n8n for blogging is back, baby

I want to set up a n8n self hosting instance on my server and run a marketing funnel for this site. I want to present a pop up like substack to subscribe to a newsletter and build an audience. And at the end, turn some readers to paid members.

Part 1: Self-Host n8n on DigitalOcean

1.1 Create a Droplet

• Log into DigitalOcean → Create → Droplets
• Image: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• Plan: Basic, $6/mo (1 GB RAM, 25 GB SSD) — sufficient for n8n
• Region: NYC1 or closest to you (East Coast)
• Authentication: SSH key (recommended) or password
• Hostname: n8n-server

1.2 Install Docker + n8n

SSH into your droplet:

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ssh root@YOUR_DROPLET_IP

Install Docker:

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apt update && apt upgrade -y
apt install -y docker.io docker-compose
systemctl enable docker

Create n8n directory and docker-compose file:

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mkdir -p /opt/n8n && cd /opt/n8n

Create docker-compose.yml:

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version: '3.8'
services:
  n8n:
    image: n8nio/n8n
    restart: always
    ports:
      - "5678:5678"
    environment:
      - N8N_HOST=n8n.davidchicopham.com
      - N8N_PORT=5678
      - N8N_PROTOCOL=https
      - WEBHOOK_URL=https://n8n.davidchicopham.com/
      - GENERIC_TIMEZONE=America/New_York
      - TZ=America/New_York
    volumes:
      - n8n_data:/home/node/.n8n

volumes:
  n8n_data:

Start n8n:

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docker-compose up -d

1.3 Set Up Domain + SSL

Point a DNS A record for n8n.davidchicopham.com → your droplet IP.

Install Caddy as a reverse proxy (handles SSL automatically):

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apt install -y caddy

Edit /etc/caddy/Caddyfile:

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n8n.davidchicopham.com {
    reverse_proxy localhost:5678
}

Restart Caddy:

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systemctl restart caddy

Wait a few minutes for SSL provisioning. Visit https://n8n.davidchicopham.com — you should see the n8n login screen.

1.4 Verify

• Log in with the basic auth credentials you set
• Create a test workflow with a Webhook trigger node
• Copy the webhook URL — you'll need it in Part 3

What is n8n? It's like Zapier or Make, a canvas drag and drop flow chart that can build triggers, actions, and output stuff. It's source can be self hosted or through paid cloud account.

Master 80% of n8n in 36 Minutes - YouTube

There is a number of actions a trigger could attach to. Actions are apps like dropbox, google sheets, or airtable. It occurred to me that a level of automation could happen in organizing. For example, when we were recruiting for elected officials or stewards, we used a conversion logger that fed into a google sheet.

If that conversation was an assessment, e.g. how interested are you in becoming a steward, a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being LFG to 5 being don't ask me ever again -- a friend said politely to me that he was not interested in further involvement with the union and didn't want to be asked again -- that's a 5, then based on that assessment, follow up automated email is sent a couple days later with an ask for a 1 on 1.

Or how about an outreach plan triggers a text/phone bank.

I can imagine also a directional change could be tracked like when voters switch from republican to democrat, visualized with arrows on a map of congressional districts, but for assessment conversations.

Another example in n8n development and organizing is something like a virtual organizer. Imagine the system prompt had the role of someone like Jane McAlevey (rest in power) and you can ask how did a conversation go and what are next steps to organizing a person. Instead of a AI personal assistant, how about a personal co-organizer?

Structural tests can be signals to who is engaged. It reminds me of the like button by Facebook that sent a signal to the platform, or even the skip button on youtube is a signal. What about structural tests such as an emoji response?

Asking Claude to develop a plan for the n8n newsletter & plausible.io integration.

I want to set up a n8n self hosting instance on my server and run a marketing funnel for this site. I want to present a pop up like substack to subscribe to a newsletter and build an audience. And at the end, turn some readers to paid members.

plugin, superpowers used to plan newsletter component.

To achieve substack fade to popup as a user scrolls down content, Intersection Observer API - Web APIs | MDN will observe an element threshold to which the popup will come into view. Once that threshold is hit, the observer will disconnect. Notably, intersection observer solves for implementing infinite scroll.

Current song on the iPod: Thnks fr th mmris by Fallout Boy

Where does this stack hook into plausible.io? Maybe via n8n

How to handle errors:

Error Handling