How I Grew My First Ever Substack Newsletter to 50 Subscribers in Under 60 Days
I swear I tried everything, and I want share exactly what worked and didn't work
When I first hopped on Substack,
I saw it as a simple newsletter platform.
Among my original candidates were Beehiv and Converkit. The only reason I chose Substack was for its simplicity. All the other platforms seemed much more customizable, and I figured I’d switch once my email list got bigger…
But nope—I’m not switching now.
Growing a Substack is just as easy as starting a new one!
Let me share with you what I’ve learned over the last 58 days!
Substack is a powerhouse of a platform.
Not only is it a newsletter platform, it’s a networking tool, podcasting platform, community management tool, and so much more! It’s designed to become a hub for personal brands!
Check out my progression as I began to understand Substack’s power!
Day 1-7: I was a newb
I started out by adding my closest family and friends. +8 survivors instantly
I highly recommend anyone starting out to share with friends.
It can be the difference between depression and confidence.
My initial writings didn’t feel like a pointless effort because I knew my people would support me.
I was also posting a weekly newsletter from repurposing my Medium content.
9 Substack subscriptions come seemingly out of nowhere. +9 survivors
I didn’t understand what the cause of this would be until much later!
Ended this period with a total of 17 Survivors
Days 8-38: Build it, and they will come? Nope
I gained a random sub, probably leftovers from whatever happened the previous day. +1 survivor
I’d continue to post my weekly Medium-repurposed newsletters to the void.
Also, about halfway through this period, I decided to make a daily journal.
Crickets…
I continue the rest of the period without gaining another new subscriber.
Ended this period with a total of 18 Survivors
Days 39-51: CTAs Can Convert Traffic!
I began to take Substack more seriously as I was fed up with the results.
Obviously, my original strategy wasn’t working.
So, I started customizing my Call-to-actions to relate my Medium articles to my newsletter offerings.
I also did a mirrored post where my Medium article would compliment my Substack article and vice versa. Check out an example here
This got me some traffic that flowed both ways.
From this, and just being more active on Substack, I gained 12 subscriptions. +12 Survivors
My biggest mistake was only doing two mirrored posts in this period 🤣
Also, I eventually stopped writing weekly newsletters to focus on the journals (red dot & X)
The newsletter became a drag to write, but journals came way easier.
The stats also showed me the journals and mirrored content performed best.
The newsletters were not only a pain to write but also underperformed.
Removing friction in my process definitely helped with consistency!
The content creation process now is so much more fulfilling…
Not to mention, the results are even more satisfying!
Ended this period with a total of 30 Survivors
Day 51-57: Investing In Growth, Leads to Growth
I was excited by my recent growth on Substack but noticed a plateau.
Plateaus are how I know when to innovate
I began researching “How to grow an email list?” & “Growing a Substack”
Coming across tons of content on Medium and Substack about the concept,
I decided to invest a couple of dollars into it.
I searched up some courses on Udemy but didn’t really see anything I felt confident spending the money on…
After doing some further research on Substack… the algorithm spoke!
Insert
… I saw her video sample on the importance of Notes…Immediately, I subscribed to watch the whole thing—
it was well worth the $8 (green dot)I’m still benefiting from that video now, but that wasn’t all!
She started a thread for her subscribers to connect with each other.
It went absolutely viral, with over 2,000 comments!!
I shared my niche, “Personal Branding for Introverts,” and met so many awesome people… 15 subscriptions came directly from that! +15 Survivors
The rest of my subs came from my Medium CTAs and Networking on Substack! +7 Survivors
Ended this period with a total of 52 Survivors
Day 58+: To Infinity And Beyond!
I’ve gained 1 sub in this period! +1 Survivor
But this isn’t over!! Total of 53 Survivors so far
I plan to finalize my engagement strategy to incorporate all that I’ve learned.
Here, I’ll tell you what I’ve learned:
Networking is a big key… gain as much visibility as possible!
People want value!! My original newsletter didn’t do anything for people.
My journals are motivational and educational, AND concise!
I also have a schedule now— this will allow people to get into a rhythm
Plus, it allows me to automate the posting of completed works.
More organization = better results
Referrals on Substack are HUGE— I want as many as possible!
It’s how I got that first initial jump.
Again, networking will be a major key.
I plan on collaborating with other authors more often to increase exposure.
Also, building out a community can stabilize the results.
I am continuously looking to spice it up in that department.
Also, I plan to educate myself on Substack monetization going forward.
I want that to be done in good taste!
Also, I plan to continue an aggressive campaign to convert the Medium audience to my Substack community.
Notes and threads will be a method of semi-off-brand expression.
Still plan to maintain my values, but I can be a little less reserved.
I also will post regular in-depth content to my Substack!
Leveraging SEO, I will try to grow my search engine traffic as well,
But that’s a developing project 🤣
I want to make another one of these at 250 subscribers!
Phew, okay, I’m done!
I hope you found something valuable out of this!
Your feedback is always welcome—let me know what you think!
Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on my other content!
Thank you so much for reading!
Thanks Boysie! Started customizing yesterday but I haven't finished yet. Still working it out. Definitely need to figure things out. This is all new stuff for me.