Week 16: Finally making the most of Ghost

I’ve been reflecting a lot on my email last week and the issues with Substack. I do think the aggressive marketing is off-putting. Plus, some people just don’t want to use Substack (either because of the amount of noise on the platform or because of the controversy over some of the publications hosted on the platform).

So I had a brainwave.

I’ve been wanting to add my mentoring lite programme to my Ghost site (The Freelance Fairytale) for a while. But a jump from a free subscription to £300 a month is quite steep, and I didn’t want to add another new product, having just launched a new membership.

Then it hit me that I could just offer the same membership on Ghost as well. The co-working events and lunch and learns aren’t hosted on Substack so it doesn’t matter which platform people sign up from. And I can share the same member-only content on both sites, so it doesn’t require any extra content creation, just a bit of copying and pasting.

The only thing that would be a problem is the group chat, as that’s on Substack. But I can give people access to that if they want it, even if they subscribe via Ghost, so it’ll just be offered as an optional extra. I know a lot of people aren’t fussed with community chats anyway, so I don’t see it being a major issue. And if I find I get more members via Ghost than Substack, I can always move the chat to a different platform.

Offering the membership on two platforms makes perfect sense. It allows me to tap into the existing Substack community to grow my membership on that platform - these members are probably already familiar with how Substack works. Meanwhile, it gives people who don’t like Substack (or aren’t familiar with it) an alternative way to get my support.

Win-win.

And so, this week, I have been busy adding some pages to The Freelance Fairytale and tidying it up a bit.

I’ve stuck with the fairytale theme. Stick to the path is my free subscription - a weekly email and blog post. Brick houses is my group membership - co-working events and lunch and learns. And Fairy Godmother is my 1-2-1 mentoring (my Mentoring Lite programme).

So this is my new menu:

And these are the subscription options:

Ghost doesn’t take commission, so it’s actually better for me to get some members that way rather than getting hundreds on Substack (which takes 10%).

I’m also going to continue offering the co-working events on a pay-as-you-go basis for people who want to try them out first. The lunch and learns will also be offered as standalone events. These are quarterly for now, but the plan is to move to monthly once the membership has grown a bit.

So if you are interested in joining my membership, you now have a choice of platforms (all payments are taken via Stripe).

Via Write with Lisa (on Substack)

Via The Freelance Fairytale (on Ghost)

Or you can book on a pay-as-you-go basis using this Stripe link. The next event is Thursday, 15th May 13:00-14:30 (UK).

Weekly Progress Report

As you can imagine, a big chunk of my week was spent updating my TFF site - I’m actually really pleased with how it is coming together.

I wasn’t sure about Ghost at first. Not because I didn’t think it was good. I said from the start that it’s a brilliant platform for people who need a basic website/blog with newsletter/membership options. I’ve even recommended it to two people who are now using it.

But I didn’t really need another website. And because I didn’t need another website, I wasn’t sure how I could make it work for my business. It dodn’t have some of the fancy features Beehiiv and Substack offered and it didn’t have all the plug-ins you can get for WordPress.

But I’m slowly growing to love it. I’m starting to really appreciate the simplicity of it. It might not have loads of bells and whistles, but what it does, it does well.

The website design options are way better than Substack and Beehiiv (although Beehiiv are rolling out a new website builder). It’s cheaper than Beehiiv, and it doesn’t charge commission like Substack.

Is it my favourite? Well, the jury’s still out. I honestly thought I’d have a favourite platform by now, but I don’t. All three have pros and cons, and I’m still uncovering new features and new frustrations every week.

My Beehiiv trial has ended, so I’ve just upgraded to a paid subscription. I’m not convinced it’s worth it at this stage, as I don’t think the monetisation opportunities will be that useful when my subscriber numbers are so small. But I’m going to give it a couple of months so I can test all the features, and then I’ll decide whether to drop back down to the free plan or stick with it.

Anyway, that’s about all from me this week - I’ve got some Hot Cross Buns calling my name. Have a fab Easter and I’ll be back next week with more updates.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please do feel free to email me. I read and respond to all emails personally.

P.S If you like my content and would like to show your support, you can buy me a beer here.