Hi Rachel. This was exceptionally useful. Thank you for putting it out there. Just one question: I have no idea how to categorise my posts, I mostly write about life experiences and what they taught me but I definitely wouldn't class it as education. I looked through them all but they don't really seem to have a category for a personal column type publication. Any tips?
Frustrating, right? The only categories for writers are Fiction and Literature. I guess they figure everything else is nonfiction, so it doesn’t deserve its own category.
You might consider Culture as an option, along with Literature. Whichever you put in the first spot is the one you hope to rank on - you must turn on paid tiers in order to be eligible for a ranking, just FYI.
Give yourself time. I've been here for almost 3 years and am still learning new things.
If it helps, we get only two categories for our publication, and we have to choose from the 29 options they offer. I'm hoping they expand the category options but IDK. x
This is brilliant advice and I thought I was doing ok! So much information that I just didn’t know!! Thank you so much Rachel - I know what I will be doing this weekend
Thank you, Paul! I'm still scratching the surface. I only just figured out that 1) you need to have paid tiers to rank on a leaderboard, and 2) how to find what I've saved. Only 25 steps and you're there!
Hi Faye, and welcome! Yeah, it is. Take it slow, see what appeals to you, and when you create your publication (or after), take a look at all my free Substack tips here https://badredheadmediallc.substack.com/s/substack-tips
This is very helpful! I set up my account quite a while ago and made one initial post. I’ve been reading and responding to others to get a feel for what interests me making some great connections. Your post will help me navigate the substacks tools to start making my own posts. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Donna - so glad it's helpful. It's not super intuitive here, and the format is kinda all over the place. I'm hearing rumbles of an upgraded system, but who knows.
Hmmm, mine is kind of weird. It's a satirical memoir pieces based on real events, featuring my dad's ongoing mission to supervise, correct, and reorganise reality itself, usually while wearing a woolly green jumper and white shorts. The stories are absurd, darkly comic, and unfortunately true! Here's the link and I would very much appreciate any guidance or feedback. Thank you, please. https://theterribledaughter.substack.com/
There is no Non-Fiction category, but I do have several memoir clients using Culture in the first publication category setting and Literature in the second, if that helps.
Substack treats “Culture” as a broad umbrella for essays, identity, relationships, and lived experience.
What I don’t understand is why you want to (again) struggle within a system that is constitutionally organized to throttle your self expression. Substack offers you the alternative to add your own mailing lists. Why not use both?
Isn’t that great? Correct, your newsletter subscribers see it, which is the best part about it; however, all of our posts are dependent on the algorithm as they’re published on a public site that’s indexed (unless you paywall them, and then only the title, subtitle, etc are visible). Thanks for weighing in, David.
Wow, great piece! So glad I found you here (I was a follower from way back on Twitter and other platforms.)
One question, I'm new to substack and have only published a few pieces but I've noticed that none of my tags stick. Meaning I never have any to select from? Is that normal in your experience? Just seems odd that they have "Select or create tags" as an option yet I never see any to select.
Okay so I show this in the post - the screenshot where the GEAR button is (bottom right). Click on it, and you'll see the options to add tags (keywords).
This is on desktop. Not sure if that's what you're looking at.
"Most Substack growth issues are labeling issues, not writing issues.", as an SEO specialist, yes, please label your content accurately! Machines need those labels!
After doing this work for 15 years (book marketing), I can say that 80% of writers here don't even think about SEO (keywords, categories, alt-text, meta-description) because they don't know how to look for it or what a HUGE difference it makes to their visibility.
Not anyone's fault - I think most people learn about SEO by accident and then a world opens up. I'm always looking at visibility and discoverability, with every tactic.
Thank you. This was so helpful. I re-stacked your first and hope that brings some more subscribers. Thank you too for your subscription. As a newbie to Substack, every subscription is a celebration.
Thank you for this truly inspiring and informative article. I am new here, and I believe your advice and tips will assist me on my journey here. Thank you for your time and effort compiling this comprehensive post
Such useful tips, thank you. Especially about reviewing categories. I also really like your simple question: ‘this is a post about … for people who care about…’ I think that will be really helpfully grounding for my posts which can leap about all over the place a bit!
So glad it resonated with you, Michelle. That question is so incredibly helpful, especially when we feel like we may be rambling (not that that's bad, etc.). Categories are far more crucial than many people think!
Thank you for sharing this. I think a lot of people have been feeling this shift lately.
thank you for reading and commenting, Lifvyt 🙏
Hi Rachel. This was exceptionally useful. Thank you for putting it out there. Just one question: I have no idea how to categorise my posts, I mostly write about life experiences and what they taught me but I definitely wouldn't class it as education. I looked through them all but they don't really seem to have a category for a personal column type publication. Any tips?
Frustrating, right? The only categories for writers are Fiction and Literature. I guess they figure everything else is nonfiction, so it doesn’t deserve its own category.
You might consider Culture as an option, along with Literature. Whichever you put in the first spot is the one you hope to rank on - you must turn on paid tiers in order to be eligible for a ranking, just FYI.
Thank you, I'll mull it over. It is rather confusing. I so appreciate you taking the time to get back to me!
Give yourself time. I've been here for almost 3 years and am still learning new things.
If it helps, we get only two categories for our publication, and we have to choose from the 29 options they offer. I'm hoping they expand the category options but IDK. x
This is brilliant advice and I thought I was doing ok! So much information that I just didn’t know!! Thank you so much Rachel - I know what I will be doing this weekend
Thank you, Paul! I'm still scratching the surface. I only just figured out that 1) you need to have paid tiers to rank on a leaderboard, and 2) how to find what I've saved. Only 25 steps and you're there!
Baby steps for me Rachel but I’m getting there thanks to your wonderful advice!
Wonderful. So great to see you trending, Paul. It works, ya know?
💯 it works
👏
thank you! I’m very new here and it’s a little overwhelming.
Hi Faye, and welcome! Yeah, it is. Take it slow, see what appeals to you, and when you create your publication (or after), take a look at all my free Substack tips here https://badredheadmediallc.substack.com/s/substack-tips
Thank you! Only just discovering what a gift Substack is - and finding great folk like yourself!
Hi Mary and aw, thank you. It's taken a minute for me to figure this stuff out, might as well share. x
Thank you! I’m still somewhat new to Substack, and am this is very helpful!
Fantastic! Welcome Alexa. I offer a ton of free Substack tips here in my publication: https://badredheadmediallc.substack.com/s/substack-tips - a lot of behind-the-scenes tips. All free.
This is very helpful! I set up my account quite a while ago and made one initial post. I’ve been reading and responding to others to get a feel for what interests me making some great connections. Your post will help me navigate the substacks tools to start making my own posts. Thank you!
Thanks so much, Donna - so glad it's helpful. It's not super intuitive here, and the format is kinda all over the place. I'm hearing rumbles of an upgraded system, but who knows.
Thanks for this. I'm still finding my way & this is very helpful
You're welcome, Kate 🌸
Thank you. How kind of you to post this.
Thanks, William! If it helps people, I'm all for it.
This is SO helpful!! Thank you. I now need to decide my tags and SEO words. That's the hard bit!
Well, we only get two publication categories, so start with that. I chose Education first, Literature second.
There is a Fiction category if you write that.
Hmmm, mine is kind of weird. It's a satirical memoir pieces based on real events, featuring my dad's ongoing mission to supervise, correct, and reorganise reality itself, usually while wearing a woolly green jumper and white shorts. The stories are absurd, darkly comic, and unfortunately true! Here's the link and I would very much appreciate any guidance or feedback. Thank you, please. https://theterribledaughter.substack.com/
There is no Non-Fiction category, but I do have several memoir clients using Culture in the first publication category setting and Literature in the second, if that helps.
Substack treats “Culture” as a broad umbrella for essays, identity, relationships, and lived experience.
My posts are not dependent on the algorithm. They go directly to my 2K subscribers
What I don’t understand is why you want to (again) struggle within a system that is constitutionally organized to throttle your self expression. Substack offers you the alternative to add your own mailing lists. Why not use both?
Isn’t that great? Correct, your newsletter subscribers see it, which is the best part about it; however, all of our posts are dependent on the algorithm as they’re published on a public site that’s indexed (unless you paywall them, and then only the title, subtitle, etc are visible). Thanks for weighing in, David.
Wow, great piece! So glad I found you here (I was a follower from way back on Twitter and other platforms.)
One question, I'm new to substack and have only published a few pieces but I've noticed that none of my tags stick. Meaning I never have any to select from? Is that normal in your experience? Just seems odd that they have "Select or create tags" as an option yet I never see any to select.
Oh yay! Glad you're here now, Chuck.
Okay so I show this in the post - the screenshot where the GEAR button is (bottom right). Click on it, and you'll see the options to add tags (keywords).
This is on desktop. Not sure if that's what you're looking at.
"Most Substack growth issues are labeling issues, not writing issues.", as an SEO specialist, yes, please label your content accurately! Machines need those labels!
After doing this work for 15 years (book marketing), I can say that 80% of writers here don't even think about SEO (keywords, categories, alt-text, meta-description) because they don't know how to look for it or what a HUGE difference it makes to their visibility.
Not anyone's fault - I think most people learn about SEO by accident and then a world opens up. I'm always looking at visibility and discoverability, with every tactic.
Thank you. This was so helpful. I re-stacked your first and hope that brings some more subscribers. Thank you too for your subscription. As a newbie to Substack, every subscription is a celebration.
I’m so glad! x
Thank you for this truly inspiring and informative article. I am new here, and I believe your advice and tips will assist me on my journey here. Thank you for your time and effort compiling this comprehensive post
You’re so welcome, Julie! Thanks for reading x
Hi Julie, and welcome! So glad you found this helpful. I have an entire free series on Substack Tips https://badredheadmediallc.substack.com/s/substack-tips
Thank you for sharing .
of course! thank you for reading
Such useful tips, thank you. Especially about reviewing categories. I also really like your simple question: ‘this is a post about … for people who care about…’ I think that will be really helpfully grounding for my posts which can leap about all over the place a bit!
So glad it resonated with you, Michelle. That question is so incredibly helpful, especially when we feel like we may be rambling (not that that's bad, etc.). Categories are far more crucial than many people think!