Hello and welcome to Steemit!
Take your time and look around on Steemit. Read what you're interested in and write comments: tell the people why you like a post or don't like it, ask questions. Votes are not worth a lot in the beginning but (as you can feel right now) reading comments to your post is great :) And read other Steemian's comments, too, and if they're interesting look what they have written.
Find your niche and take your time, don't look at the rewards as a measure of your work.
Thanks for the tips! I will definitely remember them as I start with Steemit. I definitely plan to comment and truly contribute to the conversations going on within Steem. As you kind of hit on, I also want to prioritize my contributions to conversation and discussion over any type of reward seeking!