Convert more website traffic by customizing your beehiiv intros and outros

Stop publishing posts that read like emails to your website

January 12, 2024

One of the things I love most about beehiiv is the ability to take one piece of content and send it to subscribers as an email AND publish it to the web.

I didn’t have to choose between starting a newsletter and starting a blog, or split my focus between the two! But each audience is slightly different, and beehiiv lets you customize your message.

If you’re a fellow beehiiver, 👋hi!

Are you guilty of including any of the following in your online blog posts?

  • “reply to this email”

  • “if someone forwarded you this email . . . “

  • something very date-specific, like “Happy Holidays!”

These are great items for your email, but I’ll show you how to hide them from your website post so they don’t turn away your online readers.

Table of Contents

What’s a custom intro or outro and why do I need one?

Intro is short for the introduction. In the context of a newsletter and blog post, the intro generally includes the greeting and opening paragraph(s).

Merriam-Webster says an outro is “a short, distinct closing section at the end of something”. Here, an outro means a strong finish, typically including a call-to-action (CTA).

beehiiv creators need to customize their intros and outros to increase engagement.

When the reader feels like the content was created for them and the CTA is actionable, conversion is naturally going to increase. If you got to the end of an online blog post and it said “reply to this email”, you’re not taking ANY action.

How to create custom intros and outros in beehiiv

Summary of steps

  • Inside the post editor, type / (forward-slash), then click Section

  • Add your intro or outro content inside the section

  • Click the six dots to the left of the section, then click Visibility

  • Show or hide based on the content

For Email-Only Content

  • Show on website = No

  • Show in email = Yes

For Website-Only Content

  • Show on website = Yes

  • Show in email = No

Bottom Line: Create separate sections for email & blog content and then adjust the visibility settings.

How many sections will I need?

Likely between 1-4

  • You might just have one section that works in an email but should be hidden on the website.

  • But if you want a custom intro both for email and website, you’ll have to create two custom sections at the top of your post (one for email and one for web)

  • If you want a custom outro for both email and website, you’ll have to create two custom sections at the bottom of your post.

Note: You can have several blocks of content inside one section.

Detailed steps with screenshots

Type / and then select Section

The outline of a section is only red when your cursor is inside, otherwise it’s grey.

Click the six dots, then click Visibility

These are the default visibility settings

Settings for email-only content

Settings for website-only content

Watch my 3-minute video demo instead

What’s beehiiv?

If you’re new to beehiiv, welcome! You’re looking at it right now! This is my blog built with and hosted by beehiiv, linked to my custom domain. beehiiv is also my newsletter platform. It’s a fantastic app with a supportive Slack community and new features released all the time.

beehiiv — The newsletter platform built for growth

Access the best tools available in email, helping your newsletter scale and monetize like never before.

Feel free to drop questions in the comments!

Reply

or to participate.