Amateur to Ace: Going Pro on Substack
I joined Substack last September, started publishing Bren's Buzz 6 months ago, and grew my subscriber base to just over 100 - while working 2 day jobs and attempting to reconnect with my inner humanoid. I’m a bit frazzled, to say the least - staggering around tripping over online tools and busting shit up on Substack.
It’s time to tame the frazzled snarl kitten and go pro.
I can’t possibly be the only person who’s first foray into social media is Substack, or who doesn’t have a clue the difference between a whoozit and whatzit, can I? Just in case I’m not, I’ll share a couple stories about my metamorphosis along the way with deets about my transition and my before and after stats.
How I see Kristi Keller. Credit: Reddit
Before I go any further, I’d like to acknowledge
whose humor, sassy style, and Unstack Substack newsletter got me started on the right path. I had an amazing introductory session with her ‘digital assistant’ persona today, where she made it easy for me to begin my evolution from the grungy potting soil aisle at a 1970’s A&P store to an immaculate FAO Schwarz, full of sparkle and wonder. She gets * * * * * Highly recommend her talents in this arena. She also put her spin on the title of this post, thank you Kristi.With her help, I am focusing on 4 things.
Branding - Images, Hero Post, color scheme and photography
What’s the story - About the site (Welcome and Publication Introduction), about me (About page and testimonials)
Layout and Navigation - New layout, use of tags to organize and reorder posts, use of navigation bar to guide visitors
Community - Recommendations, both mine for others and others for me
The last area of focus, recommendations, is a sticky wicket. Being an analyst at heart (sometimes - Gemini, duh!) I’ve noticed that those who I recommend have gotten many subscriptions from my visitors. However, Bren’s Buzz is also recommended by several authors and I’ve only gotten a couple subscriptions from them. This led me to speculate about the quality of my home when they come in the door. Seeing it from their eyes, something is lacking.
I am not interested in standards, or how to get big on Substack, or whatnot. But I do want to grow a decent base at a reasonable pace and sometime soon turn on some paid activity. To do this, I want the people who visit my site to sit for a spell, have a coffee or bourbon, and lose track of time. All joking aside, subscribers are our lifeblood. So, over the next several weeks you will literally observe my visual transformation. I hope by also sharing stories of what I learn along the way, fellow travelers will have an easier journey.
I could relate hard to starting a substack while being extremely busy with other things. Has there ever been anyone who's been able to start something without restrictions? Either way, I'm happy for you and wish you all the best in going pro :)
@Kristi Keller you rock!!!