Most people joining steemit might think the first thing the got to do is make a lot of money. Yes some individuals might get lucky and hit it off the first time, but if no one follows you from your lucky post it might be harder to repeat your success.
Up votes are important as well, not for their monetary value, but what they do to add to your reputation. You do not want to have a bad reputation because your articles post or blogs and get any attention because people might think you are a bot. It is important to also to reply to your audience. It makes them feel important and forms a connection and relationship with them.
With the following comes more consistency with up votes and payouts per blog post. What most people don't realize though is something goes viral not because a lot of people may share it but it only takes one person to share it a lot. If you have more people following you there might be a chance that they also recommend your blog to others. It is a very complex, but very beautiful side of networking.
The beautiful thing about steemit is everyone sees everyone's post and it's not just friends like with Facebook who can see a person's post. Every day you post you expose yourself to new people who might find an interest in what you have to say.
That's the problem I found with other social media sites, I wanted to find an outlet where I can share ideas, my art, photography, with others without having to annoy them with the link to another website. With Facebook I felt like I would be annoying people by sharing certain things because it might not be mainstream information. And for the most part things I would have shared would have stood within the same circle of friends and not reach much further than that.
Here on you steemit for the most part seems like a very open minded community who are interested in much of the things that I am interested in such as gardening, permaculture,technology, crypto currency, art, space, and a list of many other things.
So yes the money aspect of it is very cool, but it might not be the most important part. If you can build a strong following of people your steemit experience will be out of this world. Another thing to remember is your following can have the potential grow exponentially just as steemit does. No guarantees though as with anything it will take work.
Remember it may not be easy at first but as long as you keep it positive mind and try to post every day it will get easier and easier over time. Keep on steeming!