5 simple steps to grow your newsletter
Growth tips that don't require too much time or effort!
Today I’m sharing five quick tips you can implement to help grow your newsletter. I did all of this when growing the Freelance Writing Network, so I can attest to the fact they really do work.
Be consistent
You don’t have to post at the same time every single week with this, but be consistent with your publishing. When starting a newsletter, it’s easy to expect to grow lots of interested subscribers straight away. I mean, there must be lots of people interested in your topic, right? So why wouldn’t they want to read your work?
Consistency is so incredibly important, and shows you’re a trustworthy creator over time. It can take time for new people to trust you enough to subscribe, and longer too for your current subscribers to actually read what you’re writing. I recently did some analysis on my subscribers and found that a number of them didn’t start as active readers but became them over time as they received emails consistently.
I didn’t do anything fancy to engage with them. I ran my normal newsletters each week and allowed them to see that I was publishing consistently. If they can see the consistency, it’s easier for them to engage with the content because they know what to expect each week.
To begin with, I would probably aim to publish around once a week. It could be more than that, but keep it to something you know you can manage while you’re working at growing the audience.
Professionalise your site
This doesn’t need to be complex. Substack allows you to customise the homepage of your newsletter (check out the ‘branding’ section of your Substack publication settings) to look how you’d like it to. You can organise content how you like.
The screenshot above shows how I have customised the homepage of the Freelance Writing Network to look more like a website. The Substack settings are fairly intuitive, and if using this platform I’d strongly recommend spending some time looking through and modifying all of them. The more professional you look, the more likely someone will hit that subscribe button.
And on that note - have you written your ‘About’ page? Have you added a publication logo (I made one easily on Canva)? Have you added your short description? Have you written the clear benefits of the different subscription types you offer? Have you edited and formatted the automated emails that are sent to new subscribers? Ensure you some time looking through the settings to ensure you’ve covered everything that you need to. If this is lacking, someone might not get as far as reading the content itself, no matter how good it is.
Professionalism matters.
Focus on output, not results
It’s easy to become obsessed with results like subscriber count and open rates. But obsession over these metrics can lead to frustration and burnout, especially if the growth isn’t at the rate you had originally hoped for.
I actually had this in the early days of the Freelance Writing Network. Early on I would occasionally miss weeks or I wouldn’t refine the content and publication in the way I should have done. Why was that? Because I was so utterly consumed by growing the number of subscribers that I sometimes forgot that I needed to actually write the damn thing properly.
Focus on delivering quality and value to your audience and the trust and engagement will grow over time. Are you spending time editing your newsletter? I would always recommend doing this. It can take a long time to grow a subscriber’s interest in your work and only one shoddy email with a host of errors within to lose it completely.
I’m sorry to sound like the Philadelphia 76ers but you do have to trust the process. By concentrating on this you’ll develop your voice and refine your niche. Ultimately, over time and with the right growth strategies, you’ll attract the audience that you want. It might not be thousands of people or even end up monetised, but it’ll be yours. And there is a lot to be said for just having your own subscriber base - no matter how small. Substack has opened up so many new opportunities for me in this way, after all.
Engage with people
Newsletter subscribers aren’t just names on a list. They’re real, ordinary people who want to hear from you. Take time to foster that connection. Do you allow subscribers to ask you questions? Or to comment? Are you using the Substack chat to engage with people who subscribe?
When people engage with you, engage back! Reply, discuss, even feature responses in the newsletter itself. Two-way interaction builds trust and loyalty, and also allows you to learn more about what your audience really cares about.
And this goes just beyond your subscriber base too. If you’re using Substack Notes or have a social media account with your newsletter attached then you can do the exact same thing. Write Notes and reply to those who comment. Like and comment on other people’s Notes. Find people in a similar niche and engage with them. Engaging with new people is such an effective way to help grow.
Let others inspire you
Your newsletter doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel and not everything you do has to be completely original. Why not just look at what is working for other creators? And don’t just check out the newsletters in your niche or genre - you never know where great ideas might come from that you can modify to your own audience.
How do these creators write headlines? How long are their emails? How do they promote themselves? What does their homepage look like? Successful newsletters are usually successful for a reason. Content is obviously a big part of it, but so are all the other little things that go under the radar.
For me, it was little things - often from creators outside my niche. One such publication showed me how the navigation bar at the top could be impactful. A book club I subscribe to showed me that a directory could be incredibly beneficial. The ideas came from a range of places and enabled me to modify and adapt as I saw fit. Which in turn helped me grow and increase engagement with my audience.
This isn’t about copying, it’s about learning. By looking out for the techniques that successful creators use, you can find inspiration to help refine your approach and use strategies that you know can work. Take the time to read, consume and enjoy the work of others. You’ll never know when inspiration will strike.