I saw a news item recently about how Substack, which is an online platform for publishing content combined with social media/networking, is allowing subscribers to use Apple iOS to pay content creators.
You may or may not use, or even know about, Substack, but this is an important issue to understand the principle behind it, and why this is a terrible problem for people using Substack.
The TLDR (too long, didn’t read) version is that now Apple iOS is an option for Substack subscribers to pay content creators. Which means that if those content creators want, or need, to leave the platform, they can’t access any details about those iOS-based subscribers, they effectively lose them if they leave.
I have, for years and years, strongly advised our clients to create the heart, the core, of their business on a platform they, themselves, control. Yes, it does mean setting up your own website, and getting an email service to deliver emails to your audience, and some kind of payment system to accept payments, and maybe having someone integrate those.
Look, I know it’s easier, MUCH easier, to use a platform like Substack, or Patreon, or Kajabi, to set up your entire business on it. They do everything for you, and they charge you a fee, or take a percentage, and it’s easy. It’s done.
The problem? It’s a big one.
Those platforms are not neutral. Take Facebook, for instance. Some years ago I watched folks set up their entire business through Facebook. Setting up private groups, having all their followers/audience through Facebook, and really depended on Facebook for nearly everything, except a payment processor for offers.
Then, over time, Facebook became less friendly, and more questionable. It became harder and harder to reach followers organically. Then came censorship. People having their accounts shut down in a moment.
Overnight, a business owner lost access to their entire audience that they had spent years building up. All gone. Because of an overnight change in the platform, that is totally out of your control.
I’m not saying never use these platforms.
We’re active on Facebook, on Instagram, on LinkedIn. Heart of Business gains audience, and clients, from those platforms regularly.
But, I consider those platforms to be a way to connect with new folks, and deepen trust with our current audience, not the center of our business.
For that, we have our website, our email list, and our payment processor, that are all relatively neutral services, with a great deal of portability, so that if we needed to change to a different provider, we can do it.
And, I regularly take steps to invite folks from our social media accounts onto our email list, so that we do have direct communication.
How? I’ll hold a webinar, and people will jump in, and end up on our email list, which we’re completely up front about. I’ll be honest, and remind people that social media algorhithms, and the platforms themselves, are problematic, and we’d like to be in direct communication with them.
The most valuable to our business *still* after all these years? The email list.
I know people like to say that email is dead, but it’s not. It’s far from dead. We continue to see the vast majority of purchases coming from emails we send out to our audience. Some will come from social media posts, for sure, but not the lion’s share.
I know it’s work… and please care for your business.
Yes, it does take some money, and yes, it does take some time. And remember, you want your business to support you, which is to bring in a significant amount of money. And, most likely, last for years.
All of that means your business is worth caring for and investing in. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to set up the basics:
- An inexpensive website, on WordPress or another not-all-in-one platform.
- A autoresponder/emailer platform, like ConstantContact, or one of the others, where it has a reasonable amount of functionality, and you can download your subscriber lists and move them to another provider if you need to.
- A payment processor of some sort. It could be a merchant account, or Stripe, or something else.
Yes, it will cost a little, if you aren’t tech savvy, to have someone integrate those onto your website. But it’s not max-your-credit-card expensive to have it done in a very simple manner. A website, a buy button that connects to the payment processor, a form for people to sign up for the emails… it’s not hard.
I’m begging you…
This means you’ll be caring for yourself and your business for years into the future. And the next time some platform CEO goes fascist, or their AI-powered monitors decide you violated some guideline, and you get shut down, your business will still exist, and you’ll still have access to your audience.
I’m practically begging you to listen to this. I’ve seen it too many times, and it’s heart-breaking. And I’m not selling any of this, or have any affiliate links here, or any skin in your game. This is just from my heart to yours, after being in this online space since the beginning, back in 2000.
with love and deep affection,
Mark Silver, M.Div.
Heart of Business, Inc.
Every act of business can be an act of love.
Next course: Copywriting!
My next course is going to be on heart-centered, non-manipulative copywriting–meaning, how do you write a description/page for your offer so that the right people can step in and buy it, and the wrong people don’t?
Like all things Heart of Business, it will include spiritual healing elements–which doesn’t mean you get over how you feel about copywriting– but it reinforces trusting your own heart and your reactions, so that you can find a way through that feels good.
It’s also going to be really practical. For me, there are 16 elements of a sales page, each one relatively easy to write/create, although a few will need some wrestling with to get full clarity. You don’t need all of them, but the more you have, the more clear and powerful your page will be.
There are three reasons I want to do this now.
- It’s been years since I’ve updated my original copywriting course material, and it really needs updating. My thinking, my understanding has both become more clear and advanced, and simpler and easier to do.
- As times become more urgent… it’s really important to me that folks who are bringing the healing and transformation need to be connecting with the folks who need that work. And unclear, shy, or absent sales pages for this work is not doing anyone any good.
- We need the healers to make a good living! Again, the times are such that if people can support themselves doing the real work, that’s better for all of us.
So… anyway, that’s what I’m working on. At the moment, I’m intending for the course to begin at the end of September and run through early November, and for enrollment to start in the next week.
Just wanted to give you a heads up. And, if you have any specific questions, challenges, or whatever about sales pages and copywriting, I’m happy to hear them.
