Thinking a lot about email capture these days. Specifically, how to optimize a blog to convert well.

Last week, I spent a few hours going through some major newsletter sites.

Here are 5 common e-cap form placements I noticed between them: 1. Above The Fold (with stories below)

This seems like a new trend in the industry. Used by The Hustle, Brew, The Peak, Chartr, and others. Basically ecap right above the story archive.

Interesting bc you'd think stories would decrease conversion.

Anyone seen data on these?

Building a newsletter?

Here's a new visual model I've been tinkering with.

I call it "The Bullseye Model" and if you understand it, you'll understand how newsletters make money, design new products, and think about audience.

Let me break it down for you...👇 First, a reminder... There are 3 ways newsletters make money:

1) Free newsletters (monetized via ads)
2) Low-price ("front-end") subscriptions
3) High-price ("back-end") subscriptions

Used together, they create an engine that turns attention into cash

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1387610500968685570

Once you know how newsletters make money, you can transfer the model to other domains.

For example... Travel influencers

This is Jack Morris. He's got 2m+ followers on Insta. No huge email list, but his biz still thrives. Let me show you how 👇 First, a quick reminder: There are 3 main ways to monetize a newsletter biz

1) Free Lists (monetized via ads)
2) Low Price Subscriptions
3) High Price Subscriptions

Together, we call these the newsletter engine. They turn attention into cash.

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1387610500968685570

How to Sell Paid Newsletters:

Below is a near-universal model for selling paid newsletters.

At first glance, it seems complex. But you can break it into 3 key parts:

✉️ Email Capture
💧 Drip Campaigns
💰 Conversion

Let me show you how this works... ✉️ Email Capture

The first goal with any newsletter biz is simple: Get the email address.

Nothing else matters. Getting the email allows you to build a relationship with (and market to) readers.

The best media companies are merciless about getting email addresses.

I've spent the last 2 years writing for a multi-million dollar paid newsletter.

Also interviewed founders/operators of several more.

They're tricky to pull off.

Here's an inside look at:
🤷 Why build one
💰 How to price
🗓️ When to launch
Etc... 🤷 Why build a paid newsletter?

Well, as a quick reminder, it's not JUST to make money. You don't need a paid newsletter for that.

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1381969694744326145

Starting or growing a newsletter in 2022?

Here are 20+ threads to help. More on the way too, so be sure to follow along 😉

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1381969678399049730

2/ Executive Summary: The Newsletter Industry in 10 Minutes Or Less

While this version is a little dated (I'll be updating soon) a lot of the principles are timeless.

Still a great place to start

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1386666621889093632

Elon is a master of spin.

Everyone's talking about his poll.

But here's why it's even smarter than most people think...👇 Musk has ~$23B in Tesla options that are set to expire.

If he exercises them, he faces a huge tax bill (Yes... Billionaires do in fact get taxed. In this case ~53%)

So he'd owe something like $12B in taxes.

Problem: He doesn't keep that much cash on hand.

Planning to use paid ads to grow your newsletter audience?

You'd better know your Target CPA (cost per acquisition).

Target CPA is THE critical factor in running paid ad campaigns. It's how you know if you can grow profitably.

Here's a step-by-step guide to calculating that. For this example, we'll assume you're running a free newsletter that monetizes via ads and charges on a "cost per open" (CPO) basis.

But remember... There are other ways to charge for ads (👇).

Regardless of your model, CPA calculations are similar.

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1414341528848375810

You shouldn't READ negotiation books 👀 You should listen to them (read by the author) so you can hear their delivery.

Same goes for sales advice.

Katy from @MadRevATX has sold millions in newsletter ads. Here's audio on how she handles sales calls and overcomes objections🪡 First thing's first -- you have to land the call.

I broke down Katy's lead prospecting and cold email tactics here👇

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1397247321948233737

If you run a newsletter -- any email newsletter -- iOS 15 is a big deal.

Apple's releasing new privacy tools that can:
📈 Throw off your analytics
🛀🏽 Impact list hygiene
💰 Undermine your business model

Here are my personal notes
docs.google.com/document/d/1Oj… iOS 15 has 2 features of particular interest to newsletter operators:

✉️Hide My Email ($): Lets users create, share, and destroy unique, random email addresses that forward to their main.

👀Privacy Protection: Basically keeps marketers from seeing IF or WHERE you open an email.

Want to sell ads in your newsletter? Having a great media kit will help.

The media kit is a slide deck or pdf that you give prospective clients to show:

1️⃣ What makes you unique
2️⃣ Data on your audience
3️⃣ Successful past clients
4️⃣ Your ad inventory

Some real examples... 🧵 So the process typically works like this...

First, you'll find a prospective ad client, reach out, and schedule a preliminary call.

More on the nitty gritty of those 3 here:

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1397247321948233737

1/ How 7-Figure Newsletters Work

Stoked to get back to writing about newsletters here.

For easy reference, you can find all the threads below (will keep this updated).

Based on months of dedicated research and dozens of interviews with operators across the industry.

Enjoy! 2/ The newsletter industry in 10 minutes or less

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1386666621889093632

.@alexgarcia_atx is a growth wizard.

Examples:
🐦 Twitter from ~2k to 40k in <2months
✉️ Personal newsletter from 0-7k w/ 44% open
🔉 Helped My First Million hit Top 12 on Apple Podcasts

Last night we co-hosted an event on growing newsletters.

Some notes I took from him.. 🧵 The big takeaway: If you want to grow fast, you should focus on doing 2 things:

✈️ Creating content that travels
🔍 Creating an identity

He shared some great questions you can use to think through each of these...

Katy Huff sold millions of dollars in ads at The Hustle.

During several interviews together, she unpacked 3 key parts to the ad sale process:

🔍 Lead Prospecting
📣 Initial Outreach
☎️ Sales Calls

So much expertise. Maybe too much for tweets.
But here are some key insights..🧵 🔍 Lead Prospecting is where you identify promising potential advertisers.

Katy's top spots to search:
✉️ Competing Newsletters
💰 Funding Reports
❤️ Brands You Love

Professional sellers plan to spend 30-45 mins/day on this.

It's all about creating a system to make it easy 👇

Ads don't sell themselves.

If you run a newsletter you know that.

It can be hard to figure out where to begin though.

So here's a breakdown on the ad-selling process from start to finish...🧵 There are 3 key roles in a good ad business:

💰 Sales
😇 Account Management
🖋️ Copywriting

In the beginning you can do all of these yourself, but eventually, to scale, you'll hire specialists for each role.

The process works like this 👇...

Let's talk about how to price newsletter ads.

Most people don't feel like they get good answers on this.

Partly because it depends on a lot of factors.

I'm going to show you the factors. And also give some concrete numbers... 🧵 As a reminder, your free newsletter is ready for ads when you have 2 of these 3:

1️⃣ A big audience
2️⃣ High engagement
3️⃣ Readers willing to spend $$$

Of those 3, the last is probably the most important.

Affiliate deals can be big money for newsletters.

Nerdwallet and BankRate both make $150m+/yr on an affiliate model.

You also don't need a huge audience to start (unlike other ads).

Here's an overview, with insider tips from operators at Motley Fool, Morning Brew, and more... Remember... A free newsletter is big enough to monetize when it has any 2 of these:

1️⃣ A big audience
2️⃣ High engagement
3️⃣ Readers ready to spend money

With affiliate deals, you're only paid on performance, so advertisers often don't care how small your audience is.

The most common newsletter Q's:

1️⃣ Should I build free or paid?
2️⃣ What should I focus on early on?
3️⃣ How/when to monetize a free newsletter?
4️⃣ How do you sell ads?
5️⃣ How paid newsletters work?

We answered each in 6 mins...🧵
..and yes @joshcolter I'm wearing a hat in all 😜 2️⃣ What should I focus on early on?

I hate the term "community building."

It used to mean something, before it was popular. Now it's just a buzzword.

It's also poorly defined.

So here's a framework that takes the mystery out of it. I call it the "pyramid of priority" (PoP).

It works like this...🧵 First, let's take the mystery out of it.

I've shared this before, but at its core, community building is just connecting people in a way that's helpful to them.

That's it.

Still, it can help to have a framework to think through, which is where PoP comes in handy.

If you run a newsletter, reader interviews are insanely valuable.

No survey can beat 15 minutes face-to-face with a real person -- especially for paid newsletters.

We use 'em all the time at @TheHustle & Trends.

BUT you have to ask good questions.

Here are my 3 favorites...👇 1️⃣ "Tell me the story of the day you decided to pay for Trends."

Technically not a question 😂 But super powerful.

When people tell you a story, they'll recall more vivid details than if they're just answering a question.

Much better than "Why did you join?"

Okay, this is gonna be controversial...

But as-promised -- recommendations on the best tools for your newsletter stack.

These are based on my opinion as a developer and newsletter operator + research into what's being used at The Hustle, Morning Brew, NYT, and others... 🧵 As a quick reminder, there are 5 key parts to your newsletter's technical stack:

🖥️ Website
📜 Registration Software
💸 Payment Processor
✉️ Email Service Provider (ESP)
📈 Analytics

Companies use a mix of pre-built and custom tools. More on this here:

https://twitter.com/damn_ethan/status/1388696113331548161