Free Substack Audit
Get your tailored Substack Audit.
For coaches, consultants, experts and founders who want Substack to do more than collect likes: enjoy writing again, build an audience that sticks around, and turn readers into clients for years to come.
How to grow a Substack (and why most of them stall)
Most Substack growth advice is about tactics: post more Notes, restack more, run a cross-promo. Tactics don't fix a publication nobody can describe in one sentence. After a decade of writing newsletters and coaching creators, I see the same four problems behind nearly every stalled Substack. This free Substack audit checks all four in ten seconds and shows you exactly what to change.
1. Subscriber clarity: who is this for?
The fastest way to get subscribers on Substack is to make the right stranger think “this is for me” before they finish reading your bio. The audit checks your bio against the formula that works: credential, who you help, and the problem you solve. Then it reads your last 20 titles and Notes to see whether they hammer one reader and one problem, or whether you're journaling in public.
2. Articles: headlines that stop the scroll
On Substack, the headline is the article. The audit grades your last 10 headlines on whether they lead with a specific reader problem or outcome, with real specifics, or whether they're clever, vague, or about you. Then it rewrites two of your real headlines so you can see the difference.
3. Notes: are you posting things people actually read?
Most Notes are dry advice and smart-sounding one-liners, and they go nowhere. The audit reads your last 20 Notes and checks the three things that make a Note travel: a first line that hooks, substance a reader can feel (a story, a real opinion, a lesson you paid for, proof) instead of generic tips, and formatting that's easy to read on a phone. It also shows you which of your own Notes performed best and why, and rewrites one of your dry ones.
4. Posting frequency: are you actually showing up?
Notes are the only free traffic source on Substack, and articles are why people subscribe. The audit counts your Notes from the last 7 days and your articles from the last 30, straight from your public feed, and scores them against the rhythm that compounds: daily Notes, weekly articles.