Six Content Stacks

‘To perceive is to categorize, to conceptualize is to categorize, to learn is to form categories, to make decisions is to categorize.’
St. Jerome

I organise all Banana Stand content into a structure of six content ‘stacks.’ Five of these have to do with starting, operating and growing your newsletter. I outline them all below.

The first five, in my opinion, are 100% needed if you want your newsletter to survive more than a month or two.

The last stack, which I call ‘Everything else,’ is where I put articles that have more to do with living a great life than running a newsletter. It’s my ‘catch-all’ for articles that don’t easily fit anywhere else. It’s #6 below.

Okay. Here they are. They may change over time.

Every article is colour-coded, like below. This makes it easy, when you scan the back catalogue, to know where each article fits in the scheme of things.

My 6 content stacks

Newsletter platforms like Medium and Substack makes it super easy to open an account, pick a name for your publication, and write your first article.

Boom, done!

But… there’s no intention, no planning. Write something and hit ‘publish.’ How hard can it be?

That’s a problem, and it’s what most people do. I think it’s a big reason why most newsletters don’t survive beyond a couple of months.

Instead, boom! a little slower. Figure out your initial niche and the voice you use in your articles. Understand the time commitment of writing and editing articles that people want to read. Set up your newsletter’s look and feel to attract new readers. Connect Google Analytics and Google Search Console for real-world data.

A little preplanning goes a long way.

This is the guts of your newsletter – publishing content that engages and enthrals your readers. You already know how to write great sentences. But can you keep going, month after month?

Develop a system that helps you create and publish, even after a long, weary day at your full-time job. Discover templates, structures, shortcuts and processes to build an amazing body of work and all the while, keep you enthused.

The best writing in the world doesn’t matter if no one can find it. Discover what your newsletter platform has to offer, and how you can augment it with off-platform promotion (paid and unpaid).

Make data-driven decisions based on the power of Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Discover what content resonates and what gets ignored. Fine tune your initial niche and voice to what your true audience says they want from you.

Every popular newsletter started with zero subscribers. Without data to point you in the right direction, that’s where yours will likely stay.

Of course, you may get lucky…

This cluster is for you if you have a dream of someday making money from your publication. Substack supports a range of commercial models, from native paid subscriptions through to memberships, affiliate products, services, ebooks and online courses, speaking, facilitation and coaching opportunities.

Lots of choices, right there.

If money is your goal, there’s something in this stack for you.

But maybe revenue isn’t your thing. Totally fine with that. You may have an uncommon perspective, a philanthropic purpose, or maybe you just want to write. I get that.

But in this stack, I put content for authors who want to generate some revenue from their newsletter.

Think of your newsletter as a business activity. Like every business ever, you strive to get more out of it than you put in.

Sometimes that’s money but it doesn’t have to be. Other times it could be promoting an interest, a cause, or a strongly held belief. Whatever cranks you up.

Business gets easier and the work gets more efficient when you have systems in place. Some tasks you automate, so they run themselves and scale infinitely. Others you schedule so you know what has to be done when, if at all.

Make it easy, so you have time to create like a human. Let your systems do the boring stuff.

Weird. I think this could end up being the most populated stack of them all.

This is where I write about experiments, observations, ideas, contrarian opinions and unpopular advice that don’t easily stay in my lane. It’s my rumination space, nothing to do with the concept of newsletters and everything about exploration from the safety of my little corner of the Internet.

What next?

This article is the second of three introductory articles about what we’re planning for The Banana Stand.

• About thebananastand.co
• Six Content Stacks (this article)
• The Banana Stand Ecosystem

Of course, it’s fine to tool around the individual articles if a topic catches your interest. Here’s the full catalogue.