What You Need To Know About Writing Newsletter
118: Passion project you didn't know you wanted.
Welcome reader! Another over-ocean flight means we have enough time to think and reflect on the past year. Everyone reading this should reflect on how they spend their time and whether or not they are moving forward. Today's article will not affect your quality of life as others, but it will help those interested in writing the newsletter. After the article Day in the Life of a Wannabe Business Owner, we discussed in Telegram how articles such as that don't receive positive feedback and the effects of the same on newsletters… Negative comments, unsubs, and straight-up hate. Articles such as that are a hard pill to swallow for most. Guess there was some truth in that read. After discussing ideas and our mistakes in a group chat about the newsletter, we discussed what it takes to run it. We have a few members writing their newsletters, and others are preparing to start writing theirs. We aimed to expand on what we have learned over the last two years. Explain what it takes, what you should do, and what you should not do when writing a newsletter.
Our Writing Mistakes
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Reality Check: Where do we start? There have been too many mistakes to mention. With our current knowledge, we could do what we took two years to achieve in less than a year - a general indicator of progress. Pivoting from business-oriented articles such as VPN Arbitrage and Contract Stacking to more lifestyle articles such as Blueprint and Lifestyle traps to avoid. The reason for the slow growth during the transition period, which took at least six months. Another was poor grammar and too many themes - something we have worked on in the past year that has made things more efficient. The positive with all this is that now we are aware. In the sense that those same mistakes won't repeat, and the growth will be faster (already happening). This is just the start… Thank you.
Too Many Different Topics: A common misconception about writing a newsletter is that the more topics, the better. That is not correct. It doesn’t mean you should write only about a specific topic - we find newsletters such as those dull and empty. You should stick to and expand on the three main ideas - we are doing this and will continue to do so in the future. From our experience, it seems like the best approach that will not make you suffer each time you have to write. The fun factor is real, and it only gets so much fun writing about the same thing constantly. The truth is that you can always pivot down the road. The negative side of it? This means you will replace your old readers with new ones. Leading to slower growth and other structural changes that come with it. Having your newsletter all over the place won’t help you either - imagine being subscribed to someone's newsletter just for them to post one week about money making, next week on cars, a third week on health, and a fourth week on outdoor activities. It doesn’t work like that. Stick to three main ones in rotation and keep them so that they are connected. This is a basic example that will never go out of fashion. Money, lifestyle, and health. This way, you are guaranteed to keep the readers in the loop and keep them coming for more.
Not Cleaning The Email List Enough: Your readers are not opening the emails? Do yourself a favor. Get them off the list. You want to preserve your "domain health" and ensure your emails do not land in the spam folder of those who should be able to see them - this results from subscribers not opening your emails or interacting with your domain. We follow the strict rule that 90 days without opening emails = out of the list. The point is that you ensure all the subscribers to your emails confirm those subscriptions. Most newsletter services offer that option, so turn it on. Doing this eliminates anyone who is not serious enough or has tried to abuse your email list for different reasons. With newsletter growth, the open percentage decreases - nothing unexpected. Still, that doesn’t mean you should not be cleaning your list.
Your newsletter should be a privilege, not a right. If you’re in someone’s inbox, you’re in their personal space. Make sure what you send is worth their time. - Seth Godin
Being Afraid To Charge The Money: Work to balance free and paid materials. It took us quite some time to figure this out and find what works for us. Why do you want to charge money in the first place? You want to charge money to get rid of time wasters. The internet is not what it used to be years ago, and we would say that the average user today is dumber. It sounds harsh, but it is reality. If you don't believe us, look at any old popular website covering similar material such as ours and go back a few years. The difference in the quality of the comments (on free posts) is huge. We all know that the internet is turning pay to play, and to get the information that will give you leverage over others - you have to be prepared to pay. Not only to get the information but also to access the communities worth being in. There are hundreds of cases where we have spent hours giving the step-by-step plan to individuals who would return to us six months later asking the same question. Avoid those time wasters and put in something that will require investment from them. If you can't help yourself and don’t want to charge anything upfront (nothing wrong with that) or are running a backend offer… Understand what it takes to vet someone - don’t waste your time on those who don’t want to be helped.
Don't Be Afraid To Lose The Readers: No one likes losing their audience, but you realize it’s part of the game. Your writing changes. Your main theme changes and evolves. Your blueprint changes. All those are based on authenticity. Readers come, and readers go. If you are being authentic to yourself and doing the best work, you can improve the lives of others and share your ideas, holding nothing back. It is expected that you will lose your audience doing that. If you are not changing and evolving - you stagnate. What happens once you stagnate? Things get boring. Simple as that. The same thing happens with your readers. Readers grow and change their life priorities and goals. Remember what your high school friends used to tell you about their plans? You know what they are doing and where they are now. That is life. We all play the same game and learn as we go on - the same happens with creations. Don’t be afraid to change, and don’t be scared to do something different. If you give practical advice that will help people improve their lives. There is nothing you should be afraid of. The new readers will outnumber the old ones who are no longer subscribed.
Not Asking For The Feedback: Do it early and do it often. That doesn’t mean you must do as a random anonymous account says. However, if ten random anonymous accounts tell you the same thing, it might mean they are right and you are wrong. This applies to everything in life - not just the newsletter. It is hard for us to be realistic when we are the creators putting in the hours and effort into the product. Learn to seek feedback and separate the legitimate input from the noise.