In your Steady project you can post articles, blog posts, podcast episodes or simple updates to your project. You can also use exclusive posts to create individual plans with exclusive benefits (↓). Or you can send posts as emails to your members, using Steady as a newsletter tool.
In this article you'll find everything you need to know about:
- How to publish a new post
- Post settings: Teaser preview, visibility, distribution
- The post overview: search, sort and filter
- How to reset to draft and share a secret link
- Offer exclusive benefits with exclusive posts
- Member comments
More information about your posts' statistics and conversion, click and open rates.
How to publish a new post:
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Login and click on New Post under Posts
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At the beginning you see nothing but a blinking cursor – you can start writing straight away
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Design your post using the options at the bottom of the screen
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Click on A to bold or italicise your text and insert titles, teasers, lists, quotes and links
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Click on + to upload images or audio clips – this can also be done by dragging and dropping the file into the editor (this way you can host your podcast directly on Steady)
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Embed external content like videos, social media posts, audio posts and more by simply inserting a link in the editor – you can publish your externally hosted podcast episodes this way, too. The link you insert will be converted into embedded content. (If you don't wish to embed anything, but rather create a simple link, you can insert a link into some text instead).
- Include a paywall in your post to give subscribers a taste of your members-only content, and help persuade them to sign up for memberships. Follow the steps for integrating a paywall here.
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When you are satisfied with your post, click Next – you will then be taken to the post settings
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Adjust the teaser preview, visibility and distribution options in the settings (↓)
- Click on “Publish” to publish your post or select “Publish later” to schedule the publication for a later date.
By the way: While you are creating your post, you don't have to worry about saving it. The editor’s auto-save function automatically creates a draft of your post and saves any changes you make in this draft.
Once your post is published, your members can give it a high-five and comment (↓).
Settings: teaser preview, visibility, distribution
Before publishing your post, adjust the teaser preview, visibility and distribution options in the settings:
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Teaser preview: Check what your post will look like on the post overview page or when you post it on Facebook, Twitter and the like. The image, title and teaser are automatically taken from your post and inserted into the corresponding fields. You can still adjust these three elements here, if you like (changes only affect how it will appear on social media, not in the post itself).
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Visibility: In this section you can set who can see your post. Just set the appropriate checkboxes. You can use exclusive posts to create individual plans with exclusive benefits (↓). You can also change the visibility settings at any time after publishing: for example, you can make an exclusive post available to everyone later (this way you could offer pre-access to members).
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Distribution: Under Distribution you can determine different settings:
- "Show on your Steady page": Uncheck this to publish posts that don't appear on your Steady page. This can be helpful if you don't want this post to be accessible from there, but you want to link it elsewhere or send it via newsletter, but don't want to make it available online.
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"Send as email": Here you can determine whether or not your members and/or subscribers should receive your post as an email in their inbox as well. If you opt to send an email, you can write the subject line and send a test email. This function also allows you to send newsletters directly via Steady.
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If you have uploaded an audio file in your post, you can also specify whether you want to publish it as a podcast episode in your members' RSS feed. If you have uploaded several files, you can select from the drop-down menu which of these files should appear in the RSS feed. You can also change the title and description. The entire content of the post will be attached to the episode as show notes.
Post overview: Search, sort and filter
In your post overview you can search for specific posts (using titles). You will find the search function on the right above the table.
It is also possible to sort your posts by "Headline", "Date", "Sent", "Opened", "Clicked", "New Newsletter Subscribers" and "New Members". By default, posts are sorted by date in reverse chronological order. Drafts appear at the top, followed by scheduled posts and then posts that have already been published.
You can also filter your posts. For example, you might like to only display posts that you have published in the podcast feed. Or posts that you have published for members only. Or only the posts that have already been published. This can be helpful if you want to compare the conversion or open rates of certain posts.
Reset to draft and share a secret link
You can reset posts that have already been published to draft in your post overview. Simply click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the post's listing and select "Back to draft". In that menu you will also find the option to share your post with a secret link. Anyone who has this link will be able to view your post, even if they are not a member, or newsletter subscriber, or logged into Steady. This is handy if you want to send a draft to a colleague for review. Or if you want to share an exclusive post in your newsletter that is usually only visible to members – for example, as an example of your work.
Exclusive posts for exclusive benefits
You can decide who sees which posts. You can publish posts that are public and visible to everyone, or you can limit their visibility to members only, or even to members on particular plans.
This feature enables you to offer plans with exclusive benefits. You may decide that only members of certain plans should be given access to exclusive content such as podcast episodes, articles or videos.
- Do you have a podcast? Use the audio RSS feed to post content exclusively for members
Comments from members
Members are able to add comments to a publisher’s post. Only members have access to this feature, enabling you to create a safe and cosy space to engage with your community.
In order to add a comment to a publisher’s post, the member must be logged in on Steady.
Commenters are identified by first and last name (the same they used when signing up on Steady). It is possible for members to edit and delete their own comments – in the interest of transparency, other members will be able to see when they have done so.
As a publisher, you will receive an email notification when a member posts a new comment.