Hello, fellow Steemians. Today I will share with you the secret to my little success here on Steemit (at least to my eyes). I have been on this platform now for a month (and a couple of days) and 900+ of you has been kind enough to follow me on my journey here. First, I would like to say that this platform is simply amazing! 

 ![OverlookingManarola.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515334523/xjrqljvf4l1ck8ht6uze.jpg)

The community as a whole seems greatly involved. Whether you are here for investment purposes or simply consuming content, you are going to be making money. Just a click of an upvote button and voila! You get rewards! 

It makes spending time over on Facebook and Instagram feel like a waste of time. Steemit is the future and the future is now!

Some of you might already have visited or read my content from my small but growing Travel Blog, Always Wanderlust (https://www.alwayswanderlust.com). I simply write and produce content born out of my passion for photography and writing - making next to nothing in return for my time and investment. 

Now here on Steemit that has completely changed. I am rewarded for producing content! Now there is even more motivation to kick it up a notch!

![_DSC1419-copy.jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515334674/xribmqwxf8ruobpqjtij.jpg)

Since I myself am a newb, I have made lots of mistakes, had a few successes, learned from it, and will now share it with new Steemians just joining the platform.

<h2>23 Tips For Hitting the Ground Running on Steemit</h2>
<b>1. Invest in Steem –</b> I realize that not everyone has the capital to invest in the platform, but if you do, put down your own money and convert it to Steem Power ASAP. This platform is poised to explode and attract more people. Investing also gives you more advantage on this platform with the power of your votes! I personally have been putting down my own money because I believe in the platform and you should too.

<b>2. Do not beg for upvotes or do a follow for follow – </b> What works on other social media does not work here. Besides, it's simply annoying. You will notice that I never ask for your votes, you should not either. You will never get anywhere spamming here on Steemit.

<b>3. Join PAL (MinnowBOOSTER https://discord.gg/k7fWQD7) on discord channel – </b> Discord is a chat app you can download or use within a browser. The PAL channel is a good place to network with established and new Steemians. There is an upvote section where you can get free upvotes from their bots every 12 hours. Just type $upvote (and the link to your post here).

<b>4. Use @Originalworks– </b> When you post a new article reply to it yourself with @Originalworks. You will get an automatic upvote from the account.

<b>5. Use 50/50 Split Rewards instead of Power Up –</b> This is the best ROI as of now. Setting it to Power Up is dumb. I made this mistake by accident on three of my posts – I have missed on SBD rewards. Maybe they will change this system on the next hard fork but for now, you’re going to lose money if you Power Up.

<b>6. Be genuine – </b> Please read the article and know what you are talking about before replying to posts. Do not spam with follow me or check out my stuff or anything of the like. At least give a coherent response to let the author know you actually read his/her content. Just commenting for the sake of commenting to get rewards is annoying.

<b>7. ReSteem your posts with ReSteemit – </b> This is another free service meant to help planktons and minnows. Simply change/replace the https:// with “re” and press enter. For example https://steemit.com/travel/@adonisabril/exploring-the-town-under-the-castle-on-the-rock to resteemit.com/travel/@adonisabril/exploring-the-town-under-the-castle-on-the-rock

<b>8. Join Qurator -</b> @qurator is a quality content curator in the Steemit community. For a small registration fee, you will get one daily upvote from them worth more than your registration fee!

<b>9. Publish your Steemit Account on other social media – </b> I was flagged by the @steemcleaners account and lost out on rewards (as well as my upvoters) because I did not do this. While I disagree with what they did, I believe such a service is necessary for curbing plagiarism and spam on the platform. Check out my Twitter account to see what I'm talking about -  https://twitter.com/WanderlustAV (links back to my Steemit profile).

<b>10. Use Upvote Bots – </b> The voting for yourself and buying votes from bots rather threw me off when I first joined Steemit. However, it is unavoidable if you want to progress on the platform. Whatever your stance is on the matter there is no denying this is your only (at least for me) path to the Trending page. I have noticed that whales are too busy voting for themselves and exchanging votes between each other - there is virtually almost no way, you as a minnow can get up there. There are exceptions but it is not the norm.

<b>11. Join other communities on Discord and SteemitChat – </b> A lot of networking occurs outside a Steemit. If you are just starting out it is good to join other communities to get you on the ground running. The most useful ones when you're just starting out: Utopian.IO, SteemTrail, Qurator, and  Steemit Bloggers.
<b>Here are a few more: </b>
*World Of Photography https://discord.gg/4Ezx2eM
SteemSports https://discord.gg/ApvKKUF
WhaleShares https://discord.gg/DX7zErC
Steem Gigs https://discord.gg/NuFVxKA
SteemTrail https://discord.gg/gHt2aGN
Minnow-Power channel https://discord.gg/WvFQzXu notify
Steemit Lover https://discord.gg/EVKhssF
GuideSteemit https://discord.gg/nkwh36Y
BuildAWhale https://discord.gg/yebax27
Steemit ramble https://discord.gg/9pUSjv8
VotoVZLA https://discord.gg/VhgeFJQ
Steem Life https://discord.gg/SD3ReMm
SteemLab https://discord.gg/phWQveU
MinnowsUnite https://discord.gg/CJEEfgb
Steemians https://discord.gg/uR95R7t
Society for Narwhal https://discord.gg/repxc9v*

<b>12. Produce good content – </b> This is obvious but one that needs mention. Whether you are a good writer, photographer, or videographer, make sure you put your best foot forward. More good content is what this platform needs. I do photography and travel writing, so you will see many picture posts and stories about travel from me. You might be good at something else and whatever that is, I am sure you can contribute to the community. Plagiarism, while could be a talent, is not tolerated so do not do it.

<b>13. Participate in photo contests like @photocontests by @Juliank – </b> Best free way to get free rewards and exposure, which in turn get you more followers.

<b>14. Join [**Steem Follower**](https://steemfollower.com/?r=7137) –</b> It’s free to join. It is a voting exchange platform. You get the same votes per each upvote you give on the platform. An easy way to get bigger rewards (you get author rewards instead of curation).

<b>15. Join [**Steem Engine**](https://steemengine.net/join?r=229) – </b>Want more followers? Join Steem Engine. It is also a voting exchange service like the one above but with the addition of followers.

<b>16. Post at least 4 times a day – </b> It might seem like much but when you are just starting out, you have a lot of catching up to do. It also returns the most rewards for self-voting - <b>self-voting seems to be the norm here and widely tolerated.</b> The jury is still out on the morality of self-voting but: "Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore. You got tornadoed to the Steemit universe." If you happen to have good photos, jokes, stories, etc., Post them about 4 hours apart during the day. Keep an eye on your voting power though.

<b>17. Vote at least 10x a day –</b> Go read and consume other Steemians content and vote accordingly. Voting gives you curation rewards and shows that you are involved in the community. Again, it is good if you invest in some SP (Steem Power). Once you get past 500 SP, you can control your vote’s percentage.

<b>18. Keep an eye on your voting power at https://steemnow.com – </b> Do not just vote blindly hoping to rake in curation rewards. Make your vote count. The less voting power you have the fewer rewards.

<b>19. Post on Busy.org –</b> Busy will give you an automatic upvote (when you use the tag "busy" and post on busy.org) proportional to your followers so it behooves you to follow this guide and build your following. 

<b>20. Follow other Steemians – </b> Do not stand on a pedestal thinking everyone owes you something. This is a community and not made for solo acts. Do not SPAM with the follow for follow tactic.

<b>21. Check out for grammatical errors – </b> Nothing says bad content like bad grammar. I use a tool called Grammarly (https://app.grammarly.com) – it has an extension for chrome. It detects grammatical errors on the Steemit or Busy editor; in fact, it detects all grammatical errors in anything you write within the Chrome browser (Facebook, email, etc.). A must-have in any writer’s arsenal!

<b>22.	Format Your Posts –</b> Spend some time making your posts visually readable. Learn a few Markdown Styles (https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/). You want your readers to be glued to their screens reading your posts.

<b>23.	Be patient –</b> It takes time to grow an audience. I have some experience growing an audience travel blogging for nearly 2 years and it is the same here; it is going to take time. Do not treat the platform as a get rich quick scheme.

![NIK_7386 (1).jpg](https://res.cloudinary.com/hpiynhbhq/image/upload/v1515334592/fy2stomysxxtdhuryljp.jpg)
*I was just thinking about redesigning my motorcycle :)*

If you're confused about bots and how to use them, check out this guide from @earthnation -  https://steemit.com/earthnation/@earthnation/introducing-a-simple-tutorial-for-earning-a-significant-income-on-steemit-the-steemit-minnows-guide-to-becoming-a-dolphin

There you go. These are my tips on how to hit the ground running on Steemit.

<h2>Do you have any tips on how to succeed on Steemit? Discuss below.</h2>

![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmaDAr38hQJhET75FKE74AmjBK56CwnWCtT8X3CdDxiDxY/image.png)
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<h3>GET UP TO 2X YOUR VOTE VALUE >>  [**Steem Follower**](https://steemfollower.com/?r=7137) <<<br />
GET MORE FOLLOWERS >>  [**Steem Engine**](https://steemengine.net/join?r=229) <<</h3>

>"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

> [**AlwaysWanderlust.com**](https://www.alwayswanderlust.com)

<b>All photos are taken and articles are written by yours truly unless otherwise stated.</b>

Twitter Page, [AlwaysWanderlust](https://twitter.com/WanderlustAV)
Facebook Page, [AlwaysWanderlust](https://www.facebook.com/AlwaysWanderlust/)
Instagram Page, [AlwaysWanderlust](https://www.instagram.com/wanderlustav/) 

© 2017 AlwaysWanderlust.com All Rights Reserved        

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