#The Steem Ecosystem and the new user- @yourhelper perspective ![enter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/uuiwW5L.jpg) *have you followed @yourhelper?* ## The Steem Blockchain in a Simple Perspective Steem is a cryptocurrency that can be spent as real money. It runs on a blockchain and is mined by simply publishing articles and getting it liked/upvoted by readers. Those who upvoted are in turn rewarded for reading and upvoting as curators. This makes the concept of publishing articles on steem blockchain a win win scenario for both authors and readers. ## Steem, Steemit and the New User When you first join steemit, it may appear a bit cumbersome first especially if you have not had anything to do with cryptocurrency before. Just relax. It is not as difficult as you think. [Steemit](steemit.com) is a platform designed to showcase the potential of the steem blockchain. There are other platforms that are also running on steem blockchain, eg [Dtube](dtube.video), [Busy](busy.org), [Chainbb](chainbb.com). Dtube is like youtube running on steem. Busy is like steemit but with some other additional features such as chat messenger. Chainbb is like a forum on steem. [Utopian](utopian.io) is like github for developers on steem blockchain. With time, you may need to interact with these platforms to better understand the power of the steem ecosystem. ![enter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/mKB5Vdx.png) *the steem blockchain is huge!* - **Signing up on steemit** When you sign up for steem on steemit, you are sent a password which is like your bank account pin/password. It is a long chain of letters and numbers. You must not lose this for any reason or you would have lost access to your account forever. Write it down on paper. Back it up on flash drive or any other place it will be safe. Do not disclose this to anyone or you would have compromised your account. In the sign up, you are required to provide your email address and username. These are important. Your password will be sent to your email address and you will use it with your username to login to your account. ![eSteemit watersnter image description here](https://i.imgur.com/wfqQWsn.jpg) *navigating the steemit waters aint that difficult* - **Writing your first post** Now that you have your password which is actually your private key, login with your username and the password to make your first post. I recommend you first introduce yourself to the steemit community. Self introduction is important as it tells people in the community about who you are and what you are likely to bring into the community. Your introduction should capture your area(s) of interest. This could mean the area(s) you intend to concentrate in your blogging. It also may show topic area(s) that interests you. All these may sound simple but they are important in getting you up in the right direction. People who have related interest are more likely to follow you if you make it clear from the beginning about where you are headed. It is also recommended that you use "introduceyourself" tag in your introduction post. Curators will find you easily when you use the right tag. Writing a steemit post requires some level of dexterity to excel. Using the right tag is one of them and it is very important that you do this. It will make your post to show up at the right place where the right people will see it. Choosing a good and interesting topic to write about also gets you good followers. Remember that you need good followership to do well as a steemit blogger. Your followers see when you publish articles first and they are likely to upvote your posts first before other random people discover it. Your followers can also resteem your publications and make it go viral. Handle your followers well in other to retain them. ## Simple Mistakes to Avoid in Steemit To have a hitch-free journey as a steemit blogger, there are some simple mistakes you must avoid. - Do not go around begging for followership and or upvote. The benefit is very short-lived and it is likely going to lead to frustration in the near future. Grow organically!!! - Don't use a wrong tag. If your article is about politics, do not use tags like "steem blockchain" etc. Wrong tags can get you a flag. Flagging is like a negative upvote (Downvote). You do not need this at all. - Do not go on churning out articles in numbers with little value just to make more money. Over time, you are likely to weary your followers with worthless articles. This will reduce their interest in your writings with time. - Do not only write articles, find time to curate too. Make out time to read your followers' articles and curate them. Remember the saying, "what is good for the geese is good for the gander." ![helper.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmcjMCYKkaCkfGuAPCnydQGscP8GPk12zNSF6YUr9V6gLE/helper.jpg) *I am here to helpe!* ## About @yourhelper @yourhelper is a project born out of the desire to guide new people in steemit into a successful steemit journey. We discovered that a lot of people find it quite complex initially when they arrive here. This project was designed to assist such people understand the basics of steemit and how to navigate the steemit waters to success. @yourhelper has been very successful in the pursuit of this goal. A lot of newbies (Redfishes, Minnows, etc) have benefited from the @yourhelper project. Many are now also helping new people to stand on arrival on steemit. Finally, @yourhelper objective also included scounting for well written articles by newbies which did not have the write exposure. @yourhelper helped to give such article the needed exposure through upvotes. As expected this in particular drew many newbies who were yearning for upvote to @yourhelper. But this was not the main objective of the project and thus was stopped for a while to avoid abuse. It is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him fish. @yourhelper concentrated on educating newbies more instead of just upvoting their post. I know a lot of newbies who started their blogging career on steemit with the assistance of @yourhelper who are now big fishes in the steemit waters. This on its own is an evidence of the success of this project and we are not relenting. The journey just started. I will like to hear from our old minnows who are now big fishes in steemit. Follow @yourhelper for more updates and amazing articles that will make your steemit journey a rewarding venture. Resteem and upvote. ![yourhelpergif.gif](https://steemitimages.com/DQmWNK2zha1wqSbpquDcHPnaetmqVSorGpK3bvCh4DsoLiH/yourhelpergif.gif)