Interview on Newsletter Crew Discussing Blogging and My Experience with Newsletter Creation

Lessons from Blogging Guide newsletter

Hey everyone!

I recorded an interview several weeks back with a really cool podcast called Newsletter Crew, where I discussed blogging and newsletter creation.

The episode was just released today, and I wanted to share it with you all.

Even if you are not a newsletter creator, newsletters are an essential part of blogging, and I think many of you will find this interview useful.

Show Notes

• The funding a16z gave Substack makes them a company to be taken seriously with especially with larger publications.

• Newsletters have been around since the internet was been around, but Substack was able to create a platform where it had everything a publisher would need to be successful.

• Substack was able to combine WordPress (CRM) and any email marketing platform into one.

• Blogs are great to get surface area. You have access to SEO, longer-form writing, and generally more eyes on it. While a newsletter is great for building an audience.

• Even an archived newsletter probably won’t get as much SEO traffic as a blog.

• Blogs are mostly meant to be useful pieces of content. While newsletters tend to convey more of the personality of the creator.

• The medium is the message.

• There really is no definitive answer on when and what day is the best to post your newsletter.

• The real difficult part to establish is the date and time for a paid newsletter.

• Most of the top business newsletters (Stratechery, Sinocism, etc) send their newsletters out between 9 am-10 am, where most business professionals are at their inbox.

• Some newsletters see higher open rates and free-to-paid conversions around 6 pm. Each newsletter is unique and you should experiment with when to send your newsletter.

• Send more newsletters to the free subscribers. This will encourage more paid conversions.

• Deviating from your standard schedule might entice a higher open rate since subscribers could see this as something more actionable than the standard.

• To increase free-to-paid conversions on Substack, utilize the subscriber welcome page and point them to your best content.

• On Substack optimize the unfinished email subscription page. This is the email that free subscribers of Substacks get when they haven’t upgraded to a paid version. This should be your professional sales copy page.

• Provide your paid subscribers clear and demonstrable value with their subscription.

• Give away and include content upfront with a paid subscription. Show the value of the subscription. This will increase paid conversions guaranteed.

• Every paid subscriber’s expectations are different, so the safest way to provide value is to over-deliver.

• If less than 10% of your new subscribers are paid subscribers then you should focus on converting your list more.

• If over 10% of your new subscribers are paid subscribers then you should focus on more content.

Keep up the hardwork!

—Casey