I am giving a brief intro to Steemit at the Austin Steemit Meetup today so I decided to use this post instead of a powerpoint so I can also do a quick live demonstration of the platform.

There are 3 keys to succeed on Steemit. Anyone who does these 3 things can earn STEEM. For many, this has already been a life changing experience. I'll sum it up in 3 words:

Quality, Consistency, and Communication.

1. Quality

The main goal here is to add value to the platform. This can be done as an investor, a developer, a curator, a content creator, or all of them at the same time. Most people do a mixture, but I am going to focus on what I consider to be the main path to success - CONTENT CREATION!

Blogging is the new mining.

The goal here is to make valuable content. It is often educational or informative content in the form of text with visual content including video that enhances or delivers the message but it can also be content that is purely for entertainment or discussion. It can take many different forms including: news articles, trading tips, how-to tutorials, stories, and much more!

There is a reward pool that pays out to content creators and curators every day. Depending on the upvotes received and the stake behind those upvotes(or downvotes) Steem Power and Steem Backed Dollars(SBD) are distributed as rewards.

Earning With STEEM

Over time, as more content creators come on to Steemit, competition will continue to increase. Now is an awesome time to be on the platform as many new DApps are live and being actively developed. There is still a great deal of opportunity and room for growth as communities and SMTs are rolled out. I think 2018 is going to be a huge year as the price should reflect all these developments.

I think the masses are coming and now is not only the time to add value and earn STEEM but now is the time to earn full STEEMs. Personally, I am still hodling because that has been by far the most profitable strategy for me with cryptocurrencies, I consider each STEEM I earn to be worth at least $100 because I'm not cashing out any time soon. This is not trading advice, just my opinion and personal strategy.

Subjective

What is valuable differs from one person to the next. One man's trash is another mans treasure, as they say, so you're not going to please everyone with your content; you wouldn't even want to try to do that. I have learned over time to stick to things that I actually care about and that have value for me and what I feel can add to the conversation on Steemit.

Objective

There are some fairly objective standards as to what constitutes quality content. Good formatting is essential for providing content that is easy on the eye and quickly digestible for those that wan't to skim it quickly and throw it an upvote.

Formatting

Good formatting includes properly using plenty of paragraphs, headings, bolds, and italics to avoid a sea of text. The organization should make the article easy to navigate and pleasing to look at.

images

Images should be original or free to use or credit must be given to the source. I avoid complications by using free images from sites like pixabay.com. You can also use free images and editing software to make new visual creations specific to your article. I prefer to use my own original photos or graphics and/or free images that don't have copyright protection.

a simple graphic I made by finding a free image and editing it on pixlr.com/editor/

If you use the the 3 keys of Quality, Consistency, and Communication; you will see 3 account metrics directly affected. As you plug away at making good Posts, you will see your Steem Power and Reputation go up in accordance with the upvotes that you receive.

2. Consistency

Consistency can not be emphasized enough. The only reason it is number 2 is because you have to know what to be consistent about. I have even seen people focus more on consistency than quality and do really well just from the shear volume of their posts.

However, if you look at the content creators who have earned the most STEEM over time, you will see that they have consistently provided quality content.

I have noticed many examples of consistency leading to success. Here are just a few examples that come to mind:
@papa-pepper
@aggroed
@kingscrown
@ash
@ackza
@whatsup

Consistency also relates to the third key - communication. I've also noticed that successful steemians like the ones mentioned are also often consistent in their active communication with Steemians on the platform.

3. Communication

When I first started posting on steemit, I was mainly just interacting through comments on posts. That was cool, but when I got on Steemit.Chat and Discord it took things to the next level.

Once I started meeting people in different channels like SteemSpeak, V.O.T.U., SteemTrail and now The Steem Experience my network and account grew quicker than ever before!

The Steem Experience

Discord has been like a personal help line for navigating the Steeemiverse for me, so I have invited other helpful Steemians together to collaborate, communicate, and be entertained. Pleasee join us on The Steem Experience(Discord channel) to learn more about succeeding on Steemit.

Update: @ajaxalot has made post about the meetup with a video that includes my presentation along with all the other presenters including @instructor2121, @ajaxalot, @steemcafe and the surprise @ned @sneak @pkattera question session!: https://steemit.com/dlive/@ajaxalot/austin-steemit-meetup-recording-check-out-the-raw-footage-and-impromptu-q-and-a-with-surprise-guests-ned-sneak-and-pkattera