Should I move to Substack? Substack vs. Blogging
I was speaking with a blogging friend recently, and she suggested my style of blogging…a hobby blog consisting of personal essays…might be a better fit for Substack than a traditional WordPress blog. That got me thinking…what exactly is the difference between Substack and blogging and which is best for me?
Of course, I’m not the first person to ask this question, and in fact, if you Google it, you will get a plethora of responses. I read through a number of articles and blog posts, and I present to you a summary of those findings. At the bottom of this post, I have listed the two sources I found the most helpful.
Getting started and maintenance
Let’s start by comparing the technical skills and expenses required to run a blog versus a Substack publication.
Blogging
Starting a blog can be daunting if you are not technology minded, even if you use a platform like WordPress or Blogger. You may find you need some help, or at the very least, be prepared to invest some time and mental energy figuring things out. It gets easier over time, but with regulations, technology, and the Internet constantly changing, you will need to keep up.
As for expenses, there are a number of costs associated with setting up and maintaining a blog. Things like a domain name and hosting service, for sure. You may also want to use some paid plugins and professional services to keep your blog secure, fast, and user-friendly.
Substack
My understanding is that Substack is free to set up and use and that the learning curve is minimal. No tech skills required. Substack is responsible to keep up with changes in technology and legal requirements.
My scoring
For me, that’s a point in Substack’s favor. Periodically, I reconsider whether I want to keep blogging, and the technology and cost always land high on the “Con” side.
Ownership
It matters who owns your platform and data.
Blogging
When you create a blog, you own it 100 percent…the domain, the content, the design, the data. You have almost unlimited control over customizations of your site. No one can arbitrarily delete your site or change the rules on you. Assuming you have a good hosting company and the right plugins, you have back-ups of everything, and you can take that data and pop it onto another site quite easily.
Substack
With a Substack publication, you own the content and nothing else. Substack owns the platform and sets the rules. If you decide to leave, you can export your subscriber list, but you can’t take the platform itself with you, so it won’t be so easy to recreate your content on another site.
My scoring
For me, that’s a big point in Blogging’s favor.
Monetization
Do you want to earn money with your publication? And if so, by what methods?
Blogging
There are numerous ways to make money with a blog. You can run ads, do affiliate marketing, offer products or services, publish sponsored posts, run a membership program or publish a paid newsletter…just to name a few. Of course, it’s not that easy, or we’d all be millionaires!
Substack
Substack offers only one way to earn money, and that is to have paid subscribers. Substack makes the payment and collection easy, but it will also take a cut of your income. And having paid subscribers is the only monetization allowed. Substack guidelines specifically prohibit “publications whose primary purpose is to advertise external products or services, drive traffic to third party sites, distribute offers and promotions, enhance search engine optimization, or similar activities.”
My scoring
For a hobby blog like mine, that’s not a huge deal. I’m not paying the bills with my blog. That said, product review is the one post type that has paid me money or provided free products. I would give that up if I moved to Substack. So I’ll call this a point in Blogging’s favor.
Growing your audience
Do you already have an established audience, or are you hoping to attract a lot more followers?
Blogging
Blog content can be found via Google and other search engines. A well-written evergreen post can bring in readers for years without you doing anything. For example, in the last 12 months, four of my five most frequently visited posts are more than two years old. And going back to the example of product reviews on my blog, even posts that are several years old continue to pay off when new readers use my referral codes.
Substack
It is my understanding that Substack articles are much harder to find on Google, and that new readers typically only come from within Substack.
My scoring
While growing my audience is something I would like to do, I haven’t actually seen much growth recently. As mentioned above, I do get new eyes on my site, but the overall number is not increasing. So, in theory, this is a point in favor of Blogging, but in reality, I can’t give it a lot of weight.
Making deeper connections
What if the quality of the connections you are making is more important than the number of new connections?
Blogging
With many blogs, the blogger may never know exactly who has interacted with their site. Many readers may be one-time visitors, stopping by a particular post that catches their eye, never to return. That said, some personal blogs, including mine, have regular readers who leave meaningful comments and with whom we make real connections. In my case, these are primarily fellow bloggers.
Substack
Substack is designed for deepening established relationships and even includes a social media aspect to foster connections.
My scoring
I mentioned earlier that I periodically reconsider whether I want to keep blogging, and whenever I do, it’s the connections I’ve made that ranks at the top of the list of “Pros.” That would seem to make this a point in Substack’s favor. That said, many of the people I am connecting with are other bloggers, so it’s hard to say whether a move to Substack would help or hurt that connection.
Final score: Substack vs. Blogging
If I just count points as I’ve laid them out here, Blogging comes out ahead 3 to 2. Of course, it’s not as simple as that. Some of these factors weigh more heavily than others, and some factors are only truly beneficial if I can find a way to take advantage of the possibilities.
Unfortunately, I’m still not sure what to do. I’d love to hear your thoughts and your personal experiences, if you have them.
Your turn
- Do you have a blog, Substack, or both?
- If you have moved from blogging to Substack, can you share why? Any regrets?
- If you are publishing on both platforms, do you have different purposes for each? What are they?
- What else is on your mind? Anything at all; I just love to hear from you.
Sources:
https://sweetseadigital.com/blog/substack-vs-blog/
https://thissplendidshambles.com/substack-vs-blogging/
Image by Peter Olexa from Pixabay
This is a question I ask myself all the time. The biggest reason I started blogging was to learn something new. I felt my brain was stagnating. Well, I definitely learned a lot. Mastering (hahaha) WordPress was a big win in my book. Chalk one up for neuroplasticity which is really important to me. The cost is what always makes me wonder if I should move to Substack. I always miss the deadline so I keep going for another year. I somehow or other do have a Substack and have a couple of posts up. I think (but am not sure) I just copied and pasted a post over there. There are a few people I follow on Substack, but I don’t go searching for new ones. I don’t monetize my blog because it would be such a headache when it came to taxes. And, let’s face it, as small as my blog is, I wouldn’t make that much anyway. But, I have found many bloggers (like you) that I enjoy interacting with in one way or another. So, while I’ll never get rich from blogging, I think I’m sticking to it and loving it for as long as I can.
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Our blogging journey sounds similar, Marsha. I too have a Substack account I created at some point, but I have never published anything on it. I have left a few notes and comments on other people’s posts. I periodically ask myself if I am still enjoying blogging enough to continue with it, and so far the answer is yes, if for no other reason than the connections I have made with other bloggers like yourself and the exercise of my creative mind.
Hi Christie – a lot of WordPress bloggers have moved across to Substack and the primary reason seems to be the cost involved in having a WordPress site (hosting, plug-ins etc). I definitely considered moving there when everyone else shifted across, but it would mean closing my blog, losing a lot of my readers, and trying to re-start from scratch.
I didn’t feel that Substack offered the same “feel” as my blog does, and it all looks pretty similar with lots of looooong essay type articles from people who are want-to-be writers. So, I just ended up doing what another blogger does, and that is to keep my blog (it’s free) and putting a little intro paragraph and link onto Substack each week. I get very little engagement over there (despite my followers) and I don’t want to put in the effort that others do with daily “notes” etc….those days are long gone. Anyway, if you want to chat about it all I’m happy to do it via email. Good luck with deciding. x
Good point Leanne. One thing I did not discuss much in this comparison, but that keeps me tied to blogging is losing all the past posts and comments. And you are correct, there is little to know creativity in how a Substack account looks and feels, as compared to creating a webpage. I will take you up on the offer to chat briefly via email. Thanks!
I have little to add on this topic. I’ve never heard of Substack. However, if you moved to Substack, I’m sure I would follow you there. ☺️
Thanks sister! You are my most loyal follower.
Hi Christie, I have seen a few familiar former WP bloggers over at Substack, but I have not been tempted to join. I did recently start a FB Page. It is a quick, easy way to share photos and commentary without the hassle of constant maintenance and at no cost. Growing an audience is slow going. I have 4 followers in one week! I’m not discouraged (yet) and keep posting stuff every day to trigger the algorithm that will help me find my people.
Folks who have not been on FB for a while likely do not know about Pages and Groups, but it seems to be a growing venue for our age group. The learning curve is minimal. Maybe try it in conjunction with your blog for a little extra exposure. If you want to check it out, you can find me at Destinations and Detours.
Suzanne, I have just followed your FB page. Thanks. I too have a FB page, So What? Now What?, where I mostly share links to my blogposts. Becoming more active there would definitely be a way for me to become more engaged. Thanks for the suggestion.
thanks for the side by side review! I’m with WordPress and have no plans to switch (I appreciate your review which helped me solidify that POV.) I’d probably stop blogging before I switched as I do not have any desire to learn a new system! I’ve found that those bloggers who moved to Substack, I’ve actually lost touch with as I don’t go there looking for things. It’s just not part of my habit – I like WordPress’s ability to push my favorite people to me on the schedule I set. Many of my favorites have stopped blogging, and at some point I guess I will as well. But I still enjoy the connections I have in the blog-o-sphere, hearing various points of views on various things. It’s an outlet for me that encourages me to write, which I find helpful but do need encouragement to sit and do it!
You’re welcome, Pat. I too have lost track of most of the people who have moved to Substack, though I have been checking in with a few of them over there more recently. At this point, I can’t see myself starting over somewhere else either. I’ll be blogging here for a little while longer.
Thank you for this side by side comparison. WordPress was giving me fits when I finally gave up my blog there. I tried to copy and paste my favorite posts to save as Word documents but lost a lot when I walked away from 10+ years on WordPress. I am using Blogger but not crazy about it. It is simpler, I think, but I can’t figure out how to do the simplest things like adding a cookie statement. And I am so far unable to do some of the things I liked on WordPress like adding a photo gallery.
I started a Substack account but haven’t done much with it. Just really losing interest and energy for blogging and social media all together. Too time consuming!! I started in order to find my way in retirement. And I think I have found it!! I also hoped blogging would encourage me to write more…and it did until it didn’t!! I am writing on my own without blogging – creative writing rather than essay style posts. Ha!! Writing all of this out makes me realize I am really not that gung ho about blogging any more.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Leslie. Another good side-by-side comparison would be WordPress and Blogger, though I imagine that’s been done by someone already.
Much like you, my enthusiasm for blogging is starting to wane. I suppose in the not-too-distant future I will wind down. This blog has definitely served a purpose for me, but I’m not sure it still is in the same way. I’m thinking for now I’ll take a more relaxed view towards my blog and see how much I’m inspired to write…or not. That should help me decide how much I will miss it. I’ll also take this time to back up some of my favorite posts.
I am happy to hear that you have found your way into retirement and that you continue to write, whether or not you choose to continue blogging.
Hi Christie, thanks so much for this fabulous post. I too have seen many bloggers make the move to Substack and like others who have commented here, I have one as well. But I honestly I find I don’t have time to ‘do’ both WordPress and Substack. I rarely add anything of my own there, apart from sharing a blog post I’ve written and don’t get much of a reaction. I love the blogging community I have with the way my blog is at the moment and although I don’t seem to post as much as I once did, I still enjoy sharing travels and life happenings with those who are interested in reading.
All the comments you’ve received make sense and I use my blog like Marsha said, to learn new things and keep my brain ticking over. My readership/engagement has dropped in recent months/years but I’m not too upset by that.
Your post is a question I’ve asked myself lately so many thanks for sharing your thoughts and findings. Keep up the good work!
To finish off I also like having a piece of the internet that is just mine!
Debbie debs-world.com
Many of us long-time bloggers seem to be in a similar situation, Debbie. Engagement has fallen off…both our own and our readers…but we’re not quite ready to let go. Like you, I don’t have the time or inclination to maintain separate material on my blog and on Substack, so for now, I’ll keep going on my blog.