost a million Steem power. To manage that, I would appreciate your help in guiding my choices as to who to vote for.
Sticking to 1 Specific Ask per Post!
This strategy could get ugly if used on five or ten voters generically in every post which is why I am limiting to one specific ask per update and only for voters I have some existing relationship with even if it is just me making tutorials for their website and/or giving/receiving upvotes. Active witnesses hustling for votes are likely to do one update a week which means 4 or 5 specific asks a month. Over time these should result in votes both from those asked AND from those just reading the post who appreciate the attempt. Picking the best person to ask in an update should work 10 times better than randomly picking users with a lot of Steem power. I picked
The Simple Solution for Voters!
Does all of this sound way too difficult? It absolutely is for most of us on Steem which is why the option is available to set a proxy to handle all votes. A proxy is another account that makes votes on our behalf automatically. Set a proxy once and forget it. A proxy can be removed or changed at any time.
The ideal solution for most of us on Steem is to choose a user we trust that participates fully in witness voting to make all our votes for us because then we do not have to think about it again and we are fully contributing depending on the proxy we choose. In communities this is ideal as the entire community can simply trust one user to make the votes and then discuss the votes periodically with that user.
The Korean community on Steem already does amazing with this where 
Set jerrybanfield as a Proxy?
If you would like me to handle all witness voting for you, would you please type in jerrybanfield as a proxy at https://steemit.com/~witnesses and then click set proxy because then you can feel good about participating fully in the witness voting process while eliminating the need to do anything else? Any any time you have full accountability for how I am picking my witness votes with the system I have explained here and are free to remove me as a proxy in favor of someone else or doing the votes yourself!
Thank you very much for reading this post which I hope has been helpful for making witness voting easier!
Love,
Jerry Banfield
