Your Steady page is where you make your appeal to your community to become paying members.

One common mistake many publishers have made when writing their Steady page is launching into an introduction to their publication. The Steady page is not the place to do that.

By the time readers arrive at your Steady page, you already have an existing relationship. They’ve been listening to your podcast, or reading your blog, for some time already, and have now clicked through to your Steady page, answering your call for support. They’re looking for ways to deepen their connection with you and your work. So there’s no need to go right back to the beginning. Instead, use a tone of voice that befits a conversation with a friend – it’s time to get a little bit personal.

There are two crucial elements to nailing your Steady page text: passion and purpose. First, focus on passion, ie. what connects you and your community. What’s the thing you all have in common, the issue you all care about, the hobby that makes you tick? Meet them there.

Then, lead them to the purpose. Why is it important that they start paying for your work now? What purpose will you be able to achieve together?

Answer these two questions in your main text and your community will be helpless to resist your appeal.

Now let’s take a look at some of the other elements of your Steady page that you can use to make your most compelling case for memberships.

Right at the top of your Steady page is your first place to make an impact.

Make the most of the headline space by putting your value proposition here. What are you promising? What’s in it for your community?

In this case, we don’t mean the benefits you might offer in exchange for membership – you’ll get a chance to show those off shortly – but rather what value this membership will bring to their life.

Your value proposition is a little different to your mission statement, which is more about nailing down what your project stands for.

Formulate your mission statement into more of an active appeal, eg. “Support the podcast that amplifies Afro-German voices”, and then it will work nicely just under the headline as a pitch. Get these two assets singing in harmony and you’ll be well on your way to a convincing membership offer.

The Steady page offers a number of ways to make your case visually.

Use the header image, as well as photos throughout your main text, to show who’s behind your project and create some emotional connection with the reader. Don't be shy – a little eye contact goes a long way here.

You can change your publication color in the backend, so that your Steady button and other related features use your brand colors. This might be the same colour as in your logo, but we’ve observed that a slightly darker version of a publication’s logo color can help set it off nicely, too.

And speaking of all things visual, goals are a great way to visualise where you’re at and also serve as powerful motivators for prospective members.

As mentioned above, your main Steady page text should be all about passion and purpose. So where do you get to reveal your snazzy benefits?

We recommend saving them for your plans, where you can break down which benefits apply to each plan.

When it comes to plan texts, short and sweet work best here. See if you can do away with full sentences and keep your benefits to simple bullet points. You can also make use of the plan headlines and price points to clearly convey what each plan is about.

We’ve developed a Steady page template for a fictional publication called Dorf Daily. You’re welcome to adapt it to fit your own publication’s passion and purpose.

[Headline] Keep independent journalism alive in your village

By Dorf Daily

[Pitch] Support Dorf Daily’s trusted coverage of local news and politics: by residents, for residents.

[Steady page body text – lead with the passion]

Dorf Daily offers the only truly independent news reporting in our region, covering the topics that have the biggest impact on the lives of our fellow residents, free from political or financial bias.

Since we launched in 2015, we’ve come to be the region’s most-read news source, with more than 50,000 visits to our website each week. From breaking crucial stories on water quality, kindergarten teaching conditions and the horse racing scandal of 2017, to coverage of the cultural events that bring our community together, our readers know and love us for keeping them informed about the issues that matter most.

[Now for the purpose]

Help us deliver more dedicated local coverage

For the past five years, Dorf Daily has been run by two part-time volunteers. We’ve proven that we can do a lot with just a little, and now we want to deliver even more for our community. In order to expand our award-winning coverage, our goal is to secure full-time funding for our two current journalists as well as hiring a third part-timer to specialise in agricultural reporting.

In order to make all of this happen, we’re now asking for your support.

[Call to action – bring it home!]

Give a voice to residents and hold those with power to account

Become a member of Dorf Daily to help ensure our ability to keep delivering for our community long-term and that there is always a free, independent voice in our region, holding those with power to account and giving a voice to residents.

[You may like to include a message about information accessibility if that is important to you and your readers]

Independent information available for everyone

Becoming a paying member will ensure we are able to continue providing these services to all our readers, even those who cannot afford a membership at this time. Because everyone in the region deserves to be well-informed about the decisions that impact their lives.

[A personal sign-off]

Thank you for your continued support. Here’s to the next chapter, together!

Simon Franzen

Editor-in-Chief, Dorf Daily

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Got a question we haven’t answered in our Help Centre? You can contact us at support@steadyhq.com.