My keyword in 2026 is sustainability, and my goal is to make a bigger impact and reach more people without working harder.
This week I shared how I’m diversifying my solopreneur portfolio in 2026 and one of the strategies was to launch my YouTube channel to repurpose my Substack Live videos.
It wasn’t perfect but I got the job done and YouTube sent me a trophy to celebrate my first 100 subscribers 🏆
Just a reminder that small beginnings are still big.
My goal with today’s Post is to share the full strategy I’m using to help you take off (with examples) and reach your first 100 subscribers by building a Substack- YouTube ecosystem.
This is ideal for writers who are already on Substack and have started doing Lives (or plan to in the near future) and don’t want them to go to waste.
If you are still early in your Substack journey, I suggest you start with my 13-minute tutorial to design an attractive home page that turns lurkers into subscribers. It’s 19US$ but you can get it FREE here.
The Substack/ YouTube Ecosystem
The goal is to create synergies between both platforms to maximize impact without adding extra hours. With just a little polish you can repurpose your Substack Live recordings for your YouTube channel, reach more people, gain more visibility, and get stronger SEO power (Substack is almost invisible to search engines, like a gated garden).
What you’ll find in the VIP cheat sheet:
- How to boost traffic leveraging Categories, Thumbnails and branding
- SEO strategies to increase views with Hashtags and Tags
- Edit like a pro without being one (Descript does a fabulous job with its embedded AI and you can use this link for a 50% discount trial)
- Create a seemless journey from YouTube to Substack (how to grow both)
- User competitors’ Metadata to improve your ranking, discoverability and views
- Increase engagement with Playlists, Recommended videos and “Cards”
Ten days ago I didn’t know a thing about editing or YouTube but everything starts with taking the first step 🌱
How to attract traffic on YouTube
The first step is to design a welcome page that captures users in just a few seconds so they click to your video.
Category & Topics help you place your videos on the right shelves inside YouTube’s gigantic library. Make sure to customize them individually so people can find you in your niche.
Thumbnails: The thumbnail is one of the most important things, yet many creators treat it as an afterthought: it helps you stand out, build your brand and spark curiosity. My strategy is to strike a balance between consistent aesthetics (your brand) and freshness to generate interest with the novelty element.
Where to design them?
Canva is fantastic because it already has beautiful templates you can customize (like the ones below) to make them true to your style. I use Canva Pro for all my creative work (presentations, covers, banners…) and I think it’s a fantastic investment for building a professional brand without a design team.
Optimize ranking and views with SEO, Hashtags & Tags
For those of us (the non-experts), SEO is the enemy we avoid at all costs but it’s an incredible tool that many writers under-utilize. The idea is to use it smartly so people can find us easily in search engines (Google, etc.). Think signs and labels in supermarket aisles. That’s SEO before SEO existed.
Here’s how you can improve your YouTube ranking with just a few tweaks in your desccription and optimizing Tags and Hashtags: