A bio, a boiler plate and a balloon...

Week 3, task 3 - Set up your home page on Substack - a 30 day challenge!

This post is part of a 30 day home page set-up challenge (you can start anytime). We will cover 4 tasks together to help you feel ‘set up’ on Substack. This is #3 of 4 - we wrap up next week!

Our ‘publication’ home page is the place folks land to see our posts.

If they head over on desktop it’s a different experience to if they navigate to your publication on their phone.

It’s really worth the work to bed in and know you’re all set for your subscribers and readers to start their journey with you. If you are struggling to navigate your settings, please know you’re not alone - I have a members video to help right here.

✨

Hello all,

Gosh well I feel I’ve been away for ever - it’s only been a week and I had a few scheduled posts so I could stay connected in.¹

Thank you for ALL of your GORGEOUSLY kind reciprocal support on our last task;

Pop over if you haven’t already or check our my Simple Substack Advice section for more hints and tips to keep it really simple here? I want you support you to feel set and ‘ready’ so you can focus on doing your beautiful work in the world.

I’m going to read over all your comment replies in the coming days on the last post. Bear with me?

Today, we are going to cover something you might feel is a little left field but stay with me. It’s your writer bio and your invite to make a ‘boiler plate’. Don’t worry - all will become clear…

I also want to speak to a reader question about pinned hero/ start here posts…

Life, recently…

1. Your writer bio

This is a short, snappy way to invite folks in to who you are and what you write. You can edit it next to your avatar when you’re logged in. You’re limited by characters so you have to be ‘clever’. 🤓

The first thing I’ll say is bios are can be hard! Here are some tips to help frame your thinking…

I use the & symbol rather than ‘and’ as I ran out of characters…

1. Make your handle the same as your name - it’s more memorable and familiar that way when you start using Notes or if someone wants to mention you in a post.

2. For your writer bio, write 3 lines - re visit what you wrote last week in the about page task and pull from there.

3. Switch them around…. one more time… what works best? What’s the best flow? Ask someone else to read yours in the comments?

4. Think about someone reading for the first time… do they feel invited? Intrigued? Is it clear? Is it unique? Do they KNOW what you’re all about?

5. Think about your publication introduction (see above) in tandem with your bio - how do they fit together? If someone reads them together is there any repeat info - I see this a lot and think it can be avoided. Think (1.) you as a writer/ person. (2.) An explanation of your publication and what is offers/ does. (see above image).

2. Your boiler plate re-introduction…

In marketing speak, boilerplate text is written text (copy) that can be reused in new contexts/ spaces/ applications without any significant changes to the original.

Here on Substack it’s GREAT practise to re-introduce yourself in your posts. (Just briefly is fine). People forget what they signed up to and it really aids connection if you do this. Folks who have read it previously learn to skim past especially if you keep it in the same place or written in the same format each time…

Like this…

Hi, I’m Claire. I live on the Northumberland coast in the UK where I’ve just arrived home to what feel like hundreds of tulips in the garden. I teach folks how to add Sparkle to their Substack here at Sparkle on Substack and about life and business in the slow lane over at Creatively Conscious .

My focus here is to spend time with you and your work to encourage joyful, sustainable growth.

✨

You don’t necessarily need to ask anyone to take an action from your re-introduction but you can see in this case (above), I have invited folks to click through to my other Substack publication. I am always checking the stats to see if this works and people click through…

Molly Ella does this really well in her posts if you would like another example as does Elin Petronella ✨ You’ll find it over at Lucy Werner’s publication too. Check this out from Substack too;

How to polish your publication's About page and one-line description

You can save a few different versions of your boiler plate to a draft post here on Substack so you are ready to copy and paste into your next post.

There’s no right or wrong with this; you can put one at the top, bottom or in the middle - whatever feels good to you. Add an image, your signature (if it’s at the bottom)?

3. Hero posts - a reader question…

That reader question on hero posts was from Sarina Zoe

So I checked out Sarina’s page and I love what she’s done - it works both in the app version and on desktop. Go see for yourself?

For the purposes of setting up your Substack I would say a pinned post is GREAT to do! BUT you don’t have to be ready with a ‘hero’ post or a ‘start here’ post to be set up.

I don’t think you can force the words and content of this and I want your journey to be easeful here. If you want to make one and don’t know what to write just repeat your about page or pin your top post for now. Remember you can add bits and pieces and edit whenever you like. I update everything every three months here. ²

You’ll know what to add in a hero post when you know more about the essence of your publication.

The benefit of a ‘start here’ post is that you can link to it again and again and it really helps people to ‘land’ in your publication. I checked and mine has driven 150 new subs.

4. And a balloon.

🎈

Sometimes you need to make it memorable, strike that there’s ALWAYS the opportunity to make it memorable… that’s all I’ve got on that one today!

I will say leading with balloons as an aesthetic for a club I used to run around creating content was REALLY fun! Maybe that will spark something for you on how to make the experience of landing on your publication memorable and unique?

Ok we have 7 days to get set with our bio and boiler plate. Any questions just ask!

Ready for the challenge?

As always, when you’re ready use the comments below to link your Substack and share your boiler plate text if you like?

Have a great weekend!

Claire

✨

PPS - Here’s another thread where you can meet other writers and share words and support for your publication explainer…

https://sparkleon.substack.com/p/lets-swap-words-and-support-each

1. Your Substack grows when you’re away - isn’t that magic? ✨

2. My hero post, about page, welcome emails and I check my bio too. Four times a year and it’s always well worth doing.