⚡ #88: The 6 Elements of a Successful Newsletter, and how to sell ads for your newsletter.
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This is GC⚡ #88 — your secret weapon for newsletter growth ⚔️
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[GC News & Announcements]
What You Need To Know
- The Great Founders Write LAST cohort for 2022 starts October 19th. I'm in the current cohort and it's amazing. Save $40 if you sign up with my referral link. See you there (or send me a DM or reply to this email if you have questions about it!)
- Twitter is beta testing an 'Edit Tweet' feature—and I have access 👀
October 3rd 2022
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[GC Editorial]
The 6 Elements of a Successful Newsletter
Here's what I've found the most successful newsletters are doing—and how you can do it, too.
Why do some newsletters have tens of thousands of subscribers — while others can’t seem to gain more than a few each week?
What makes these newsletters so successful?
And does the size of a newsletter list determine its level of “success”?
Well, some of the biggest newsletters are media businesses operating as newsletters (The Hustle, Morning Brew, TheSkimm). Others are content marketing plays from authors, podcasters, and digital celebrities leveraging their large audiences to build a massive subscriber list (James Clear, Tim Ferriss, Ann Handley, Justin Welsh, Polina Marinova Pompliano, etc.)
These newsletters are huge. And they make the publishers a lot of money. A lot.
So if a “successful” newsletter is one that makes lots of money, then many of the aforementioned are great examples.
But not everyone has the same definition of success. “Success” to you might mean:
- 100k subscribers (or some other subscriber milestone)
- a +50% open rate
- a high click rate (maybe it means a high response rate, like Ann Handley)
And maybe it just means consistency: you’ve written, published and grown a weekly newsletter for 5 years straight. I’d classify that as success, too.
Now, I hate making assumptions.
But I’m going to for the sake of this article. Let’s assume *most people* are publishing a newsletter with the goal of earning revenue — either directly or indirectly.
And therefore, a successful newsletter as defined in this article will be one that a creative entrepreneur relies on for some (or all) of their income.
With that — let’s dive in.
Here are the 6 elements of a successful newsletter»
[GC Curated: Start + Grow + Improve + Monetize your newsletter]
Your Growth Currency ⚡ This Week
"Knowledge is the currency of growth."
START YOUR NEWSLETTER
⚡ Newsletter Guide: How to build a loyal community with consistent connection by Kaleigh Moore (via ConvertKit)
My take: Don't pay for a newsletter course yet—use this guide first (unless you need that group accountability. The best part of this guide might be the the 9 additional resources below. Huge value here
GROW YOUR NEWSLETTER
⚡ Newsletter Blueprint by Paul Metcalfe
My take: I'm loving this experiment by Paul. He's on a mission to build a brand new newsletter starting from zero and sell it for $1,000,000 in 24 months. Subscribe to Newsletter Blueprint to follow along for weekly updates to learn from his wins—and losses.
IMPROVE YOUR NEWSLETTER
⚡ How Do I Know If My Emails Are Actually Landing in a Reader's Inbox? by Yanna-Torry Aspraki
My take: Deliverability is *pretty* important. You need your newsletter to actually make it to the inbox. This article overlays the main components with some useful tips.
MONETIZE YOUR NEWSLETTER
⚡ I Want To Know How To Sell Newsletter Ads with Josh Spector & Jon Santiago
My take: This is worth a listen/watch. Josh makes $48k per year with his newsletter ads—so he's a credible source on this topic. In this episode, Josh talks about...
→ (01:58) How to set up a newsletter ads system
→ (10:43) How to price newsletter ads
→ (23:46) How to manage newsletter ad logistics Show Notes
(Newsletter Of The Week)
The GC NOTW 🤘
⚡The Uncommon Solopreneur by Jan Koch
Grow your solopreneur business without working yourself into the ground.
Join over 4.1k solopreneurs & content creators already learning about ways they can get paid to create. Learn strategies to grow an audience, pitch brand deals, create & sell courses, and other related topics.
Everything Jan shares is based on his experiences—no fluff.
Thanks for making it to the end—I try and save some personal ramblings for this space.
Note: *This isn't a personal rambling*
I asked Twitter an important question last week. It could change/evolve Growth Currency as you know it.
I'd love your thoughts. 🙏
How would you rate this edition?
⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ Electrifying!
⚡⚡⚡ A decent jolt.
⚡ Just static...
Hit reply and let me know why — I answer every one :) Or DM me on Twitter!
And in case you missed it, here are last week's TWO most popular links:
#1: The Unofficial Guide To Non-Linear Newsletter Growth by Growth Currency⚡
#2: 25 Ways to Sign Someone Up For Your Newsletter by Dan Oshinsky
Other Growth Currency⚡ Resources:
→ The 1KS Roadmap: A Free Course To Your First 1,000 Subscribers
→ The Ultimate Creator Database of Awesomeness
→ How To Start, Grow, and Optimize a Substack Newsletter
→ Advertise in this newsletter
→ Book a Newsletter Consult With Me: 30 Mins | 60 Mins
Peace and platonic love,
Dylan