On Steady you have the possibility to publish posts and design them the way you want - with pictures, videos, audio contributions and so on. You can also send your posts as emails to your members and subscribers and use Steady as a newsletter tool.
What you will find in this article:
Steady as a newsletter tool
Anyone can sign up for your newsletter with an email address – even without a membership or Steady account.
The content of your entire post will be displayed in the email. This means your readers don't have to click through to your Steady page to see the post. Of course, they can still do that, for example, if they want to comment on the post or give it a high five.
Even if you have a podcast, magazine or other publication and don't send out newsletters as your main business, it can still be a good idea to use the feature and collect email addresses, because a mailing list massively increases your chances of making your membership programme a success.
Collect subscribers
In your settings, you can enable newsletter subscription.
Once you have enabled newsletter subscriptions, a sign-up box will appear at the bottom of your Steady page. Now anyone who visits your Steady page can sign up for your newsletter with their email address.
Newsletter sign-up form
Enabling newsletter subscriptions will also generate a link to a newsletter sign-up form you can share.
Just copy the link from your newsletter settings page and share it with anyone who might like to sign up for your newsletter. You can also add it to your website. This link will take users directly to the signup form.
What happens after people subscribe to your newsletter
Once they have subscribed to your newsletter, subscribers receive an email with a link to confirm their subscription. After that, they are registered for your newsletter. If they no longer wish to receive the newsletter, they can unsubscribe at any time via a link in the footer of your emails.
It is not yet possible to embed the newsletter signup box on your own website, but you can create your own button and add the link to your signup form.
Personalise the sign-up box
Encourage visitors to subscribe to your newsletter by adding a personal message. In your newsletter settings, you can give your newsletter a name and description, and customise the sign-up button and message.
You can also upload a picture of yourself to make the invitation more personal and compelling. If you don't upload a picture, your Steady account profile picture will be used as the default.
Importing your existing contacts
If you already have a newsletter and would like to switch to Steady, you can of course do so! This feature is currently in beta – if it's available to you, you will see the Import button in the top right corner of your subscriber list.
If the beta is not activated for you, you are welcome to send us a CSV with the addresses to support@steadyhq.com. We will then do this for you.
All subscribers at a glance
In your publisher area you will find a subscriber list, which you can also export as a CSV. In your statistics you will see the total number of subscribers as well as a chart showing you how many subscribers you have gained, lost or converted to members each month.
You can find more detailed statistics like open and click rates in your post overview.
How to send your post as an email
First layout your post.
Click on Continue. You will be taken to the settings page for your post.
Under Visibility you can specify who will have access to your post (everyone, your members, or members of certain plans) – and thus who will receive the email (if you select "For everyone" under Visibility, the email will be sent to all members).
Under Distribution, select "Send as email" and enter a subject line.
Check how the email looks by sending yourself a test email.
Publish your post or schedule it for publication at a later date.
Once you publish your post, it will appear on your Steady page and be sent as an email to your members. The email will look exactly like the post on your Steady page.
Your legal notice
Your legal notice appears in the footer of your emails. As a publisher on Steady you are obliged to provide a legal notice. You can do this here in your publisher area.
Embedded content
Embedded content like tweets, images and animated GIFs will displayed in the email.
For audio posts, videos and similar content, a linked thumbnail will be created. In the case of a YouTube video, for example, recipients will only see a thumbnail that redirects to YouTube when it is clicked.
Not all content embedded in your post can be displayed in the email
For example, an article preview or a Spotify embed will work in your post but not in the email. In this case, the corresponding link will appear with a grey border. (You can always check how it looks with a test email).
But don’t worry — all of this content is supported in the email view:
YouTube
Vimeo
Tweets
Images
Audio
Animated GIFs
Have ideas for improving Steady newsletters? We’d love to hear them. Write to support@steadyhq.com.