Word has it that Substack is the new blog host in town. After eighteen months of blogging consistently on WordPress and making strides here I am questioning myself,
“Is Substack where I should be as a writer?”
Please comment if you are on both platforms or have quit WordPress all together. I would love to hear how you transitioned or if you use both to complement one another.
Both platforms function differently and each offers value.
“How can I use both, Substack and WordPress, without bombarding my subscribers with excess emails and redundancy?”
The Blog
WordPress is a popular blogging platform for it’s SEO capabilities.
WordPress is for not just the writer who enjoys crafting a story, but creating aesthetically pleasing posts.
When it is important to get your message out SEO technology will crawl the published post looking for fresh content, quality content, on-page optimization, click-through rates, user experience and readability. If done successfully Google will list blogs rank higher.
For this reason alone WordPress is for me! The grow-together blog
The Newsletter
Substack is known for publishing newsletters and I’m not talking your grandma’s newsletter.
Substack is used to monetize and build a subscriber list.
The post section on Substack allows me to create and publish my newsletter and a short-form blog for my subscribers.
Growing up my mother was an organizer and created newsletters to keep those in her organizations informed. Many Stackers create newsletters in the form of a blog post. My intent for publishing a post on Substack is to write a monthly newsletter to wrap up the previous 4-6 weeks of blogging as a summary and introduce what’s in the pipeline.
Although both Substack and WordPress offer an option to monetize my intent is to build a subscriber list, free of charge. The subscriber list is a marketing tool which is used for writers who want to eventually monetize off their books. I am building that list on my WordPress and am conflicted about sharing to Substack to get my newsletter out. My messaging is clear that after subscribing, emails from both WordPress and Substack will land in the subscribers in box. And, there are capabilities to share between the two.
If I have a surge of creative literary energy and looking to entertain my subscribers with an impromptu email Substack posts is a good tool to use. This allows subscribers and followers to view the content. But if I choose to share my blog post on Substack notes will do so without emailing to my subscribers.
The Notes Feature
Substack offers a notes feature for short-form blogging.
Both offer communities to network with literary friends, but Substack offers more interaction, somewhat more intimate.
There is a wealth of information on both platforms, but Substack is where most writers hang.
Substack has a feature similar to Threads or Twitter, which is a great way to engage with the Stacker community. By sharing, recognizing other Stackers, and commenting I should be able to find my community.
Writing doesn’t have to be a solitary journey. Networking with other writers on both WordPress and Substack is a great way to learn and build relationships.
My Intent for Sharing Hot Off the (Word)Press
I have been struggling with not bombarding my subscribers with meaningless emails. Time to me is valuable and when my inbox is being inundated with emails from bloggers I am turned off.
It takes intention to follow someone’s journey and I appreciate all of my subscribers. My blogging is filled with intention.
Thank you for your patronage. I promise I won’t disappoint!