NEW TO STEEMIT? BEFORE YOU PUBLISH ANY OTHER POST, PLEASE READ THIS!!!

I see a lot of new users join Steemit everyday.
What they have probably been told is that Steemit is a platform where you can blog and make money.
While this is not entirely incorrect, I would like to point out a few things that will save you a lot of hard time.

Steemit doesn't pay you for just publishing any kind of post. The platform works by having the crowd reward the crowd for their valuable content.
What this means is that if you publish a post, and the crowd doesn't see any value in your content, you will not earn anything from it or get rewarded.

But is this always the case?
Is it all about posting valuable content?
Why do people post great content and still not get rewarded or earn very little reward?
The reason could be any of the following:

1. You're new and have a very low reputation score.
Every new user starts with a reputation score of 25.
Your reputation score increases as you continue to add value to the community, engage with other people's posts in form of constructive comments and upvotes, etc.
Your reputation score can equally reduce if you're found to contribute any trashy content or copy other people's work without citing the sources.

For instance, when I newly joined Steemit and didn't know the rules of the game, I used to post the same content I published on my blog without citing the source.
Even though the contents were mine, for the fact that I didn't cite my blog as source, the Steemit content bots flagged me for plagiarism and I saw my reputation dropping.
It was painful but I just had to learn my lessons.
You need to be wise and learn from my mistakes.

2. You are new and you probably have zero STEEM Power.
For the purpose of clarity, STEEM Power is a measurement of how much influence you have in the Steem network.
What this means is that a user that holds more Steem Power will earn more for his posts and comments because the Steem Power he has will influence the value of posts and comments and translate to more rewards.

As a newbie, you will need old users with high Steem Powers to upvote you in order for your content to earn much reward.

3. You are new and most people don't even know you.
People favour people they know would return back the favour.
When a user upvotes you, he/she is doing it with the faith that you'll upvote him back.
Therefore, you would need to build personal relationships with other users to be able to get good amount of upvotes.

Here is what you need to do: comment on people's post, follow people and ask them to follow you too (don't directly beg for upvotes or followership in your posts and comments else you'll be flagged for spam), join Facebook/WhatsApp/Telegram/Discord groups that are exclusively for Steemit users and network there.
Share your blog posts or the links to your posts on other social media platforms.
Resteem good quality posts and add valuable content regularly.

Take time to build relationship with other users because the better relationship you have with the crowd, the better your chances of getting higher rewards.

Don't ever give up even if your progress is slow.
Consistency is going to pay off in the long run.
And you'll notice significant progress in your earning capacity.

If you find this post helpful, please resteem and stay in touch @maicodon