Edition One, Where to start and why...

This is The DigiLetter, the newsletter’s newsletter which delivers actionable strategies for launching and scaling a newsletters from zero.

Firstly, this is a brand new newsletter which is launched with the sole purpose to share our journey of launching and running several newsletters for ourselves and for clients. All of which have been done with very little budget.

So don’t worry, we are going to share creative ways to grow your subscription base and gain traction to your newsletter.

What is in the first copy

• ✍️ What you can expect from The DigiLetter on a weekly basis

• 💭 How you can start a newsletter from scratch

• 🤑 Some inspiration to million dollar newsletter

What The DigiLetter Is All About

After successfully running and launching several newsletters, on behalf of myself, and for clients, we decided to share our journey, and inspire others to launch their own newsletter.

Why?

Because its is an online business that costs literally nothing to launch, using free software like BeeHiiv to get started.

As for scaling, that comes at a price, but we will get in to that later.

We will practice what we preach with this newsletter, using and sharing the growth of TheDigiLetter.

The objective is to not only show you how to grow a newsletter, how to market for free, how to drive traffic, but also to document the same journey with this very newsletter.

A newsletter for newsletters. Cliche maybe, but necessary and valuable.

How to start a newsletter from scratch

Starting to write online comes down to 2 things.

👉️ Where should you write?
👉️ What should you write about?

Well, to answer the first part, that’s easy. Newsletters. They are the best and fastest way to own your audience, take them off social media and into your inbox.

However, when you are testing out ideas, or looking for feedback early on, consider writing on Quora and Reddit also. Remain active on these platforms looking to build connections

Every time I see someone with an online business, or any type of presence that does not have a newsletter, I immediately cringe as they are missing out on so much growth and exposure.

One of the key benefits of a writing a newsletter, is that you can use the same content written here and repurpose it all week across your socials. It’s as easy as that.

Not to mention, you are not dependant on the social media algorithms to push your content into your audience. You already connect directly with them in your inbox.

As for what?!….

The best piece of advice I can give is write about something you understand well, or are extremely passionate about.

If you are not an expert on the topic, it will require some research behind the scenes, taking your weekly input from 90 minutes up to maybe 4 or 5 hours for each copy.

Still not a disaster, but a recommendation would be to first think what you know. Something you can chat and speak all day about will make your newsletter flow far better and cut your writing time down significantly.

For example:

If you are into sports, you could write a niched down sports newsletter. Think Golf instead of just sports in general.

If you are into investments or real estate, write about it. But keep it fun and punchy. Don’t bore your readers with long dragged out corporate jargon. Tell your story. Share your ideas and expertise.

Same goes for any sector.

A final tip: if you would like to split your newsletter into free and paid, think carefully about the niche and how much value will be derived from the paid section.

Typically, these are newsletters that involve research, saving readers a lot of time themselves.

The likelihood someone will pay for readily accessible information that is not personal expertise or doesn’t require time is slim.

Like the ‘Golf’ example above, latest news that is plastered all over the internet already.

You will have a hard time splitting this into paid and free segments.

You think newsletters are unlucrative, remember this name “The Milk Road’

Yes it’s random, yes it’s strange. But it launched and sold for 8 figures in less than 2 years only.

What is it? The Milk Road is a crypto newsletter that started in 2022, with just an idea about the fast growing crypto space.

Starting from humble beginnings on BeeHiiv platform, utilising nearly every feature to maximise to grow their subscriber list to over 250,000, fast.

They created a unique and memorable design, with a stand out name that was hard to forget, even though it was completely unrelated to the industry that they wrote about.

No fancy web designer, expensive software developer, no; they just started. Basic but memorable.

The two lessons here we should all take from this:

👉️ Just start. Yeah don’t ponder about details, a basic landing page will suffice as long as there is an element of creativity about it. Everything else is secondary. The random name and cartoon mascot was golden ticket here.

👉️ Focus on growth. How to write, where to write, referrals, open rates, segmentations, ads (if needed) and of course prioritise social media writing to drive traffic organically.

They did not get bogged down on how to make the perfect looking platform. Instead they focused on what would bring in readers. Referrals were a key here.

Like many fast growing newsletters, The Milk Road used a lead magnet as a referral bonus for spreading the word.

This is a fast track for driving growth. Offer free info, or even a physical good (however digital products are better for obvious reasons) and run with it.

Most major newsletter platforms offer this as an option, so no need to worry about additional softwares to manage referrals from.

That sums up the first copy of The DigiLetter.

Stay alert for next week’s copy.