How do you grow your newsletter? 👀

I have been able to grow my newsletter (https://saasbites.substack.com/) by swapping. On substack this is an easy task. On other platforms like Convertkit, you need to find similar newsletters and talk about each other's newsletters in one of your issues. This will bring several new subscribers. We are in the same domain, hence would be more than happy to cross-promote :-)

Few years back I started http://startup.limited (idea was to share details about early stage startups to subscribers). Without any promotion or posting anywhere on social media, I got 50+ people subscribed to it. Initially I thought its all spam but then I found those are real people. I sent one email to all. But then I neglected completely, dint renew domain. I think at that time startup word was trending and it got me few subscribers. You can try different domains names and place your makerbox subscription box on landing page. Currently anything with “AI” or “GPT” text in domain will get traffic.

Interested in the thread

You can create email marketing campaigns, newsletters, and automated emails that engage your audiences and display perfectly in their inbox. It's also the most accessible and convenient way for your customers to get in touch with you. Email marketing is a powerful way to boost your business. A recent study by the 20fix.com found that email marketing generated an ROI of $36-44 for every $1 spent, and increased revenue by 43% over the course of a year.

I think the general trend is in creating a sort of lead magnet and getting subscribers as a result. So in your case given that your target is Solopreneurs, maybe a lead magnet on most used tools by Soloprenuers or a best startup playbooks or tactics swipe files

Great question. I'm struggling too :)

I think all these above works if you active in Twitter, Product Hunt and Indie Hackers in general. What worked good for me is newsletter combined with side project. I launched this side project on PH, and added email capture form, so people on the website to leave email if they want to be updated. https://www.marbleflows.com/onbo... Back then I was not sure if decide to make newsletter or what will happen, when I started there were already people who subscribed before. So it was not from 0.

My way is informative contents to my blog (https://www.seomanualsubmission....) and question answer / SEO tutorial (https://www.seomanualsubmission....) sections. I want to say honestly i have to filter subscriber on regular basis because more of them are spammy and as i noticed his common name is "John Smith" :D After publish blog ... I used some tools to share my blog to online platforms like twitter, tumblr etc. and on few platforms like linkedin and facebook we share manually ....

In case it's helpful, I shared some tactics I've used for Wonder Tools (https://wondertools.substack.com) in this interview with Ciler for Newsletter Circle, her weekly note about newsletter strategies. https://cilerdemiralp.beehiiv.co... One of the points I shared in that, in reply to a question about how Wonder Tools reached 22k readers as a solo side project: "Cross-promotions have been the most fruitful avenue of growth for Wonder Tools. I like referring my readers to good newsletters they may not yet know about. And having Wonder Tools mentioned in other newsletters is a great way for people to discover it. I don’t advertise or buy lists or use tactics that would feel too self-promotional. I do show up every single week with the best work I can do for readers. I boil down weeks or months of experimentation and exploration into a five-minute weekly read. People appreciate concise consumable newsletters that have actionable info. They share that type of resource with friends, colleagues and their own readers. So the consistent effort I put into the newsletter has been a key part of its growth."

Hey Sveta, have you tried LinkedIn newsletter? I recently started it and the subscriber numbers have crossed 1K within 3 weeks

Focus on valuable content, personalize your newsletters, Keep a consistent schedule, Use social media to promote your newsletter, and Monitor and analyze your metrics.

We have grown our newsletter to 1000 subscribers. These are things that worked for us 1. Cross promotions 2. Lead magnets and 3. Engaing in communities and plugging our newsletter in our replies

I think recommendations and having a social media audience helps the most

Growing a newsletter takes time, effort, and a consistent strategy. Here are some effective ways to grow your newsletter: Create high-quality content: The key to growing your newsletter is to provide value to your subscribers. Focus on creating high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience and adds value to their lives. Offer incentives: Offer incentives to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter. This could be in the form of exclusive content, a discount code, or a free resource. Use social media: Use social media to promote your newsletter and reach a wider audience. Share links to your newsletter sign-up page and encourage your followers to sign up. Guest blogging: Reach out to other bloggers and ask if you can guest post on their blog. This is a great way to get exposure to a new audience and promote your newsletter. Collaborate with other newsletters: Collaborate with other newsletters in your niche and offer to promote each other's newsletters. This is a great way to reach a wider audience and grow your subscriber base. Optimize your sign-up page: Make sure your sign-up page is optimized for conversions. Use clear, compelling copy, and make it easy for people to sign up. Engage with your subscribers: Engage with your subscribers regularly and encourage them to share your newsletter with others. This will help to build loyalty and grow your subscriber base over time. Overall, growing your newsletter takes time and effort, but by focusing on creating high-quality content, offering incentives, and leveraging social media and other channels, you can build a loyal subscriber base and see your newsletter grow over time.

Good luck with your newsletter, @basv ! Here's what worked for my newsletter: - Create share-worthy content (obvious, but still). And ask for readers to share it at the end. Asking makes a difference. After you get 5,000 subs, consider implementing a referral program. - Experiment a lot with your landing page copy. And don't stop until you reach a 50% conversion rate. This will ensure you don't have a leaky bucket with your traffic. Even a 5% increase in the conversion rate makes a huge difference in the long term. - Make cross-promotions with other newsletters that have a similar target audience. Especially after you have 1,000 subs, you can start cross-promoting with bigger newsletters and get many subscribers. - I see that you use ConvertKit. They are launching the Creator Network feature where creators can recommend each other (like on Substack). You can join the waitlist. It works great. - And if you have products or selling sponsorships, you can consider paid growth. P.S. My newsletter in case you like mental models: https://fronterablog.com/newsletter

I am planning on starting one. So, thanks for posting this, will help me too.

Honestly, I don't have a great answer to this because I just started my own newsletter and am still trying to learn how to improve it 😅 Mainly commenting to stay in the loop and maybe veterans will let me know if I'm thinking about it the right way I spent 18-20 hours thinking about my customer base and what they would enjoy, then tested multiple design concepts in my community first to get feedback on the content. First iteration, they said it was a bit confusing and there was too much content going on. So I skimmed down the sections to just 2 and simplified the layouts. I started with Mailchimp ended up using Substack for the newsletter because it has a subscribe page and allows for unlimited emails (in case it grows!), but the design customization capabilities are limited. My thoughts around promotion are that content is king, if I focus on quality and increasing the "usefulness" of my email (literally get feedback from readers about how useful each issue is) then I'll be able to identify what to do to improve the content. When the content is super high quality and useful, I feel like people will just share it and recommend it! Even if I do a lot of marketing, if the content sucks, everyone will unsubscribe anyways

I find the best way is to cross promote with other newsletters

Sparkloop is a great way.