Welcome to issue #034 of Insideletter. Each week, I share 2–3 editions in which I outline the exact steps to build a newsletter business to £1K a month.
If you want to build a one-person newsletter business, then join the Insideletter community. You’ll be able to join the group chat, weekly live Q&As, monthly challenge, and exclusive discount on the cohort or retreats.
I got asked this question a lot of times, How do I get my first 1000 subscribers, So I thought, instead of answering 1 by 1, how about I write a newsletter edition on the most demanding topic?
See, before you think of getting the first subs, I want you to clear your base.
Define the JTD (Job to be done)
There are thousands of newsletters on the internet. Why would someone read yours? You need to give them a reason, right?
Insideletter helps you build a newsletter business.
Similarly, you need to have a JTD for your newsletter.
Let’s see some examples:
Help me save money on flights: Going
Help me become a better dad: Daily Dad
Help me build better habits: James Clear
Help me make money with newsletter: Insideletter
Positioning
Pick a niche, then go at least 2 levels deeper
Newsletter → Newsletter which teaches you how to monetise your newsletter → Insideletter, which helps you reach £1K a month
Newsletter name
A lot of people make this mistake, I made this mistake too. Newsletter names matter a lot, literally.
Use something that gives an understanding of what your newsletter is all about.
Set a frequency
It’ll help you during the outreach and your readers to decide whether they want this frequency or not.
Now….
Types of the newsletter:
Here are the 4 main types of newsletters you can think of:
The analyst
The curator
The expert (Insideletter falls in this category)
The reporter
If you need more in-depth knowledge about it, check this edition.
Now that the base is clear, let’s talk about the main part.
Let’s divide it into 5 parts.
Landing page
No matter what ESP you’re choosing, everyone will give you a landing page.
Beehiiv is not good in this part. Kit is better, still, it would work with anything.
Up next, you need to make sure that you’ve written everything they need to know.
Like,
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The job of your landing page is to make things clear to the people who would subscribe.
Please don’t use any other tool for that, only the designated landing page by the USP.
CTAs everywhere
Have you seen some people spam online? They drop spammy links, spammy comments, and we generally report against them.
You’ve to borrow their hat. But not for copying her, but knowing how to promote your stuff.
You’ve to add the newsletter link in every possible place.
I can think of
Email signature
LinkedIn featured
IG link in the bio
Twitter in the bio copy or below link
If you have any other options in mind, go ahead and add there.
Announce
See, I’ve said this a thousand times. Newsletters are a private source.
So you need to let people know you exist.
So you can create a reel, tweet, or drop a LinkedIn announcement post.
Also, you can email everyone in your contact list. Even if they are not your ideal reader, you need the initial boost, later, you can remove them, or they themselves can remove them.
Also, you need to create treasure posts before the newsletter goes live and a reminder post after it goes live.
DM everyone
When I started my newsletter, I used to DM everyone in my network.
No matter who they are.
Here’s the script I followed:
Feel free to steal.
Hey, name, thanks for being a valuable connection!
I run a newsletter called Insideletter, where I share behind-the-scenes insights on how I’m growing my travel newsletter. So you can apply the same strategies to grow yours.
I send out 2–3 editions a week. Would you be interested in giving it a read?
Check it out here: insideletter.com
Thanks again,
Anirban
Repurpose and distribution
As I’ve said countless times, content creation is simple, but not the distribution.
The real game is in the distribution.
The more you distribute, the more you get subscribers.
Ideal way?
One idea → newsletter edition → 3 Scripts for IG → 3 LinkedIn posts → 6 Tweets
Hyperfury is a good tool to attach the newsletter link after 10 likes. Or do it manually under each Tweet.
One final advice, always focus on relationship building. Don’t try to be pushy, instead build the relationship and then ask. It’ll be easy.
Hope it was helpful. Thanks for reading.
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Thanks for reading. See you soon.
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Oh, and you can, of course, join my chat and ask your questions directly.
Talk soon,
Anirban “helping you choose your newsletter type” Das.
All tips are gold, especially the announcement one. A pre-launch announcement can help people know your newsletter exists and encourage them to subscribe.
A must-read!!!