I've been on this platform for a while now and I see new or even not so new steemit users make the same mistakes and I can't shake the impression that they feel lost and a bit overwhelmed.
So my dear newbies, these 5 practical rules are for you, in order to get going on this awesome platform as quickly as possible without getting into too many details.
#1.
First rule of steemit is to never, ever, ever, ever to the power of infinity, and under no circumstances ask for followers, resteems, upvotes or whatever favors. DO NOT do that, because it's considered extremely annoying and rude. I feel your desire to get attention but that is absolutely the worst way to get it. So unless you are already a close friend of certain person and you drop a casual "I wrote something interesting about x topic, you might want to check it out", do not try self promotion. Simply do not do it. "But Adrian" I hear you shout "how the heck do we get followers and attention and upvotes and ...". Don't worry I got you covered with the next simple rule.
#2.
Second rule of steemit is to try to find people who you have things in common and try to build authentic relationships. Don't spam random comments, that is another very bad idea. Try to say something engaging. For example: let's say you like traveling, try to find a few authors that you like who post stuff about traveling and write something interesting in the comment section, like: "I always wanted to go to x country, I really liked your tips about how to find accommodations there". Don't just say "nice post, thanks for sharing", it's almost as annoying as asking for followers and upvotes. I know English must be difficult for some of you but rather than saying something generic you could ask for clarification on something that you didn't understand in that person's post, and I'm sure you would get much more attention and support if you just ask for help with understanding this new environment than by spamming random stuff.
The beautiful part about building relationships on this platform is that people will come and check you stuff out in their own time and encourage you to keep at it. You just have to be patient.
#3.
Third rule: don't just blog about popular stuff, rather you should write posts about the things you enjoy doing or are passionate about, it's much better to be the only one in you niche than among tons of other people writing about the same things.
#4.
Fourth rule: be consistent and have a LOT of patience, if you want quick monetary gains this is not best place to find them. Rather you should work an your discipline and expectations. I know those are difficult things to improve but the benefits will be felt in all aspects of your life.
#5.
Fifth rule: this is maybe the most instantly rewarding of the five and that's why I left it for last, to reward people who actually read this far :P. You should use esteem app and the busy tag in your posts. If you write comments using the esteem app for mobile devices, their bots will upvote around a comment per day for the equivalent of about 30 cents, at least this is what I've experienced.
By using the busy tag in your posts you will get an upvote worth about 10 cents from their bot. ( Later edit: from what I've seen you only get this upvote if you publish from the busy.org site )
Those are the core things I've learned so far, I hope you can put them to good use. I'm curious to hear your feedback and suggestions. Now go out there and interact with other steemians :)
Take care,
Adrian