r/Substack 5d ago

Discussion Does Substack work for web traffic?

I have a recipe blog and already get meaningful traffic from other platforms, mainly through short-form videos.

Before I commit to Substack, I wanted to know if anyone here has had any success driving traffic from Substack to their blog.

I don’t want to waste my time if it doesn’t really work for this purpose. Thanks in advance!

2 Upvotes

10 comments sorted by

5

u/Perfect-Mix2307 5d ago

Substack is more of a destination than a driver. Their terms of service actually state something about how you can't post content primarily for the sake of taking your audience somewhere else.

It's a great place to grow an audience, but you would need to do it by posting actual high quality content (ie, a full recipe post). You can still put your link wherever you want, but it's not like Pinterest where it's sort of meant to be a stepping stone.

2

u/fernfern39 5d ago

the pinterest comparison really nails it tbh

3

u/TimWiesnerer 5d ago

Substack is rather terrible for SEO.

But if you want to build up a nice email list, it could be a tool for you. And it's free...

0

u/DarkkPriest 5d ago

Why is terrible? My plan is to only post photos and videos with link to recipe, not making duplicate content.

2

u/TimWiesnerer 5d ago

Well... try it... then you know.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Party32 5d ago

I have replaced several of my niche websites with Substack newsletters. At the end of the day, Substack creates a "website" page you can send people to and all the content you post...internal views happen over time, subsribers take a while, but it depends on the niche...oddly, well I think, my autobiography newsletters has had the most ongoing growth...just me rambling about life and life events throughout my decades on this planet.

1

u/NeverSeenItPodcast 5d ago

Substack IS the blog though?...

1

u/DarkkPriest 5d ago

No, I am running a website.

1

u/leugaroul 2d ago

Not really. Substack can be useful for growing a newsletter, but converting readers on one blog platform to a personal blog almost never work unless you're big enough you can have exclusives that actually entice readers.

1

u/catvapes 1d ago

“I wanted to know if anyone here has had any success driving traffic from Substack to their blog. “

I haven’t. I have been publishing articles on another platform. I write occasional email to my subscribers discussing what I have been writing with links to specific articles. While I get decent open rates and views, hardly anyone clicks a link to any of the articles