Hey, you! New to Steemit!? Here is a very basic, oh-so-beginner guide to get you off on the right foot! I've invited some of my friends onto Steemit and wanted to create a series of guides, tips, and tricks to get them past the trials and tribulations of being a minnow (a new user on Steemit, one with low Steem Power but great potential).

___ ## What is Steemit? Steemit.com is a blockchain based social network. Your data (posts, comments, account) is stored on the Steem Blockchain which makes your data live on forever. It also means you will be able to interact with the Steem Blockchain through not only Steemit.com but any website that wants to build off of the same blockchain. The blockchain itself is decentralized while Steemit.com is like the current flagship product people use. For most people Steemit.com is how you will interact with the Steem Blockchain but as time goes on more apps and websites will be developed so you will have lots of options to find what suits you best. Don't like the search on Steemit.com? More people developing Steem based sites will give you plenty of alternatives. You are just still in the early days of the Steem revolution! **TL;DR: Steemit.com is a social network where you have more freedom to post on a variety of topics but also can be rewarded through posting, commenting, and interacting with the community.**

_{[source](https://steem.io/)} # Benefits of Steemit ## Engaging Community Steemit's community is more likely to comment, reply, and interact with your blog posts. There is an incentive in the way we upvote each other that keeps us interacting. ## Less Ads I don't see this mentioned a lot but Steemit.com is a lot more ad-free than most other social networks which is refreshing. ## First Mover Advantage You are early to the game. Steemit is only a year old with only 250,000 users. Get a great username today and start creating an audience. Who knows where this will take you next year! ## Earn Money A lot of people downplay this aspect but what draws a lot of people to Steemit is the ability to blog and earn money. Whats amazing is you can build a following and receive upvotes that pay you for your post! **The key is creating original content**, interacting with followers/commentators, and engaging with the community. Doing this consistently will bring you a most rewarding experience, just dont let being a new user discourage you!

>"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." - Lao Tzu
# Getting Started - Your First Day ## Fill out Your Profile >Click your profile picture in the top right and select Settings. You definitely need a profile image! You can also fill in a Display Name, About, Location, and even include a link to your website or personal webpage (twitter, etc). This is important because a lot of users are wary of new users! They dont know what your motivations are or if you are genuinely interested in being a great member of Steemit. So filling out that profile is important first step! ## Get Used to Navigating You can click on the Steemit logo (top left) to go to your Feed. Here is where posts from people you follow will be displayed. On the right is a list of tags you can click on to see people posting in various tags. Its important to tag your blog posts with appropriate tags so people can better find you! ## Test out Upvoting and Commenting Find a new article you like an test out commenting and upvoting (see the count of upvotes go up as well as the author's payout!). ## Time to Create Your First Blog Post! When you're ready to create your first post, go for it! It can be about anything or it can even be a post where you introduce yourself to the community. You can share what brought you to Steemit and what you'd like to accomplish. If its an introduction post, make sure to include the tags: introduce, introducemyself, introduceyourself. ## Learning Curve If Steemit is brand new to you, it can take some time to figure out the ins and outs but the journey can be well worth it. I'll be posting tips, tricks, guides, and secrets so be sure to follow along. :) >If you have any comments, questions, or feedback please let me know below! >Thanks for reading!