Blogroll Please

How to Beat the Writer Drums

Recently, when I was scrolling through the settings on Life UnCorked to see what could be tweaked or improved, I came across something that I had missed for some reason - a feature where we can add a blogroll linking to our favorite ‘Stacks which then show up along the sidebar of our Home Page.

I conducted an “unofficial” survey of various ‘Stacks that I read regularly and discovered that many use the Recommendations feature, but NO ONE (zero/zip/nada) is utilizing the Homepage Links feature. This is a different feature. Recommendations are very useful and should always be on our Homepage. But, the number of visible sites is limited. Homepage Links are unlimited.

As I was playing around with the title for this article, the phrase “Drumroll Please” popped into my head. We’ve all heard this said when a contest winner or some exciting event is being introduced, accompanied by a crescendo of drumming, to heighten the anticipation.

This gave me the idea of promoting other Substacks with a similar concept, hence the title of this article (yes that is the way my brain works). If we work to get readers to our website (vs. just opening an email), there’s a good chance they may scroll through the Blogroll at some point and read/follow/subscribe to one or two.

To encourage click-throughs, it’s a good idea to always link your Substack Homepage multiple times in any newsletter email you send out.

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The Process of Adding Homepage Links

Adding an unlimited blogroll is simple:

Start with a list of which ‘Stacks you love to read and would have no problem promoting. Have ready the Site Name/Author/Web address

On your dashboard, click Settings > Website and click Edit next to Homepage links.

There you will see an Add Link button. Once you begin adding links, this button will be at the bottom of the list.

That will open a box where you can fill in the appropriate information for each ‘Stack you want to add. Under Subtitle, I put the author/site owner’s name, if available.

One of the reasons I like this feature even more than the recommendations is that you can create categorized groups (Name them whatever you want). When you are finished, click Add Link. The link will then appear on your home page in the right-hand column. If you have Recommendations displayed also, this Blogroll will show up just below it, so it looks like an extension of your recommendations.

Here is a screenshot of what the blogroll looks like on the website:

You can see that the categorized groups of links begin just below the Recommendations.

For a better view, visit my site, Life UnCorked, and scroll down till you see this area on the right side. You will see there are quite a few listed in each Group. So far, I have created categories for Creative Writing, Christian Focus, Culture, Financial|Retirement, and Substack|Writing. Others can be added at any time.

Pros:

• Another way to visibly promote fellow writers

• Sites can be categorized, which appeals to reader impatience (an unfortunate reality)

• No limit to the number of sites you can list (I have not hit any limit yet).

• You can also include non-Substack links, such as your personal website, a book landing page, an affiliate link, etc.

• Readers are introduced to similar Substacks and will trust your judgment on good reads.

• Like a Blogroll on conventional blogs (WordPress, etc.), other writers will likely return the favor.

• It’s another cog in the wheel of long-term visibility and growth

Cons

One drawback I found is that once a site is listed, there is no way to edit it (change categories, etc.) without deleting and re-adding it. Say you want to recategorize multiple sites, you will need to delete/re-add them individually.

Adding an Edit function to the Homepage Link feature may be something the Substack

support

team could address this.

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Take Action

Let’s get those BLOGROLLs going to promote the writers that we love to read.

A great way to do this is to choose one of the writers each week and highlight their Substack to your readers. A short post with a recommendation and their Substack link, a Cross-post of one of their posts, or a Chat message to your subscriber list (Did you know you could do this?) to highlight their work.

Be Proactive

As we proactively highlight others’ work, we will be promoting our own work as well.

Motivational Speaker, Zig Ziglar would end his presentations with this tagline: “Remember, you can have everything you want in life if you will help enough other people get what they want in life.”

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. - Galatians 6:9-10

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Final Word: The Importance of Appearance

I want to end with a word of encouragement to take a hard look at your site. I know most writers just want to focus on writing. We are happy to keep putting out great content. But, in and of itself, that is not enough if no one is reading it.

We must also wear our marketing hat.

People are visual. Our perceptions are based on what we see. You may be the best writer in the world, but a visually poor or disorganized website will turn potential readers elsewhere.

How would you answer these questions -”If I was a first-time visitor to my Substack website, would I be enticed to stick around and explore? Would I become a subscriber? Or, would I just move on?” Be honest.

To grow, we must continually attract more readers. A well-organized, visually attractive website is essential to this effort.

If you do not feel comfortable or qualified to create a really great website, there are Substacks dedicated to helping you learn the ropes, if you are truly serious.

A couple that come to mind are Kristi Keller’s Unstack Substack and Sarah Fay’s Substack Writers at Work. Check them out for tons of good help and advice.

Another good place to find tips is the Substack Support page. There are lots of great articles there to help. If you just do a “how to” Google search such as “how to customize a substack website”, here are the results that will come up.

Then take time to look at other Substack sites. When you find something you like, try to incorporate that feature in your own site. I don’t think it’s possible to tweak your site too much. Keep working on it. Get feedback from others.

Finally, work toward a site that you will be proud to promote. Then, don’t be shy about telling others what you do and inviting them to view your site. Whenever you mention your site in a post, email, or text, always link it. I try to link Life UnCorked or The Talking Pen several times in anything I publish.

There’s so much we can do to become better and more visible. With the many features Substack provides to customize and make our sites attractive and useful, I hope this post will get your creative juices flowing.

Hey, I know it takes time and effort, but it is well worth it in the long run. Just as in the parable of the Sower, persistence will yield a hundred-fold.

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Thank you for subscribing to Life UnCorked where the focus is on successfully navigating the issues of life from a Christian point of view.

While you’re here, check out my creative writing ‘Stack: The Talking Pen, where you’ll find fiction & non-fiction stories, poetry, art, and personal musings that illustrate the struggles, tragedies, and triumphs of life.