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Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Data and AI with Mukundan.

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Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Data and AI with Mukundan.

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In today's episode, I want to talk about how we can boost our newsletter growth with analytics

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today.

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So there's a lot of hidden growth in traffic and I want to focus this episode specifically

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for content creators.

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As content creators, one of our biggest challenges we face is understanding how work is received

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by our audience.

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So whether we're just starting out a sub stack journey.

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So as you guys may know, I already have a web, as you guys may know, I have a website

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on sub stack, which I've linked in the podcast pages.

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And hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Data and AI with Mukundan.

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And in today's episode, I want to talk about my sub stack journey and how I can help you

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while helping me grow on sub stack by boosting our newsletter growth with analytics.

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So as content creators, one of the biggest challenges we face is understanding how our

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work is received by our audience.

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Whether we're just starting out a sub stack journey or we are established writer.

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One thing which is clear is that analytics is our best friend.

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They offer a treasure of insights about our audience, content performance, and most importantly,

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how people find and engage with our newsletter.

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Yet there are many creators that I've seen which underutilize the tools available at

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their disposal.

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Sub stack analytics, if they are properly understood, they can be leveraged to transform

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the growth trajectory of our newsletter.

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And this guide is focused to dive deep into the traffic data from my newsletter, which

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is Data and AI with Mukundan to demonstrate how you can use these insights to grow your

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audience and refine your strategy.

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Why traffic analytics matter?

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Substacks simplicity and focus on its creators make it a preferred platform for newsletters.

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So sub stack is a very independent platform for creators.

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I know I had trouble with getting my articles accepted into different publications in another

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platform that I've been using and sub stack is more independent that way.

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Like it offers a lot of creative outlet for its creators.

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Like it allows their creators to be very independent, very free.

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So that's what separates it from its other peers.

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But its analytics feature is often overlooked.

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Traffic analytics specifically are crucial for understanding how readers discover your

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newsletter and which channels drive the most engagement.

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Knowing where your audience comes from allows you to focus your efforts on what's working

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and tweak what's not.

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For example, if I were to speak about my sub stack dashboard, I noticed significant spikes

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in direct traffic for a smaller proportion from social media and referrals as well.

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It was a clear signal for me that while people were engaging directly with my content, there

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was a lot of untapped potential in these other sources.

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And traffic analytics therefore can help you answer critical questions like that, just

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like it did for me.

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So it can help answer questions like where are your readers coming from?

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Which traffic sources drive the most engagement or the most subscriptions?

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How can I improve my outreach efforts to grow faster?

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What other platforms can I use to promote myself out there?

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And the answers to these questions are the building blocks for a robust growth strategy.

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So let's break down subtract traffic sources.

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So let's break down sub stack traffic sources.

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One is direct traffic.

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We all know what that is.

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Basically, visitors who land on your newsletter by typing your URL, by clicking a bookmark

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or following a direct link.

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And why that matters is direct traffic often includes your most loyal audience, those who

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intentionally seek out your content.

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And how to optimize this is make the most of direct traffic by ensuring your homepage

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is optimized for conversion.

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We can include a strong clear call to action like a subscribe for free or unlock exclusive

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posts by becoming paid subscriber.

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From my data, I personally don't have a paid subscription yet.

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But from my data, what I saw was that direct traffic was by far my largest source.

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And I'm sure it could be for most of your content creators out there.

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And it accounted for about 3.5k views since the time I've been a sub stack, which is less

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than three months at this point, like a little over two and a half months and approximately

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173 unique users just from direct traffic alone.

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While it was really encouraging, it also highlighted the need to optimize my homepage to convert

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more visitors into subscribers.

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So recently I did a homepage redesign.

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So it makes finding content on my website very easy.

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And I hope you can feel the same way when you have a look at my website, again, link

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in the show notes.

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So feel free to have a look.

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The other place where I did see increase, where I did see like sufficient traffic was

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sub stack app traffic.

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So what that is, is where readers are discovering your content through the sub stack app, where

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users are often browsing and engaging with different newsletters, right?

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So why this matters is they're already engaged users within the sub stack ecosystem.

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So they're already browsing through different content creators content out there.

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They're already engaging on the app.

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It makes them that much more likely to convert into loyal or paid subscribers because they're

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already familiar with the platform.

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All they need to do now is just get familiar with your content.

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And this is where you can offer value to them.

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And how to optimize this consider exclusive app only posts, right?

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Some posts can be only app.

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I'm not sure if sub stack has a way for doing this, but I think if I were to, and I'm still

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trying to figure out how sub stack works with all this different platform, but like I think

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if they have only app only posts, we can try to do that or pay tiers again for the audience.

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So that I'm familiar with that we can do this.

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And these users are already primed to consume content on sub stack.

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So enticing them with unique offers can yield amazing results.

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The sub stack app for me contributed about 300 views and 60 plus newsletters users for

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my newsletter.

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So I'm still beginning as you can see, but what I would say is just try to understand

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your users based on how much the traffic is coming through.

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So for me, while this was smaller than my direct traffic, it is an engaged audience

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worth focusing on.

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Email traffic, it is like basically readers clicking links in your email newsletter.

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This is often the more warmer audience and most warmest I would say, because subscribers

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who already signed up and receiving our emails, they are really like showing more interest

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towards you.

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They are loyal.

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Email traffic measures how well our subject lines and call to actions are performing.

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So how we can optimize this is by experimenting with subject lines to improve open rates,

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make sure our email content is compelling enough to drive clicks back to our sub stack.

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In my case, email traffic brought in 187 views from 67 users.

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So that's like again, small enough, but while it was small, it suggested a lot of room for

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improvement in my email marketing strategy.

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More engaging subject lines is something I can make.

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So that is an immediate focus for me.

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Referral traffic.

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So this is the fourth category I wanted to speak about in terms of sources.

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It is basically traffic from other websites or platforms, which link to our content.

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Referrals are a great way to grow your audience organically as they bring in readers who might

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not have discovered your content otherwise.

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We can optimize it by building relationships with other creators, platforms or organizations

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in our niche.

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We can also consider guest posting, partnerships or even syndicating content that is basically

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publishing to other platforms.

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For instance, Canva embed was one of my key traffic sources.

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Canva as you know, is like this amazing AI based design tooling system.

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So I use that to create my logo for my publication and then you can use it too.

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But basically Canva accounts for about 55 views, which is still small, but it shows

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embedding my newsletter in visually appealing content could be a valuable strategy.

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So maybe people clicked on a very visually appealing image to them.

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And there's maybe some things I can optimize here.

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And other smaller sources like towards AI and RSS feeds also contributed to referral

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traffic, which underscored the importance of collaboration and content distribution.

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And then we have social media traffic.

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Social media traffic is traffic coming from Twitter, Facebook kind of thing.

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So basically people are finding my newsletter through platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter,

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Facebook, for example.

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And then why this matters is social media is often where your casual readers discover

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you for the first time.

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So with the right strategy, these casual readers can become loyal subscribers.

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How we can optimize it is by sharing snippets, visuals, teasers on social media with direct

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links to our sub stack.

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And we can experiment with different formats like text, post, videos, or infographics

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and analyze which one drives the most engagement.

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Social media was a smaller contributor in my data, but its potential is enormous.

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And like I said, these are like casual, these are casual browsers, casual readers, whatever

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you want to call them, but they have a lot of impact to your platform because once you

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go socially viral, everyone's going to find you and that's how you become big.

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LinkedIn and Twitter were top performing platforms for me.

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So they became a focus area for me.

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Now how we can use traffic analytics to grow our sub stack.

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Now that you understand the key traffic sources, let's look at actionable ways to leverage

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this data for your growth.

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You can double down on strengths.

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Like for example, your top performing traffic sources, which are already working so we can

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lean into them, right?

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If direct traffic is high, ensure your homepage or your landing page is optimized.

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So that way you get more conversions.

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If email traffic is driving clicks, refine your subject lines and call to actions to

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boost engagement even further.

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Expand your referral network.

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Referrals are an excellent way to grow your audience.

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Identify the platforms, blogs, or creators during referral traffic and explore collaboration

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opportunities.

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For example, you can partner with other creators in your niche to cross promote newsletters.

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Guest post on other large platforms to reach a wider audience.

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Embed your content in tools or platforms like Canva or RSS feeds where your target audience

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is active.

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Boost your social media strategy.

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Social media may start small, but its potential for growth is enormous.

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Just spoke about that earlier.

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You can share snippets again on the platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter, which have a direct

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link to a sub stack.

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And here are a few tips.

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Creating engaging visuals or infographics, which summarize our posts that would engage

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our casual readers.

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Also hashtags, which are strategically used for our post can help increase the reach.

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We can engage with our audience by responding to comments and sharing user generated content.

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So that maybe you can take a top performing person on LinkedIn or Twitter and then go

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respond to their post and then maybe have a link to your sub stack.

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I would say at this point, just don't try to put some spam on there because people are

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very wary and they may even report you.

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So be very careful to promote yourself without sounding very salesy.

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So especially when you're commenting, do not sound salesy.

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Right, basically you shouldn't be trying to sell something on that platform in a comment

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of all the places because it's not yours.

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You're just there on borrowed space and optimize for the sub stack app.

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Since sub stack app traffic consists of engaged users, consider creating content specifically

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for them.

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Exclusive posts or app only deals can help convert these readers into paid subscribers.

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Turning insights into action is another step you need to follow.

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Turning insights into action.

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So data without action is meaningless.

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Right, so you have a lot of data, you have a lot of analytics and you're not using any

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of the insights that you gather from that data.

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So what use is that?

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We need to regularly analyze our traffic stats and adjust our strategy accordingly.

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For instance, if referral traffic is low, we need to reach out to different partners,

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like new partners.

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If social media traffic underperforms, experiment with new formats or platforms.

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If email engagement drops, revisit the subject lines and email content.

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So there's a lot of different steps you can take for each of the different problems that

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you have.

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And I don't think there should be an excuse for not acting on the data.

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So common traffic mistakes that we can avoid is focusing only on the top line metrics.

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While total views are important, deeper metrics like unique users and conversions, they tell

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the real story.

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We need to look beyond the surface.

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Ignoring trends over time can be costly.

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So basically if we analyze trends over weeks or months, they can reveal shifts in our audience

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behavior and if certain sources are growing while others are declining, if we are ignoring

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this, it's again going to be a loss for us.

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So we need to adjust our efforts accordingly.

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And not testing and experimenting is another mistake which we should be avoiding in traffic.

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So basically your first strategy may not be your best, but we can use A-B testing for

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email subject lines to see which ones work better.

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Social media formats and homepage call to actions to see what resonates.

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Neglecting engagement metrics and other traffic mistake to avoid.

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Basically views are great, but we want to see our users actually engaging.

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So engagement metrics means clicks, shares and comments, which in Substack's case is

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clicks is you can think of the same as love, share as a restack, comment is what they are

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commenting, right?

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And this would indicate how well the content is connecting with the readers.

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So next steps for Substack creators, maybe any creators out there is by diving into Substack

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analytics.

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So we need to take a quick action plan by analyzing traffic sources and identifying

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our top performing channels, focusing on one area to optimize, whether it's improving email

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engagement, growing referral traffic or boosting our social media presence.

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So we need to set specific measurable goals.

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Like for instance, you want to improve your email engagement, email clicks or love by

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20% or gain 50 new subscribers through social media, right?

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It's a specific measurable goal.

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And remember that analytics is just a tool and it's not the end goal.

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We need to use them to refine our strategy and keep experimenting until we find what

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works.

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To conclude, Substack analytics provides a roadmap for creators to grow their audience,

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improve engagement and ultimately monetize their work.

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By understanding and leveraging a traffic data, we can identify what's working, what

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needs to improve and where we can find what our next big opportunity lies in.

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So our numbers, they tell a story.

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It's up to us to write the next chapter.

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So what's your analytics telling you today?

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Let's discuss in the comments or you can just reach out to me on my Substack, bhukundhansankar.substack.com.

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And I will link to everything in the show notes.

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Before I go, here's an exciting update.

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I'm building something special for Substack creators and medium creators to help grow

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and engage with our audience.

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So think of this one as a part one, where I focus on the traffic, but stay tuned for

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part two, because that's going to be even more fun.

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All right.

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So that's all for this episode.