Newbies...I get that you're excited and want to see your payouts get up there. But Please...

I'm sure everybody has met those super annoying attention seekers that metaphorically scream: LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!

Already you can see how bad that behavior is towards achieving their goal. In the case of new users on Steemit..it's getting people to vote for your posts, get GOOD followers and make friends. So I wanted to cover a few ways that some users are in all reality working against their own self interest. So please, if you're one of these people and reading this...don't take this as being offensive. I really am trying to help you!!

I've been in your shoes, fully remembering what it was like to be starting out, doing whatever I could to be seen. I remember checking the clock to see if two hours had elapsed so I could put my post's link into Steemit Chat's Post-Promotion channel again.

I'm telling you flat out...don't do these things mentioned below. In the long run, they only hurt you.

While I understood it before, over the last couple months I've begun to sympathize with whales even more because the amount somebody has to deal with these types of behaviors is directly proportional to the amount of held Steem Power.

Q: Why SHOULDN'T I leave a generic comment with a completely unrelated link to my post?

I'll tell you right now...after seeing hundreds (if not thousands) of people leave a comment with a link on one of my posts, I can tell that you've not even bothered to read it. Personally, I rarely (if ever) actually check the link as well as NEVER upvote the comment. To put it bluntly, it's rather rude.

The name of the game here is interaction. Say something that shows me you read my post. Hell, most people figure out quickly that posting cute things in a comment gets my attention and votes. Take some time to figure out who I am and I'll then reciprocate it and get to know you.

Simply screaming "LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME!" is not a good approach.

Q: Why you SHOULDN'T direct message random people in Steemit Chat to just give a link asking for a vote and/or follow?

First off, some of us haven't shut off the loud 'doorbell' sound that happens when a new room is entered, like getting a direct message for the first time. But much like above, there are better ways to go about getting my attention.

Strike up a conversation in the room first. Go ahead and ping me in there so I see..that's no problem. Again..the goal is to get to know each other...not just shove a little beggars cup in my face. I like to think I'm a nice person whose quite easy to get along with. Make use of that!

Q: Why you SHOULDN'T bother with follow for follows?

As we all know..the key metric on Steemit is getting votes on your posts so you earn a little money..right? So tell me...what good does it do you to have hundreds and hundreds of followers that DON'T EVEN LOOK AT YOUR POSTS, let alone VOTE on them?

IT DOESN'T!! You don't want followers...you want GOOD followers. Attract people that honestly care about you as a person and/or the content you put out. Focus on getting those that WANT to support your efforts. These are the people who go out of their way to look for your new content. These are the people who become more than a passing acquaintance.

If you focus less on making the money quickly, you'll end up with more money in the long run. I PROMISE YOU!! When you approach it this way you find the win/win scenarios.

Q: Why you shouldn't feel bad someone doesn't upvote EVERY one of your posts or respond to each comment.

Pretty much every person on here has limited time. Most of the more established users have some combination of a job, projects, family, etc that require balancing what little time they have available on here.

So rather than taking something personally as if you're being snubbed...remember we do what we can, but there are limits. Somebody gets left out each day. Right now in a 24 hour period there are about 10,000 posts being published. It's impossible for ANYBODY to be expected to keep up with that, let alone hundreds of comments.

Q: Why SHOULDN'T you compare yourself to posts on the trending page?

I can again say that I've been there. I had periods with the thoughts of "I'm trying so hard. Putting in so many hours. Why isn't this happening for me?" It hurts...it really does, especially when I compared my work to that on the trending page. I could go down the list at for some saying "I'm at least on par with this one...and way better than that one, etc." But at the time I just didn't understand.

In reality, it's not a good comparison. Either those people had gotten lucky having been in the right place at the right time (which I can't control) or, the more likely scenario...they put in the time and work refining their ability to create, find what the community wanted, market their work and network with users. Often those making the biggest payouts have contributed TONS behind the scenes which you had never seen.

All in all...it's just not relevant comparing yourself to things getting higher payouts. What you SHOULD focus on is finding what makes content creation worthwhile for YOU! Simply saying money doesn't cut it. Nobody starts a job without having some skills already in place. Find the benefit of becoming a better writer, artist, intellectual, musician, speaker...Find the benefits of interacting with one of (if not the) best communities of people on the vastness of the internet.

FIND THE BENEFIT OF BEING ON STEEMIT THIS EARLY!! In six months or a year, YOU will be the one's getting hit up for votes or follows! You can't rush success...you can only put yourself in slightly better and better situations for it to occur.

Remember that ALL of my guide posts are eligible to be added as entries to the Steem Center Wiki or Operation Translation.

Click here to find out how these can earn you Steem!!

Feel free to ask me anything. I'm here to Help!

I've had slow response times lately, but I try to get a response to every question.

Are you new to Steemit and Looking for Answers? - Try https://www.steemithelp.net.

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❓Answering Common Questions: How NOT to gain Meaningful Votes or Good Followers! 💩