I personally think Golden State will make the playoffs, while Los Angeles won't. But that's more of a feel than based on any actual data. I also think both Minnesota and New York will play full on as long as it takes someone to secure the #1 seed, which I see Minnesota securing in the last week. I think last year's finals is VERY much on Minnesota's mind. Courtney Williams was particularly clear about that in an interview during the All Star weekend.
I also have some technical questions regarding Substack. I've seen other people post view statistics for their articles and that made me wonder. Typically, I've read your articles from the email notification I get. But, does it help you in any way for your readers to instead view your articles through the Substack app? Also, even when I read the whole article, It will often say I've only read some small percentage, say 10% or so. Do you know if that impacts whatever statistics you get?
If Golden State makes the playoffs, that's great news for the Storm. I actually don't think the Sparks will make it if I had to put money on it, but they will make it closer than it is now if that makes sense. I think they potentially could sneak into that 8th seed, whereas a few weeks ago, I thought they had 0% chance. Their two wins against Indiana were huge for them. If they beat the Mystics again today for the 2nd time in a row, that'll be big for them, too.
I definitely agree that the Lynx and Liberty will keep playing their full starters in games until they have a spot locked up. But Minnesota plays the Valkyries twice in their final 3 games (Games 42 and 44 on the season). Unless New York beats Minnesota 3 out of 4 or 4 out of 4 times they face each other, I think the Lynx will have the #1 seed locked up by then.
Your question regarding the Substack data is a good one, but one I don't have a great answer for. The main things I keep track of are total number of subscribers, total number of paid subscribers, when new people sign up, when people unsubscribe, and whether those are paid subscribers or free subscribers. If they are paid, do they give a reason why they unsubscribed? Is there something I could be doing better? I track general growth. I keep an eye on likes and the number of comments on the articles. If there are 5-10 or more comments, it shows my audience is engaged and interested. If an article receives zero comments, I generally feel like people weren't that interested or didn't care that much for those ones.
As I've grown, I notice sometimes I'll get e-mails from Substack or notifications in the App that my popularity is rising up the charts, etc. I haven't gone too deep into all of those different numbers. In the very early years, I was paying more attention to what people were opening or reading their e-mails. I think I had a former Storm player who isn't on the team anymore subscribed, and I was curious if she was reading the articles regularly. But overall, that's a lot to track when I'm working a full-time job, plus doing all this Storm and WNBA coverage, which is like a 2nd full-time job, etc. As you mentioned, it also may not be 100% accurate, like if you say you read almost everything, but it says you didn't. I also don't want to get into any negative headspace, looking over those numbers and seeing no one is reading the work, knowing how much time and effort I spend on it.
Okay, thanks for the insight on the statistics you get and how you use them. That all sounds very reasonable. I will try to remember to increase my use of the likes. There are certainly times when I enjoy the article, but I don't have an intelligent or original comment, so I won't comment. ***Uggh, I also need to learn how to reply correctly.
I personally think Golden State will make the playoffs, while Los Angeles won't. But that's more of a feel than based on any actual data. I also think both Minnesota and New York will play full on as long as it takes someone to secure the #1 seed, which I see Minnesota securing in the last week. I think last year's finals is VERY much on Minnesota's mind. Courtney Williams was particularly clear about that in an interview during the All Star weekend.
I also have some technical questions regarding Substack. I've seen other people post view statistics for their articles and that made me wonder. Typically, I've read your articles from the email notification I get. But, does it help you in any way for your readers to instead view your articles through the Substack app? Also, even when I read the whole article, It will often say I've only read some small percentage, say 10% or so. Do you know if that impacts whatever statistics you get?
If Golden State makes the playoffs, that's great news for the Storm. I actually don't think the Sparks will make it if I had to put money on it, but they will make it closer than it is now if that makes sense. I think they potentially could sneak into that 8th seed, whereas a few weeks ago, I thought they had 0% chance. Their two wins against Indiana were huge for them. If they beat the Mystics again today for the 2nd time in a row, that'll be big for them, too.
I definitely agree that the Lynx and Liberty will keep playing their full starters in games until they have a spot locked up. But Minnesota plays the Valkyries twice in their final 3 games (Games 42 and 44 on the season). Unless New York beats Minnesota 3 out of 4 or 4 out of 4 times they face each other, I think the Lynx will have the #1 seed locked up by then.
Your question regarding the Substack data is a good one, but one I don't have a great answer for. The main things I keep track of are total number of subscribers, total number of paid subscribers, when new people sign up, when people unsubscribe, and whether those are paid subscribers or free subscribers. If they are paid, do they give a reason why they unsubscribed? Is there something I could be doing better? I track general growth. I keep an eye on likes and the number of comments on the articles. If there are 5-10 or more comments, it shows my audience is engaged and interested. If an article receives zero comments, I generally feel like people weren't that interested or didn't care that much for those ones.
As I've grown, I notice sometimes I'll get e-mails from Substack or notifications in the App that my popularity is rising up the charts, etc. I haven't gone too deep into all of those different numbers. In the very early years, I was paying more attention to what people were opening or reading their e-mails. I think I had a former Storm player who isn't on the team anymore subscribed, and I was curious if she was reading the articles regularly. But overall, that's a lot to track when I'm working a full-time job, plus doing all this Storm and WNBA coverage, which is like a 2nd full-time job, etc. As you mentioned, it also may not be 100% accurate, like if you say you read almost everything, but it says you didn't. I also don't want to get into any negative headspace, looking over those numbers and seeing no one is reading the work, knowing how much time and effort I spend on it.
Okay, thanks for the insight on the statistics you get and how you use them. That all sounds very reasonable. I will try to remember to increase my use of the likes. There are certainly times when I enjoy the article, but I don't have an intelligent or original comment, so I won't comment. ***Uggh, I also need to learn how to reply correctly.