Should You Split From Substack & Blog on Your Website?
Change is (almost) always a good idea. Heck, I wrote a book about change. Now, there's a balance to strike with change. Sometimes, we need to stick things out. I see many people in the online space jump ship early, potentially missing out on opportunities and giving their efforts a real solid go.
I recently deleted half the tasks on my 2026 plan to start fresh. Removing all the things that I felt were weighing on me and recentering my focus.
Should you write on Substack or your own website?
There’s some gray area here. I’ll share my experience to help you make the best decision for yourself.
I blogged on this website for 9 years, from 2015 to July 2023:
I used MailChimp for my newsletter and email marketing
For most of these years, my free resources were truly free. I provided numerous resources and guides without requesting an email address in exchange. Marketing gurus thought I was bananas. But I only wanted people to subscribe to my weekly emails if they really wanted to.
I moved my blog and email to Substack for 12 months (from July 2023 to July 2024):
In the fall of 2023, I stopped blogging here at The Intuitive Writing School and started blogging on Substack. I saw what I thought was a massive uptick in views on my writing on Substack (sometimes 2 - 10x what I was seeing on my website)
I blogged on Substack consistently for a year — at least once a week for most weeks. Sometimes 2-3x a week
I regularly updated posts on this site to keep them relevant
My newsletter used to live on Mailchimp, so moving to Substack eliminated my need for newsletter software
Substack isn't built for email marketing — so if you need to segment your lists, Substack’s process is quite manual
After 12 months, I looked at my businesses’ KPIs (key performance indicators) — I noticed Substack views were down 2-4x what they had been earlier in the year.
Hmmm.
I started to wonder if Substack was overreporting views. I think they took my entire email list and counted every post that gets emailed to subscribers as a "view." And my open rates were around 50%, so views should have been closer to half my audience.
All the reasons why I made the switch to Substack a year ago were legit. And that changed — as things do. This has been an excellent lesson in staying flexible.
Substack — a breakdown
Substack is a third party, and I wanted to keep all my writing on a platform I can control — like my website and email newsletter
As a user, Substack is getting noisy. It’s essentially a social media network with long-form content. And without censorship (for now). Since they released notes and videos, I see Substack as a distracting place for people who don't know how to get in, post, and get out (which I've mastered, so I didn't find it distracting). Something to consider if you don’t want one more social feed to handle.
Tracking my KPIs, my blog has seen a 2-3x increase in traffic since January 2024. I regularly update old blog posts with fresh and relevant content, add new offers and courses, and make slight adjustments for SEO. As a result, this website was getting some love, but not as much as I would give it with regular blog updates. I also added a podcast, which drives traffic here each week.
Substack might be best for writers with massive audiences looking to monetize their newsletters (Substack takes 10% of your revenue, and it's free to use) OR for writers who would be censored in other places.
Substack is also an excellent option for getting started with writing online — the barrier to entry is zero, it’s free, and it's super easy (although there are numerous choices to make during setup).
Substack is also great if you want to start a blog that has nothing to do with your business or want your blog to be your newsletter. For now, I prefer to direct eyeballs to my website to read my blogs because that's where they can sign up for coaching and my community. In the summer of 2025, I started writing on Substack again because I wanted an outlet for more personal writing that didn’t really fit here.
I really love writing newsletters. Like LOVE writing newsletters so much. I’ve been writing a weekly one for my Intuitive Writing School students since 2018, and it’s my favorite space to connect. I missed this with Substack. Substack has the option to write emails, but it’s primarily a blogging platform (similar to Medium, which I tried for years and left). In 2019, when I paused on my blog for a few months, I was happy to continue writing newsletters. Emails are my JAM.
I share what I'm doing in case it's helpful.
Most importantly — get your writing OUT THERE! You can always start writing on Substack and move your subscribers to another platform. It’s free to use, so why not?