To publish a post, open the Steady editor, write your post and click Publish – or schedule it for later. Every post can be public, members-only, or sent out as a newsletter.
Use the editor to post articles, blog posts, podcast episodes or simple updates. Make a post members-only to offer it as an exclusive member benefit (↓), or send it as a newsletter straight to your members’ inboxes.
In this article:
Prefer video? Here’s our guide to publishing posts on Steady:
How to publish a new post
Log in and click New Post under Posts.
At first you see nothing but a blinking cursor – you can start writing straight away.
Lay out your post using the toolbar at the bottom of the screen:
Click A to bold or italicise your text and to insert titles, teasers, lists, quotes and links.
Click + to upload files such as images or audio clips – you can also drag and drop them into the editor. (This is how you host your podcast directly on Steady.)
Embed external content like videos, social media posts, audio and more by simply pasting a link into the editor – this works for externally hosted podcast episodes too. The link is turned into an embed automatically. If you only want to link to a page, use the link icon to add a link within your text instead.
Add a paywall to give readers a taste of your members-only content and help persuade them to sign up. Just click the lock symbol in the + menu – everything below the paywall is then visible to members only and hidden from everyone else.
When you’re happy with your post, click Continue in the bottom right-hand corner to reach your publishing settings. There you can adjust the teaser preview, access and distribution (↓).
Click Publish to publish your post – or tick Publish later to schedule it for another date.
Good to know: you don’t have to save manually. The editor’s auto-save creates a draft of your post and saves every change as you make it.
Once your post is published, your members can give it a high-five and comment (↓).
Settings: teaser preview, access, distribution
On the settings screen you choose who sees your post, how it’s organised and how it goes out:
Access: set who can see your post by ticking the relevant boxes. By default a post is visible to everyone. Make it members-only to offer plans with exclusive benefits (↓). You can change the visibility at any time after publishing – for example, open an exclusive post up to everyone later, or give members early access.
Topics: organise your posts with topics. Create a list of topics, then pick the relevant one whenever you publish a new post.
Distribution: decide how your post goes out:
Show on your Steady page: untick this to publish a post that doesn’t appear on your Steady page – handy when you want to link it elsewhere or send it by newsletter only.
Send as email: choose whether your members and/or subscribers also receive the post as an email in their inbox. If you do, you can write the subject line and send a test email. This is what lets you use Steady as a newsletter tool.
Publish later: set a publishing date for your post.
If you uploaded an audio file, you can also publish it as a podcast episode in your members’ RSS feed. Uploaded several files? Pick the one for the feed from the drop-down menu, and adjust its title and description. The full post is attached to the episode as show notes.
Teaser preview: check how your post will look on your post overview and when you share it on social media. The image, title and teaser are pulled from your post automatically, but you can still tweak these three here (changes only affect how it appears on social media, not the post itself).
Post overview: search, sort and filter
In your post overview you can search for specific posts by title. You’ll find the search box above the table on the right.
You can also sort your posts by “Headline”, “Date”, “Sent”, “Opened” and “Clicked”, as well as by how many “New Newsletter Subscribers” and “New Members” signed up as a result of a post. By default, posts are sorted by date, newest first: drafts at the top, then scheduled posts, then posts that have already been published.
You can filter your posts too – by topic, or to show only posts in the podcast feed, only members-only posts, or only posts that are already published, and so on. From the post menu you can also pin a post to the top of your Steady page or duplicate it. Filtering is helpful when you want to compare the conversion or open rates of certain posts.
Reset to draft and share a secret link
To move a published post back to draft, open your post overview, click the three dots at the right-hand end of the post’s row and select Back to draft.
The same menu has the option to share your post with a secret link. Anyone who has the link can view your post – even if they aren’t a member or subscriber, or logged in to Steady. It’s handy for sending a draft to a colleague to review, or for sharing an exclusive, members-only post in your newsletter as a taste of your work.
Exclusive posts for exclusive benefits
You decide who sees each post: publish it publicly for everyone, limit it to members only, or restrict it to members on particular plans.
This lets you offer plans with exclusive benefits – for example, giving members of certain plans access to exclusive content such as podcast episodes, articles or videos.
Got a podcast? Here’s how the exclusive audio RSS feed for members works.
Comments from members
Members can react to your post with a virtual high-five or a comment. Only members have access to this feature, so you get a safe, cosy space to engage with your community.
Members can comment once they’re logged in to Steady. Comments appear below the post in chronological order, showing the name each person used when they signed up on Steady.
Members can edit or delete their own comments. These are then marked “edited” or “deleted”, so the conversation stays transparent and easy to follow.
As the publisher, you’ll receive an email notification whenever a member posts a new comment.
Still need help?
Email us at support@steadyhq.com and we’ll be glad to help.
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