Create a Welcome / Start here / Hero Post
A hero post is a pinned post on your homepage that welcomes people.
What it should have in it
You can have it be whatever you want, but here are the top three ways people use it:
Write a more essayistic version of your About page.
Use your About page verbatim. (This is fine.)
Create an orientation post to orient your subscribers to your Substack.
It typically has an image (preferably) of you or some other signifier that we’re on your Substack.
It can have text, video or audio—whatever you prefer.
How to create it
To make a Hero post, you can
create a page or
a regular post.
I prefer a regular post, so that it’s also in your archive/feed where people can find it.
You’ll create it the way you would any post and could have it as a text, video, or audio post—your preference.
Step by step
After you’ve posted it, go to Edit again.
Go to Settings in the lower right corner of the page.
Scroll down to Displayed publication date and backdate the post to just before your very first post. This will prevent it from appearing in duplicate. Close and return to the page you’re editing. (No need to save. There isn’t the option.)
Continue>Update now
On the post, click the three dots to edit again.
On the dropdown menu, select Pin on homepage. That will be the featured post.