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Shaan Puri’s Milk Road newsletter grew from 0 to 150k+ subscribers in less than seven months. Tim Stoddart and Ethan Brooks discuss what makes it so successful.
Big Ideas:
► Simple format that is fun to read
► Unique character that is great for memes
► Crypto is a very popular topic
► A lot of their growth is paid
► They’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with the design and content
Shaan Puri is a marketing genius. His newsletter is funny and easy to read. There are many lessons here for all creators.
Related Link:
Copyblogger’s Twitter thread on the Milk Road’s success.
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Great interview with Chris Do of TheFutur – an online education platform targeted at freelancers and agencies.
Chris had a marketing agency earning $4m to $7m per year, before shifting to becoming a creator and selling courses with TheFutur.
Big Idea: Become so good they can’t ignore you.
► Chris Do started his career by becoming an expert designer. He then went on to create a very successful marketing agency called Blind.
► That proven expertise gives him a lot of credibility on social media.
► He creates a lot of high-quality free content that drives sales of TheFutur’s courses.
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How @MarketingMax of GrowthHacksWeekly got 10k subscribers in the first 100 days of his newsletter.
Here is the summary:
1/ Viral Tweets
2/ Viral Tik Toks
3/ Sponsoring Other Newsletters
4/ FB & TT Ads
5/ Referral Campaign
6/ Instagram Shoutouts
7/ Product Hunt
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Michelle Schroeder-Gardner started a personal finance blog in 2011 on a whim. She’s made over $5 million now.
Big Ideas:
► 20% of her 300k visitors per month come from SEO.
► She has signup forms and lead magnets on every blog post that ties into the content of that post.
► Pinterest is a big driver of her traffic. She has 160k followers there.
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Dylan Redekop recently crossed the 2k subscriber milestone. He shares 12 things he wishes he knew when he started his newsletter.
My favorite is “Being engaging, responsive, considerate, and helpful trumps going viral.”
Dylan is definitely very engaged and generous on Twitter. It’s hard not to support someone who gives so much online.
Related Link:
IdeaEconomy.net recently passed 2000 subscribers as well. This is how I did it.
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One of my favorite creators is Alex Llull of The Steal Club Newsletter and co-founder of the “Winging It” Podcast.
Alex has one of the most distinctive creator brands I know because of the unique images he creates and the orange color he uses everywhere.
In this interview, he shares the strategies that have worked for him.
Alex has over 28k followers on Twitter, 3600 newsletter subscribers, and 12.9k followers on Instagram.
Big Ideas:
► If you are just starting, follow all the people in your niche and follow their followers. Engage with them, learn what’s working. (Solid blueprint for all new creators.)
► Focus on one platform at a time. When he had 10k Twitter followers it was much easier to start a newsletter because he already had an audience and knew what content was popular.
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“But you don’t have to blindly follow the algorithms to get ahead. Consider Paul Graham or Morgan Housel. Both have never spent any time engaging in “growth hacks” or “engagement bait,” yet they are some of the most successful writers on the internet.
What’s their secret? They focus relentlessly on the quality of their writing and ideas. Because quality never goes out of style. And when you focus on quality, you don’t have to play by the rules of the algorithm at all. You can reject the algorithm altogether and create success in your own way.”
Big Idea:
Can you be successful without pandering to the algorithms? Everyone is tired of all the Twitter threads and clickbait titles, but they work. I wonder if quality can win over time?
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Jay Yang summarizes Shaan Puri’s Viral Writing 101 interview with Ship30for30. He provides specific examples of the 8 universal emotions to target.
LOL – that’s so funny!
AWW – that’s sooo cute!
WOW – that’s amazing!
WTF – that pisses me off!
NSFW – that’s crazy!
OHHHH- *now* I get it!
YAY – that’s great news!
FINALLY – *someone said what I feel!*
I shared the video in a past edition but the examples here are worth going through.
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“To cut to the chase: there are only 2 types of newsletters that “work.”
Short & Curated: Newsletters in a fast-moving category that compress a ton of information on a specific subject into a quick read.
Long & Original Thinking: Newsletters in a dense, thoughtful category that provide in-depth insight, analysis, and unique information on a specific subject.”
Big Idea: Original content is much harder to create but it’s easier to grow. Curated content does not encourage shares and backlinks.
Some examples of great long-form content are: Packy McCormick, David Perrell, and Mario Gabriel.
via @growthcurrency
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Stew Fortier writes a weekly newsletter with interesting insights and observations for creators and entrepreneurs.
Here is a recent edition about the importance of working hard that I particularly enjoyed.
Stew is also the founder of Foster a collaborative platform to edit your writing. It’s a very interesting business model.
“Foster’s members improve their writing in two ways: first by writing and second by collaborating. We write original work and ask for the input of others, and we contribute when other members invite our input.”
Here is a recent article on Foster about Getting your First 1000 subscribers.
Subscribe to Stew’s newsletter and follow him on Twitter.
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