How to add a Subscribe CTA to your Substack homepage

In 6 simple steps

Hi everyone, hope you’re doing great.

If you’ve ever looked at someone’s Substack homepage and asked, “How did they get that ‘Subscribe’ banner thingy?”, wonder no more. In this post I tell you how.

What is a ‘Subscribe block’?

A subscribe CTA (call to action) is a page-width block that appears on a publication homepage. Substack calls these ‘Subscribe blocks’.

They aren’t present by default; they must be added manually by the publication owner.

The cool thing about subscribe blocks is that different people see different messages on your homepage, depending on whether they are non-subscribers, free subscribers or paid.

You create custom messages for each type of reader when you add a subscribe block to your homepage.

How to add a subscribe block to your Substack homepage

Step 1 Get your bearings

If you’re new to Substack, there are a few gotchas when it comes to homepages.

• Publication homepages are different to personal profile pages (you’ll see a publication name, not a person’s name at the top).

• Publication homepages are only visible on desktop, not on mobile or on the Substack app.

• Publication homepages must be activated for new creators by selecting ‘Custom theme’ in settings. This post shows you exactly how.

Step 2 Go to Website editor

You can get to Substack’s website editor two ways:

• In your publication dashboard, scroll down the menu on the left to ‘Creator tools’ (it’s below ‘Audience’) and click ‘Website editor’; or

• In your publication settings, scroll to ‘Website’, then click ‘Go to website theme editor’

Both paths will take you to the website editing page.

Publication dashboard > Creator Tools > Website editor

or

Publication dashboard > Settings > Website > ‘Go to website theme editor’ [button]

Reminder: Make sure you have ‘Custom theme’ (not ‘Match profile’) active

Step 3 Activate ‘Custom Body Layout

On the Website editor page, find ‘Layout’ on the right, under colors and typography (you may need to scroll).

Toggle on ‘Use custom body layout’.

Step 4 Insert a new block on your homepage

From the Website editor page, find ‘Posts & modules’ in the left-hand menu and click to open.

Then find the three-dot menu next to the title Post & modules, on the right. Click the three-dot menu and select ‘Insert block below’ (or ‘Insert block above’).

Add a new block to your homepage from the ‘Posts & modules’ part of the Website editor

Step 5 Select ‘Subscribe block’

After selecting ‘Insert block below/above’ from the three-dot menu, you’ll be given the option to add a ‘Subscribe block’. Click that option.

Step 6 Create the subscribe CTAs

After clicking [add] Subscribe block you will be prompted to create messages for different homepage visitors, including non-subscribers, free subscribers, and (if you have payments activated), paid subscribers.

You can create custom messages for each type of person, or just use the same message for all.

When you’re done click ‘Save’ and go to your website to check out your handywork.

Make custom messages for each type of person who arrives on your homepage, or just use the same message for each.

👉 Top tip: You can add multiple ‘Posts & modules’ blocks and multiple subscribe blocks to your homepage - you can even use a different set of messages for each.

Final thoughts

• Subscribe CTAs are easy to add to your Substack homepage, once you know how.

• Choose a message that’s compelling and unique, so you can stand out from the crowd.

• If your homepage doesn’t look right, follow the instructions here to activate the custom theme setting for your publication.

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That’s it from me for this week,

Have a good one!

P.S. I just finished writing a plain language guide to homepage customizations for Substack. It will be available to paying subscribers as part of my next template pack launch. Upgrade now to lock in the current price of $30 forever.