How I Earn Money on Substack in 2026
SEO changed my strategy
Last year I wrote about the five ways I make money on Substack. Paid subs, affiliates, sponsored sections, digital products, tips.
A lot has changed since then.
Biggest change: The sponsored sections are gone. I dropped them. Because they didn’t fit anymore. My Substack has shifted from a newsletter-first thing to something closer to a blog. A search-driven blog. And I really didn’t like the “forced” sponsor sections.
And that shift to blogging first also changed how every other revenue stream works.
SEO Is the Engine Now
I used to think about subscribers first. How many people open the email. How many click. The usual newsletter metrics.
Now I think more about search traffic.
