PostPolish Review: Is It Worth Subscribing for $50 Monthly to Boost Your Blog Views from Flipboard?

A lot of bloggers have been decimated by Google ever since the Helpful Content Update (HCU) occurred last year. Ever since then, they started looking for alternatives to drive traffic to their website, and that's how Flipboard filled the gap for some of them.

I've been using Flipboard since a few years ago, but I only realized that it's become so popular among bloggers earlier this year when I came across a blogger looking for a Flipboard manager.

Long story short, I started offering this service since Flipboard has become one of the top 3 traffic sources on my website in the last 2 years. I've been in a few larger Flipboard groups on Facebook, so I try to keep myself updated about what's going on this platform in particular.

Just a few months ago, I found out that Michael Dinich from The Money Mix launched a new tool to optimize Flipboard posts called PostPolish so I decided to give it a shot. During this time, I had been managing four accounts in total – three for clients, and one for this blog.

My decision to start my PostPolish subscription was clear: it's to see if the tool is worth it, so maybe I can recommend it to my clients if I can drive more traffic to my site from Flipboard using PostPolish.

I've been billed by PostPolish twice since the first time I decided to subscribe to their monthly plan, so I'm going to share my personal PostPolish review and whether I think it's worth paying $50 monthly. It's by far the most expensive tool I have to pay monthly for blogging, so here's my personal review for PostPolish!

Table of Content

PostPolish and How You Can Use It to Boost Your Flipboard Posts

As I've been using Flipboard for years now, there's one thing that I notice when it comes to traffic I get from Flipboard: I tend to gain numerous blog views from Flipboard for the posts that I recently published on my website.

Since I regularly publish new posts on my website, there were times when I could get 1,000+ pageviews for the new posts from Flipboard – and that's how I like using Flipboard for my traffic diversification.

PostPolish essentially creates a new link to your old blog posts so that Flipboard can view them as fresh posts. Additionally, you can also customize it with a new picture and description.

Since Flipboard typically rewards fresh posts on the platform, the new link you create on PostPolish may drive traffic to your revamped posts – even if they get decimated by Google.

On paper, PostPolish sounds like a really great tool to invest in for bloggers, especially if they're desperate to gain more page views for their website.

After all, if bloggers earn money from displayed ads, traffic from Flipboard has a pretty good RPM – making it a great source of income if you lose some after getting hit by Google updates.

PostPolish to Optimize Your Flipboard Growth

When I read the news about the launch of PostPolish, I was quite hesitant to give this tool a shot.

$49 USD monthly for PostPolish seems quite steep for me. Thankfully, my business has been quite well in the past few months, so I decided to try and see it for myself.

So, do I think PostPolish is worth it? I'll spare my thoughts below!

PostPolish Overview

PostPolish currently offers several plans that you can purchase depending on your needs, starting at $49 USD per month. Honestly, for thrifty bloggers like I am, it is super expensive.

The basic plan is the one I subscribe to, except that I used the discount code on the first month after the launch, which enabled me to get 15% off the original price. Still though, I pay $40.79 monthly – which I still find quite pricey compared to the other blogging tools I've been using.

For the basic plan, I can connect one domain and RSS feed with the eligibility to create up to 60 posts per month. However, I also noticed that the quota written in my account is actually up to 120 posts. I'm not sure if it's the first-month bonus or some kind of reward for the first few PostPolish users, but I never got to create more than 60 posts a month anyway so it's unused by far.

The tool itself is quite user-friendly, I'll give them that.

It's pretty intuitive and quite easy to install, as they give a detailed tutorial on how to create a subdomain for their platform on Cloudflare – which I've been using for my website.

As for support, they mainly use Slack for any tech support, so the team will give you updates through their Slack channels.

I once had a problem with my link, and I sent an email to the support email; never got any response, but it was solved within a day after I joined their Slack channel.

PostPolish Slack channel for tech support.

PostPolish Tutorial: How to Revamp Old Posts for Flipboard

In this section, I'm going to share the step-by-step tutorial for using PostPolish to polish your blog post for Flipboard.

1. Import your old post to PostPolish

How to import your blog post URL to PostPolish.

First, you will need to copy your blog post URL to import the data on PostPolish. After that, go to your PostPolish dashboard and click the “Import” section.

Paste your blog URL in the provided section, and click the arrow button to complete the step.

2. Add a new title and description for Flipboard

The original meta data will be pulled by Flipboard.

After importing the URL, PostPolish will pull the data from the original post including the title, meta description, as well as the featured image and author for the post.

You can replace the existing data with the new one, including uploading a new image for your Flipboard post.

How to customize content for Flipboard on PostPolish.

For the title, I find the best way to convert your Flipboard post to blog views is by adding an eye-catching and clickbaity title. Meanwhile, a landscape photo seems to work well for desktop, while a portrait can convert better on mobile.

3. Schedule or generate a new link for the post

Next, if you have your RSS feed set up, you need to choose the RSS to get to the next step.

On PostPolish, you can either generate a link in real-time or schedule it for later.

How to generate or schedule a new link on PostPolish.

I created a system with my team for scheduling and flipping the revamped content on my first month of PostPolish subscription, but the scheduling feature seems to be glitchy almost every time.

It was honestly quite annoying for everyone in my team, so we changed the system so that one of my VAs can create the link in real-time and the other will flip it when they can.

4. Copy your PostPolish link

Once the link is generated, it will appear on the “Links” section of your PostPolish dashboard. You can copy the shortlink to share it on Flipboard.

Alternatively, you can also test it out and paste the shortlink in your browser. If done correctly, the link should go directly to your imported post.

5. Add your shortlink to your Flipboard magazine

After you copy the shortlink, go to your Flipboard account and create a flip like usual with the link.

How to manually place your PostPolish link on Flipboard.

Does PostPolish Work to Boost Traffic to Your Website from Flipboard?

After two months of using PostPolish for my blogging work, here's my experience.

In the first month, the traction I got from revamped posts through PostPolish was quite decent – but it's never better than the recently published one that I flipped as soon as it was live.

As you can see in the stats, for one new post that I published in May, I could get over 1000 pageviews overnight. Meanwhile, I usually create 4 new links for different blog posts, and the average daily blog views during that period were around 400-500.

It wasn't that bad, but it wasn't really that fantastic either.

Another thing I noticed is that most traffic coming from Flipboard through links I created on PostPolish, they show up as (direct) instead of Flipboard. See below.

I assume it's also because PostPolish creates links through the subdomain I integrated with my website. I'm not sure if there's a way to customize it, but it's a bit hard to analyze since (direct) traffic source can also mean it comes from other websites that link to mine.

However, in the second month I started second guessing whether the tool still works or if it's worth the ROI.

The stats I got in the second month of subscribing PostPolish.

First of all, I think Flipboard is no longer working as effectively as it was in the last few months. Maybe it's nothing to do with PostPolish – but rather it's Flipboard becoming so saturated after being super popular all of a sudden recently.

And because of that, I no longer see the value of subscribing to PostPolish. I'm seriously considering canceling my subscription next month if the statistics continue to work this way.

Pros & Cons of Using PostPolish for Flipboard

When I decided to start my PostPolish subscription, I thought it was pricey and I doubted it would be worth it.

However, the first month I used PostPolish I was quite amazed as my ad revenue had increased 100%. My revenue could cover the monthly subscription of $49 and it was worth the shot.

Unfortunately, so far I haven't had the same experience in the second month.

The new links I created on PostPolish gained a little traction – but it's only a few page views more than when I used to flip my updated old posts. I genuinely started thinking that maybe it's better for me to spend my energy updating my old posts than repurposing them for Flipboard.

Like I previously mentioned, this could have a lot to do with how Flipboard works, so it's not solely PostPolish's fault.

So, based on my firsthand experience, here are some pros and cons of utilizing PostPolish for Flipboard optimization in my account.

Pros

Since Flipboard pulls the data directly from your blog post's meta data, having a PostPolish account is great to give it a nice little touch that may convert your post better from Flipboard. E.g. Flipboard tends to work better for clickbaity titles, which doesn't usually work effectively for SEO etc.
If you have a publisher account with an RSS feed set up on your Flipboard account, PostPolish can add value to streamline your workflow as it comes with a scheduling feature to set up your publishing time accordingly.

Cons

It's pretty expensive. Starting at $49 a month, I can understand they probably target pro bloggers with a lot of money to invest in from a business point of view, but I personally don't think it's worth it in terms of the features.
For non-publisher accounts like mine, you will still have to manually flip your post in the relevant magazines – which can be pretty time-consuming. I genuinely think that using the fund to hire a VA will probably drive a better ROI if you have a non-publisher account on Flipboard.
Flipboard feels super saturated since the peak of its popularity in the past few months that it no longer drives as much traffic as I got two months ago – even for the fresh, new posts!

FAQs

Traffic stats after using PostPolish for Flipboard.

How do you use PostPolish for Flipboard?

To put it simply, PostPolish is pretty much like Tailwind for Pinterest back when there was no native scheduler feature on Pinterest.

PostPolish's main functionality is to customize your post for Flipboard, including adding a new headline and short description to attract potential web visitors to your blog from Flipboard.

In addition, it also creates a fresh new link that makes it seem like it's a recently published post – even for your old posts published a long time ago. Since Flipboard tends to reward brand new posts, this functionality can help you gain more traffic even if you don't publish a fresh post on your website.

Is PostPolish worth it?

It really depends on the user.

Their basic plan starts at $49 USD a month, which is quite pricey for new bloggers who are yet to make profit from their website.

If you're a new blogger looking to attract traffic to your website through Flipboard, I don't think PostPolish is worth it.

Instead of spending money on a PostPolish subscription, I'd suggest investing in your time (or money) to create more new content. If you have extra money to spare, I definitely recommend investing it in tools like KeywordChef or WPAutoBlog instead.

However, if you're an established blogger with so many articles on your websites, PostPolish is worth a shot, even though the result may vary depending on your Flipboard strategy – as well as Flipboard algorithms in general, unfortunately.

After all, you can decide whether it's worth it based on your first-hand experience using it to boost your web views from Flipboard.

What's the best way to drive traffic to your website from Flipboard?

Based on my experience, recently published posts tend to convert better than old posts. As soon as you hit publish, you can flip your blog post and share it on relevant Flipboard magazines.

Flipboard pulls the meta data from your blog page, so it may add some relevant hashtags to your flip post – which can result in your content going viral when your post topic is trending.

Fresh posts are definitely more effective at driving traffic to your website from Flipboard, even if you compare them with the revamped posts you create using PostPolish.

Conclusion

blogger typing on a computer — Source: Unsplash.

Using PostPolish to optimize your Flipboard account can be a great way to explore your traffic diversification for bloggers. I think if it's feasible for you, I'd definitely encourage you to give it a try and see for yourself.

However, the way I see it is that PostPolish can work better if you generate new links for multiple posts daily – which means you need to either spend your time repurposing your content or upgrade your PostPolish plan to boost the number of traffic. Either way, you will need to sacrifice your money or your time.

Since I've been managing a few accounts myself – along with those of my clients, here are some findings that I've made about PostPolish and Flipboard based on all accounts' performances in the past few months:

Flipboard tends to reward publisher accounts more. I manage a client's account who's a publisher, while my account and other clients are not. The publisher account tends to gain better traction, whether I post new or old posts in her account. Keep in mind that I'm not using PostPolish for her account. Meanwhile, it's a hit-or-miss for the other accounts I manage, including mine – even though I use PostPolish for the latter.
It's tremendously helpful to join Flipboard threads like the one they have in The Insiders FB group or Flipboard for Food Blogger if you're one. That way, your content (regardless of whether it's old or new) will get better circulated in various accounts – increasing the chance for it to go viral.
I genuinely start thinking that subscribing to PostPolish is not worth it, and it's better to invest your money in hiring a VA who can participate in various threads for you. That, if you want to focus on Flipboard in your blogging strategy to gain traffic to your website.

Overall, I don't regret my decision to give PostPolish a shot. After all, I really had a fantastic first month. But to be honest, I actually consider canceling my subscription if the stats remain stagnant like this.

I still give it the benefit of the doubt since I've still got hundreds of quotas unused in my account. But considering $40 a month is pretty steep for me financially, I definitely need to take into consideration whether it's worth keeping a PostPolish subscription for me to implement my Flipboard strategy.

PostPolish Review: Is It Worth Subscribing for $50 Monthly to Boost Your Blog Views from Flipboard? - The BeauTraveler

Marya The BeauTraveler

I am the founder and main editor at The BeauTraveler. I spent 4 years working in the aviation industry but ironically got to travel more right after quitting the industry in 2015. Born and raised in Indonesia, I started working remotely in 2017, and while I stay at home most of the time, I also regularly spend 2-3 months living a semi-digital nomad life elsewhere every year.