Your Visibility Edge turns two this month, which gave me a good reason to review what happened across 212 posts.
I looked at what people read, what they responded to, which posts were followed by new subscriptions, and where people unsubscribed. I wanted to see whether the numbers supported my own sense of what was working.
They didn’t always.
Some articles with strong views and engagement produced little subscriber growth. Other posts with smaller numbers brought in more subscribers. And a couple of articles that looked unimpressive by subscriber growth alone went on to become paid products.
That gave me a much better way to think about content performance.
If you publish content to support your business, the same kind of review can help you decide which ideas deserve another article, a new format, or something you can sell.1
Here’s what I tried: Which newsletter metrics did I review?
Over the past two years, I’ve published tutorials, visibility strategy, AI experiments, interviews, personal stories, search updates, content marketing advice, resources, offers, and announcements.
Some posts came from work I was doing in my own business. Others answered a marketing question or shared an experiment or lesson I was still working through.
I tested headlines, calls to action, free and paid content, interviews, and different ways of presenting an idea. Then I reviewed 212 posts and compared:
views
engagement
signups
unsubscribes
net subscriber growth
Across the two years, those posts generated 336 one-day signups and 153 one-day unsubscribes, for net growth of 183 subscribers. The totals gave me context, and the individual posts gave me more to work with.
Here’s what happened: Do high views and engagement lead to more newsletter subscribers?
A recent article, Should You Focus on Your Website, Social Media, or Email Newsletter?, had 518 views, 26 reactions, 15 comments, and a 12.1% engagement rate. Within the one-day reporting window, it added two subscribers and lost three.
Another article, The Next Question Matters, had a 7% engagement rate. It added five subscribers and lost none.
I saw the same kind of variation in views.
Maximize Visibility with LinkedIn + Substack had 2,382 views and a 21.1% engagement rate. It produced one signup within the reporting window.
How to Help ChatGPT Cite Your Content had 558 views, 18 reactions, six comments, and a 14.1% engagement rate. It produced no one-day signups.
Each metric answers a different question.
Views tell me whether people found or opened the post. Reactions and comments show that readers responded to it. Subscriber behavior gives me another clue about whether people wanted to keep hearing from me.
If you review your own content, look at several types of response before deciding which topics deserve more of your time.
Did someone subscribe? Reply? Visit an offer? Book a call? Share the article? Come back for more?
One number rarely gives you the whole answer.
Can newsletter content drive revenue without growing subscribers?
Those two high-view articles taught me something else about measuring content.
If I judged Maximize Visibility with LinkedIn + Substack only by its one signup, I would miss what happened next. The ideas in that article became The Visibility Loop, my mini-course built around a 10-step content plan.
The same thing happened with How to Help ChatGPT Cite Your Content. That topic developed into Get Cited by AI, a workshop and related AI Skills that help people apply the ideas.
Both articles gave me ideas I could develop into paid offers.
That expands the way I think about the return on a newsletter article. A post can lead to subscribers, and it can lead to a workshop, course, Skill, service, resource, or another offer.
This applies to your content, too.
Look at what happened after you published. Did readers ask follow-up questions? Did one part of the article get more response than the rest? Could the process become a workshop, assessment, resource, service, or AI tool?
Sometimes a piece of content is the first version of something people may eventually pay you for.
What kind of newsletter content made readers want to subscribe?
Several of my stronger recent growth posts showed work in progress and the decisions I was making along the way.
My AI Builder Crushes on Substack added five subscribers and lost none. I Started Building a Simple AI Tool as an Experiment added three and lost none.
In those posts, you could see what I was testing and how I was making decisions. I shared why I chose an option, where I changed direction, what I questioned, and what I learned after trying something.
AI can give you a list of ideas in seconds. It can explain a process or summarize a topic. My experience shows up in the choices I make with that information.
After 30 years of working online, I’ve seen plenty of marketing ideas that sounded good and produced little. I’ve seen simple ideas work for years, and I’ve changed my mind when the evidence gave me a reason.
That decision-making is something I can share with you. If you create content from your own expertise, you can do the same.
Show why you chose an approach and what you ruled out. Share what happened after you tried it and how your experience affected the recommendation you made.
Your reader gets to see how you think through a problem they may be trying to solve themselves.
Why do clear, specific newsletter topics get attention?
Another pattern showed up in the way topics were presented.
Some stronger posts addressed a recognizable question, decision, or problem:
I Started Building a Simple AI Tool as an Experiment
You know the subject before opening the article. Some weaker posts started with broader ideas, and the reason to read was harder to see from the title.
Your reader makes a decision before reaching the first paragraph. They want to know whether the subject connects to something they are dealing with and whether spending a few minutes reading will help them.
Try this with your next headline. Ask whether someone can identify the problem, decision, or result the article addresses before clicking.
How should promotional emails fit into your newsletter?
Offers, announcements, celebrations, and workshop promotions tended to see more unsubscribes than my regular editorial content. I expected that, since promotions ask readers to make a decision.
I run a business, and I’ll keep telling you about services, workshops, and resources I think can help. The data made me pay closer attention to the job of each email.
A teaching email can teach. A conversation email can invite a response. An offer can make the case for an offer.
Trying to fit too much into one message makes the purpose harder to follow. Before you write, decide what you want that email to do.
Here’s what I noticed about content that grows a newsletter
The patterns across 212 posts gave me a clearer way to judge my content. Useful information can bring people in, a clear point of view can give them a reason to return, and a concrete question can make it easier for someone to decide whether an article is relevant.
Showing how you make decisions gives readers access to your experience. An article can earn its place in your business through subscriber growth, conversations, services, products, or ideas worth developing further.
That’s what I want to pay closer attention to in year three.
I have the data from my side, and I’d like your perspective too. Your answer will help me decide which kinds of articles to create more often in year three.
What makes an article most useful to you?
Seeing what someone tried, what happened, and what they learned
Getting a clear answer to a specific marketing question
Having steps I can follow and put into practice
Seeing examples that help me make a decision
What this means for you: How can you review your own content performance?
You can learn from your content long before you reach 212 posts. Start with your last 10 pieces and look at them together.
Ask yourself:
Which topics brought people closer to my business?
Where did my experience and judgment show up clearly?
Which pieces addressed a problem or decision my readers already have?
Which idea deserves a follow-up or could become something I sell?
Use whatever evidence your business gives you: newsletter subscriptions, replies, website visits, calls booked, downloads, comments, sales, and referrals.
Then compare what you find across those 10 pieces. Look for topics people responded to, questions that keep coming up, and ideas that led somewhere beyond the original post.
A high-view article may lead to a useful offer. A smaller post may bring in more subscribers. An article with modest subscriber growth may contain the idea for your next workshop or service.
Pay attention to what happens after you publish. That information can help you decide what deserves another article, a new format, or a paid offer.
What will you get from Your Visibility Edge in year three?
The purpose of Your Visibility Edge stays the same: help you get found, show your expertise, build trust, and turn visibility into business without burning out.
The way I share that work is changing. You’ll see more of the experiments I’m running, including what worked, what I changed, and what I learned.
You’ll see more of the decisions behind my recommendations so you can compare them with choices in your own business. I’ll share examples from work I’m doing now, including the AI tools I’m building and the questions I’m asking as I build them.
And I’ll keep coming back to one question that has guided my work for years:
What’s the next logical step?
I want Your Visibility Edge to help you spend less time collecting marketing ideas and more time making good decisions about what deserves your attention.
If that sounds useful, subscribe to Your Visibility Edge and join me for year three. Paid subscribers now have more ways to get direct help from me, with new perks for when you want support applying an idea, making a decision, or finishing a project.
Two years of publishing gave me plenty of numbers to study. I’m going into year three paying closer attention to what readers do, showing more of the thinking behind my work, and using that evidence to decide what I create next.
P.S. Got questions, comments, feedback? Post them in the comment thread!
I used Finn Tropy’s Substack Control Center to download performance reports and then applied the prompt he includes in this article. No affiliation. I’m a fan and happy customer. 😎