Learn to Advance Your Substack in 2025
Dr. Stephen Phinney: Crafting well-reasoned essays is essential to avoid coming across as erratic, disorganized or crazy, ensuring your essays are clear, logical, and effectively communicated.
REVEALING OUR SECRETS
Advancing your Substack channel with integrity and smartness is essential for building trust and credibility with your audience. In a world inundated with information, readers are more discerning than ever. They value authenticity, transparency, and quality over quantity.
By upholding strong ethical standards, ensuring that your content is accurate, well-researched, and original, you advance a genuine connection with your audience. Smart strategies, such as understanding your audience's needs, engaging with them thoughtfully, and continuously refining your content based on feedback and analytics, help you stay relevant and respected. Combining integrity with intelligent content creation not only enhances your channel's reputation but also cultivates a loyal and engaged readership that believes in the TRUTH you bring to the table.
Believe it or not, 90% of Substack readers choose intelligent truthful content over erratic “fluff” pieces.
Crafting well-reasoned essays is essential to avoid coming across as erratic, disorganized or crazy, ensuring your essays are clear, logical, and effectively communicated.
Lazy writers post opinions without capturing the attention of the intellect of the readers - leaving readers with more emptiness that advances darkness.
FEAR NOT YOUR BELIEFS
Writing spiritual and cultural content with confidence is an honest expression of your identity and beliefs. As a believer in Christ, sharing your faith through your writing not only provides inspiration and encouragement to others but also deepens your connection with your readers.
In a world where authenticity is highly sot after, being open about your spiritual journey encourages a sense of community and belonging among like-minded individuals. Embrace the courage to share your story and convictions, with personal confessions, as your unique perspective can bring light and hope to those who may be seeking it. Remember, your voice matters, and your honesty and passion can create meaningful impact and resonance within your audience.
However, if you are dead as a rock spiritually, be honest about it.
This is my favorite audience! If you are not a believer in Christ and want to write about your journey, it's important to approach it with honesty and personal reflection. Share your thoughts, experiences, and reasons for your beliefs (or lack thereof) with authenticity. Your journey is unique, and by being open about it, you can provide valuable insights and perspectives. Whether it's about your search for meaning, your doubts, or your exploration of different philosophies and cultures, your honest account can resonate with readers who may be on a similar path or seeking to understand diverse viewpoints. Embrace your story and share it with courage and integrity.
HERE IS WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
As a Substack writer, I've learned that populating our channel requires a blend of creativity, consistency, vulnerability, and engagement.
It's crucial to understand and connect with your audience, tailoring your content to their interests and needs. Regular publishing schedules help build a loyal readership, while compelling headlines and visually appealing posts capture attention. Quality, well-researched content is paramount, and sharing personal insights adds authenticity. Promoting your work through social media and collaborations broadens your reach, while optimizing for SEO ensures discoverability. Most importantly, staying true to your voice and beliefs advances trust and a genuine connection with our audience. Through this journey, I've discovered the importance of balancing smart strategies with Biblical integrity to create a thriving and respected channel.
IOM AMERICA’S SUBSTACK: Ah, the mystery of a well-populated Substack! Here are some tips we found helpful in 2024 to make your Substack shine and attract readers:
Know Your Audience: Tailor your content to what your readers are most interested in. Engage with them (hearts & comments), ask for feedback, and adjust your topics accordingly. Some of our most populated entries come from comments that readers post.
Consistency is Key: Stick to a regular publishing schedule - IOM does three per week. Whether it’s weekly or bi-weekly, consistency helps build a loyal readership. Avoid being a “copy-cat” of other writers.
Engaging Headlines: Craft compelling non-vague headlines that grab attention. A great headline can be the difference between a click and a pass. Example: “War” vs. “The War on Ambivalence.” Have your headline tell the whole story in 3 to 5 words. Always bold your headlines in Notes and essays.
Use Images and Videos: Anyone who reads our essays & Notes clearly sees how we make use of videos and images. While this seems like “eye-candy,” it actually taps algorithms most ignore. A picture/video is worth a thousand words. Save extensive writing and post a video and/or image. If you use an image, place your Substack address on the image. Personalized images receive 79% more clicks.
Visual Appeal: Use images, infographics, and embedded media throughout your essays to make your posts more visually appealing and engaging. Always remember, the brain converts images into words and words into images. Enhance this scientific factor - use visuals - it is our #1 booster.
Quality Content: Focus on providing valuable, well-researched, and thoughtfully written content. Quality over quantity always wins. Avoid “fluff” pieces, which, by the way, clutter the mind. People in general love “meat.”
Avoid Block Text Paragraphs: Before being tutored by a professional writer, my worst habit was presenting my content in a continuous, unbroken format without clear paragraph breaks, making it difficult for readers to follow and comprehend. She taught me that breaking up text into well-defined paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting details can significantly enhance readability and comprehension. She further stated that nobody enjoys reading a non-comprehensive writer.
Personal Touch: Share personal anecdotes or insights to create a connection with your readers. Authenticity resonates in our culture today.
Promote Your Work: Utilize social media, email newsletters, and collaborations with other creators to promote your Substack and reach a wider audience. Conduct “cross-post” essays frequently. Make use of the three dots …
Call to Action: Encourage your readers to engage with your content. Ask questions, request feedback, and invite them to share your posts.
Optimize for SEO: Use relevant keywords to help your posts rank better in search engines. This can drive organic traffic to your Substack. We research the top ten keywords on the internet weekly - then drop them into our articles and headlines.
Analyze and Adjust: Keep an eye on your analytics to see what works and what doesn’t. Use this data to improve your content strategy.
SUBSTACK NOTES HINTS:
While gaining “little red hearts” is as subjective as the readers, mastering feedback exchange within the “comments” & restack sections is the key for developing online relationships, which requires thoughtful skills. Here are some key techniques to help you excel at it:
Responding to Comments & Restacks
Be Specific and Objective:
Focus on specific behaviors or outcomes rather than general traits.
Use concrete examples to illustrate your points.
Avoid generalized “dead end” comments. These are comments that have nothing to do with your restacked post or the post readers are commenting on. While most readers use your post to comment on disconnected feedback, bring them back to your post’s content through questions - how did this Note impact you?
Use the "Substack Sandwich" Method:
Start with positive feedback - Jim, thanks for taking the time to comment.
Address the reader’s comment challenge or feedback - help me connect your comment to my posted Note.
Conclude with more positive feedback or reinforcement - Jim, your comment is deeply appreciated. If you like the comment, remember to place their Substack channel connector, as in
.
Focus on the Situation, Disconnected Behavior, and Impact (SBI):
Avoid deviating from your Note’s topic. This helps populate your Note within the Substack algorithms. More comments = more relationships.
Describe the situation: "Within my note, I challenged..."
Specify the behavior: "Your comment seems disconnected from my Note..."
Explain the impact: "This causes a block in my mission to further advance the message of my Note..."
This eliminates robotic comments, and will either self-block uninterested communicators, or cause them to engage in your message.
Be Timely:
Provide feedback as close to the posted comment as possible while it's still fresh and relevant. Procrastination is a relationship killer.
Not always, but frequently, the online masses use “resistive silence” to shoutout their foremost message - I’m not interested in communicating with you. Move on. Don’t “bait” or debate them. Your time is valuable.
Offer Solutions to Posted Notes:
As I am doing in this post, suggest actionable steps for improvement.
Encourage a collaborative approach to problem-solving. This is accomplished through questions, surveys, or related replies.
As you are scrolling through Notes, if an individual you know is posting, minimally click on the red heart. However, to engage with them, restack their Note with a comment, question or impact statement. Frequently, this leads to them recommending your Substack channel.
For Receiving Notes Feedback
Listen/Read Actively:
Pay full attention to their comment and do not insult, react defensively, or lead them down a “rabbit trail.” Always stay on point.
If their feedback is highly personal, challenge them to switch to Direct Messaging. Few “dump their guts” in the Notes section.
Show that you understand by paraphrasing or summarizing - always leaving them with a hopeful message.
Stay Open-Minded:
Approach feedback with a positive attitude and view it as an opportunity for growth. If you are a Christian writer, your mission should be to reveal practical elements of their growth in Christ.
Avoid becoming defensive or dismissive. This happens a lot with posters who are purposely attempting to make Christian writers look “stupid.” Don’t fall for this demonic ploy. View all dark commentators as an opportunity to lead them to Yeshua.
Ask Clarifying Questions:
Even when you get the “drift” of what they are saying, if something is unclear, ask for specific examples or further explanation. This method helps in deflecting disconnected content posting.
Seek to understand the feedback fully before responding. I do this by praying and asking Yeshua how He wants me to respond.
Pray, Reflect and Act:
Take time to reflect on the feedback and identify areas for improvement. At times, dark or “baiting” posters have great input. Accept the good idea, thank them for it, and move on.
Avoid trollers at all costs. An online troll is someone who deliberately posts provocative, inflammatory, or off-topic messages in online communities such as Notes forums, social media, and comment sections, with the intent of upsetting others, causing disruption, or provoking emotional responses. Trollers are cowards in sheep clothing. Yeshua said, what proceeds out of the mouth of a man is what is in the heart of man. Don’t take their bait.
Do as I do. Develop an action plan to address the points raised by responsible and “click bait” posters. Many times, I use their input in a Note to my following list. For example, a commentor said, I don’t believe in monogamist marriages. After a healthy dialogue, I created a Note’s post to my “followers” list on the Biblical doctrines of Monogamy Marriages. This connects the subject to the algorisms and keeps the topic moving forward.
Express Gratitude:
Thank the person for their feedback, regardless of whether it was positive or negative. While all who make use of the “comment” section enjoy being thanked, ironically, it silences those who use negativity to silence you.
Show appreciation for their effort to help you grow personally or on Substack. Gratitude opens the door for the commentor to reconnect with you on yet another post.
General Tips
Create a “Comment Feedback Culture:”
Build an environment where giving and receiving feedback is encouraged and normalized. Remember - this takes time, practice, and endurance. As with all relationships, time and respect are the keys to developing lifelong friends - on or off Substack.
Follow Up:
While I am a bit obsessed with follow-up, check in regularly to review the progress within your Notes Activity page and adjust as necessary. When I get a heart without a comment, I click on the heart. That takes me to the original Note post, I then restack my Note. This creates an opportunity to engage with more viewers/readers + it keeps the algorithm active. Afterall, hearts without comments are dead end. It is your job to reactivate the content that created that heart.
Another method to further the little red hearts - hover over the person’s icon and click on Message. Create a dialogue via Direct Messaging.
Carefully study your analysis pages. Write down what is working and not working on your channel.
Conduct regular search reviews on the top trending words used on the internet. These are preestablished “trigger words” presently within the weeks social network platforms, including Substack. Take these words and integrate them into your headlines and essay content paragraphs. I have been doing this for years, AND I believe this is the golden key for effective online posting.
Practicing these techniques can help create a productive and supportive Substack feedback environment. As for our little ministry, we believe the Substack community is a mission field. With that being said, it is our responsibility to know what “works” and does not work within the mission field we have been called to serve.
We pray this helps your 2025 efforts as a Substack writer. We hope that the new year brings you a larger audience - not for more numbers, but for a readership that honors and respects your entries.
What’s on your mind? I would enjoy reading what you have discovered to be the impact of this essay, as well as the venues of success for your Substack.
No comments, no relationships. The general rule to the Substack platform!
Leaving a comment is vital for developing a personal connection and engaging in meaningful dialogue with you. Your feedback, thoughts, and questions not only enrich the content but also create a vibrant interactive community where ideas and experiences are shared. Through your comments, I can better understand your interests and needs, tailoring future posts to resonate more deeply with you. Let's build a dynamic and interactive space together, where every voice is heard and valued. Shucks, I might even offer some advice.
Thank you for the good advice. I'm reminded that becoming an effective writer happens over time, with practice. It is a growth process.
Lots of good advice here, Stephen. This technique is new to me: "When I get a heart without a comment, I click on the heart. That takes me to the original Note post, I then restack my Note." Your commitment to promoting writers on Substack is a blessing.