So, you’re new and you’re here, but how do we know?

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It’s not always easy for newcomers to get noticed and succeed. However, there are some things that you can do as a newcomer to help the rest of the community find you.

Face it, unless people can find your posts, they won’t upvote it. If nobody upvotes it, you won’t make anything off of it. At least part of the reason that new users join steemit is to try to earn something for your time and effort, and I’m here to help.

NO GUARANTEES – NO PROMISES

Just like steemit.com itself, I cannot offer you a guarantee or a promise. What steemit offers you is OPPORTUNITY. What I will offer is INSIGHT and ADVICE.

I cannot guarantee that following my advice will give you the results that you are looking for, but it should help you. Let’s start at the beginning.

First off, when you join I’d recommend doing an “introduceyourself” post. Include at least one image per post, though it doesn’t have to be an image of you. Let us know, at least to some degree, who you are, why you are here, and what some of your interests are. Let us taste a little bit of your “flavor.”

When people reply to your intro post, respond to those replies. If they complement you, say thank you. If they ask you a question, respond to it. Then, click on their name. Follow them so their posts show up in your feed. Go to their blog page check out some of their posts. If you like what you see, upvote it and most importantly, LEAVE A COMMENT.

WHY COMMENTS ARE IMPORTANT

Comments are important, because otherwise it is hard for others to know that you exist. With you low level of Steem Power as a newcomer, your votes won’t really influence the payouts and only the top 20 upvoters are displayed when people look at who voted on their posts. This means that anytime someone gets at least 21 upvotes, your name will not be appearing on that list.

It is not that your vote does not matter, it is just that it will be hard to find and most people will NEVER KNOW that you stopped by. This is why you need to comment. Right there, at the end of their post, people will have evidence that YOU stopped by. If your comment is genuine and valid, it can spark an interest in the author to find out who you are.

If you like a certain tag, like “photography”, go over there and comment on the photo posts. When you respond to the photo posts of other steemians, there is a better chance that they will choose to look at your photography posts. By doing this, you can make friends, get upvotes, and gain a following.

HOW NOT TO COMMENT

Time and time again I have seen users attempt to comment on posts. I say “attempt” because although they certainly left a reply, the reply is incapable of having the desired effect. When a new user heads to EVERY POST on the trending page and leaves a comment stating “Nice Post!” it winds up looking really lame. When they are spaced out at about every 30 seconds, we know that this user obviously is not reading these posts, they are just commenting to try to draw attention to themselves.

Trust me, it is VERY GOOD to use comments to draw attention to yourself through comments, but YOU want POSITIVE attention. When you are new and have 10 followers and make one post per day, it will be very hard for anyone to ever find you. But, if people can see your name thoughtfully commenting on posts, then people will know that you are here.

ENTER THE @SANDSTORM

I’ll use an example here, because it fits very well. The example that I will use is @sandstorm. I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this steemian, but @sandstorm is a new user. This account was not created until April. (It is April now). Interestingly enough, I heard of @sandstorm long before I ever saw a comment or a post from them. OTHER STEEMIANS were mentioning @sandstorm. This is because @sandstorm in a commenter. In just over 20 days, they have already made over 1500 posts and comments. The actual posts have only been 13 of these, which means that the rest of over 1500 were comments. Think about that!

Now this post is the almost the 15,000th post from @papa-pepper, so I know a bit about commenting. It takes time. Did you know that the 5th post from @sandstorm was celebrating their 100 Followers Milestone? Yes, after only 4 posts @sandstorm had gained over 100 followers. Also, only 2 posts from @sandstorm have EVER made less than $1.00 in payouts. The other 11 have ALL made over $1.00.

I know that such data may not seem incredibly amazing, but it is. In fact, many of you may be a little envious of the amount of “success” that @sandstorm has had. However, if you just follow the excellent example that @sandstorm has set, you may be able to accomplish the same thing.

I know that this may seem like a publicity plug for @sandstorm, but, interestingly enough, until earlier today when I asked permission to use @sandstorm as an example and was replying to some recent comments on my posts, I had never really interacted much with @sandstorm. I just checked, and noticed that @papa-pepper has NEVER even voted on a post from @sandstorm. This is not a friend or acquaintance of mine, just an excellent example of how to go “FULL STEEM AHEAD.” (I’ll be sending over some upvotes now though as encouragement and thanks though!)

HOW THE 7 DAY PAYOUT PERIOD HELPS NEW USERS

Here is a scenario. You spent 3 hours making an incredible post yesterday. So far, it has made you $0.05 and you’ve got 6 upvotes, 1 view and no comments. You are both discouraged and disappointed. Today you were about to make another post, but, you think that you may be wasting your time. You believe in the potential of steemit and in the quality and originality of your content, but you only have an hour available. Should you try to make that post and perhaps let is fall through the cracks like your last one, or should you do something else?

Here is my advice. Why not take that hour and check out some other posts from other users. Let’s say that your last post was a “food” post. Why not head over to that tag and see what catches your eye. Check out some posts and make some comments. Hand out a few upvotes and try to encourage and compliment others on their work. If you’ve got the time, so it again tomorrow, and the next day.

Now, your old post from the other day still has time to reach its payout. All of your interacting and commenting could potentially get you some more voted on that last post. Maybe your number of followers will even increase. The next time you make a post, it will show up in the feed of more users. This will give you more opportunity to “succeed!”

COMMENTING – IT IS AN INVESTMENT!

Grab that bullhorn and shout your name all over steemit. With each comment and reply comes your avatar and username. We can’t find you if we don’t look where you are hiding, so if you are hiding EVERYWHERE YOU WILL BE FOUND!

Invest your time in setting yourself up for success. Make quality posts, but ALSO make quality comments! Combined, these can help lead to your future success. Remember, if you give up, I promise that you will not succeed. However, if you do not give up, there is a possibility that you will succeed. Give yourself that possibility!

LET YOUR PRESENCE BE KNOWN!!! STEEM ON!

Hopefully this has been insightful and helpful for you. I’ve posted a lot of helpful information in the past, and many of those posts are linked in the post below. If you are looking for insight and advice, please follow the link and check them out. Hopefully, it’ll help!

https://steemit.com/steem-help/@papa-pepper/some-of-my-most-helpful-posts-ever-my-gift-to-you-the-official-1200-follower-post-from-papa-pepper

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”Invest Your Time Wisely - steemit.com”

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