What Is A Newsletter Business? (Quick and Easy Answers)

If you need help understanding what a Newsletter Business is, read this page all the way to the end.

Each section below has been created and formatted in the best way possible to help you answer these two questions

Question #1 - “What is A Newsletter Business?”

Question #2 - “How Does A Newsletter Business Work?”

What are The Primary “Nuts And Bolts” of a Newsletter Business?

Every newsletter business online will have these three primary “Nuts And Bolts” that clearly lay the foundation for the business:

1. Website: This is the place online where all email subscribers sign up to receive the email newsletter in their inbox.

2. Subscriber List: This is the list of email subscribers that sign up on the website.

3. Email Newsletter Issues: These are the specific email newsletters that are sent out to the subscriber list for the newsletter business.

What are The Secondary “Nuts And Bolts” of a Newsletter Business?

These are the secondary “Nuts And Bolts” that play a key role in every newsletter business:

1. Traffic: Traffic = “Website Visitors” coming to your site on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. You want to convert as much traffic into email subscribers for your newsletter as possible.

2. Traffic Strategy: This is the strategy that is created before the newsletter business is launched into the marketplace. A newsletter business’s traffic strategy answers the question, “How do I plan on getting visitors to my website using free and paid methods, so they can sign up for my newsletter?”

3. Website Content: This is the specific content that you create on your website that will help your site be found by people who are interested in the topic of your email newsletter.

4. Sign Up Page: This is the specific page on your website where people sign up for your email newsletter.

5. Sales Copy: This is the text that you use on your website that encourages and inspires new website traffic to sign up for your email newsletter.

6. Tracking Software: This is the specific software that you set up on your newsletter business website that will help you understand what is happening on your site. By knowing what is happening on your site, it will allow you to improve your ability to convert new traffic into subscribers for your newsletter.

What Needs to be Purchased and Set Up Ahead of Time Before Launching a Newsletter Business?

1. Domain Name: This is the specific web address someone will type in the browser bar to sign up for your newsletter business. Make sure you have decided on a name first before you buy a domain.

2. Newsletter Business Software: This is the specific software you will purchase that will help you run the day-to-day tasks for your newsletter business. At a minimum, make sure the software you choose allows you to manage your subscriber list where you can email them whenever you want to.

What are the Final Details That Need to be “Figured Out” and “Decided” Before Launching a Newsletter Business Into the Marketplace?

1. Key Newsletter Details: Details in this “bucket” include:

• Name of Newsletter: What is the name of your newsletter?

  • Example: The Average Joe Newsletter

• Market: Who is your newsletter for?

  • Example: The Average Joe’s Living In The United States

• Topic: What topic will your newsletter be about?

  • Example: Lifestyle topics: Health, Family, Traveling, Parenting

• Market Angle/Positioning: How will your content be positioned?

  • Example: Lifestyle content that helps Average Joe’s live a better life

• Content Delivery/Package: How will your content look in email?

  • Example: Multiple short form bits of info arranged into lists and images

• Brand Promise: Why is your newsletter valuable to subscribers?

  • Example: Sign up to make your life better by reading our content

• Email Template + Layout: How does your newsletter look visually?

  • Example: Create a wire frame image for the newsletter where you lay everything out with color and formatting

• Newsletter Frequency: How often do you send your newsletter?

  • Example: We send our newsletter out two times per week on Wednesday and Friday at 10am PST.

2. Simple Logo: This is the starting logo image you will use for your branding.

3. Opt-In Process: This is the process that you will send brand new subscribers through. At a minimum, you will need a sign up location on your site, a confirmation page, and an initial email that is sent to a new subscriber after they join your newsletter list.

4. Website Visitor Experience: This is where you decide on the kind of “experience” you want website visitors to have on your newsletter business website as they are working their way through your site. By proactively creating this website visitor experience, by taking into account the multiple places your visitors will come from (and what pages they will most likely land on) will allow you to increase your conversion rates for creating website subscribers over the long run.

5. Drum-Beat Strategy + Execution: This is the strategy that you create before launch day that explains to anyone who is interested exactly what is done each week between each newsletter that is sent to your newsletter subscriber list. By creating a system around the specific tasks you need to get done each week between each email newsletter that is sent, you will be immune from having things fall through the cracks in your newsletter business.

6. Launch-Day Strategy + Sequence: This is the specific strategy and step-by-step sequence that you create before your officially launch your newsletter business into the marketplace. When you create a launch day plan to follow, and make sure you have created everything you need to launch your newsletter out into the marketplace, you will be well on your way to creating a successful newsletter business.

What are “The Key Metrics” That Every Newsletter Business Owner Should Care About At All Times?

To explain what “The Key Metrics” are that every newsletter business owner should care about at all times, read the questions we have written out below for you to review so you can gain a complete understanding of this important element of building a newsletter business.

As a newsletter business owner, you should always know the answer to these questions below if you want to be serious about growing your newsletter business into a raving success.

Before you read the first set of questions…

Imagine yourself being the person who is asking a fellow newsletter business owner in The Pursuit Newsletter community over a cup of coffee, and visualize the kind of replies that they would give back to you.

After you read everything below, and visualize this conversation with a future community member…

You will have a very clear understanding about what every newsletter business owner should be paying attention to at all times when it comes to growing and managing their business over the long run.

Subscriber Questions

1. How many total subscribers are in your newsletter list?

2. How many new subscribers sign up for your newsletter list every day, week, month and year (on average)?

Traffic Questions

1. How many unique visitors does your newsletter business website get per month on average?

2. How many total visits does your newsletter business website get each month on average?

3. What is the main traffic source driving traffic to your newsletter business website overall?

4. What is the main traffic source driving traffic to your newsletter sign up page overall?

5. What percent of the traffic coming to your website is organic traffic?

6. What percent of the traffic coming to your site is social media traffic?

7. What percent of the traffic coming to your site is paid traffic?

8. What other types of traffic are you driving into your website?

9. What traffic source creates the best, and most engaged subscribers over the long run (given the open rates, click through rates, and “reply to email” rates from this traffic)?

Conversion Questions

1. What is the conversion rate for your newsletter signup page?

Traffic (paid/free) —> Newsletter Sign Up Page —> Sign Up

2. What is the conversion rate for people who enter your website homepage?

Traffic (paid/free) —> Homepage —> Newsletter Sign Up Pg —> Sign Up

3. What paid traffic source converts the best for you?

4. What free traffic source converts the best for you?

Engagement Questions

1. What is the average open rate for every email newsletter that you send?

2. What is the average click through rate on the ads in each newsletter issue you send?

3. What is the average click through rate on the content links in each newsletter issue that you send?

4. If you send an email that is not a normal newsletter issue, what is the open rate and click through rate for those kind of email messages?

5. How long on average does a newsletter subscriber stay subscribed to your newsletter in months/years?

6. When do the majority of the “opens” happen for your list after the email newsletter is sent to the subscriber list during the week?

Monetization Questions

1. How much are you earning each month on the top line in your newsletter business before expenses have been paid for the month?

2. How much are you earning each month on the bottom line in your newsletter business after all expenses have been paid for the month?

3. How much are you earning per subscriber per month in your newsletter business (Total revenue divided by total subscribers)?

4. How much are you earning in profit per subscriber per month in your newsletter business (Total profit divided by total subscribers)?

Scaling Questions

1. When you run paid traffic through your newsletter sign up page, what is your cost per subscriber that joins your newsletter list?

2. When you run paid traffic through the homepage of your newsletter business website, what is your cost per subscriber that joins your newsletter list?

What Do Newsletter Business Owners Need to Focus On in A Given Month?

The answer to this specific question is very straightforward.

The questions listed below illustrate exactly what smart newsletter business owners (who are serious about their business) need to be focusing on and executing on each and every month.

The 10 Key Things Newsletter Business Owners Need To Focus On Each Month No Matter What If They Want To Be Successful

1. How many pieces of website content will be created and published this month?

2. How will we focus on driving targeted traffic through each piece of website content posted this month to maximize the amount of subscribers generated by each piece of content (while generating long term SEO value from it)?

3. How will we focus on driving targeted paid traffic into our website this month that converts into newsletter subscribers?

4. How many email newsletters will we send this month?

5. What content will be in each newsletter that is sent this month?

6. How much revenue will be generated in each newsletter we send this month (through selling paid ads), and what do we need to do to make sure we hit our revenue target for the month?

7. What needs to be done to sell the number of ads we need to sell in the newsletter issues that will be sent this month?

8. How can we increase the conversion rate for newsletter subscribers given our current traffic strategy, and paid media budget driving traffic into our newsletter sign up page?

9. Where will you be spending your time to achieve the traffic, subscriber and revenue goals for the month?

10. What team members will you be working closely with to help you achieve the traffic, subscriber and revenue goals for the month, and what will you be delegating to them to make it happen in an effective way?

How Does a Newsletter Business Actually Generate Revenue and Profit Each Month?

There are a few different ways that a newsletter business can generate revenue and profit on a monthly basis.

1. Sell Ads In Every One Of Your Email Newsletters: As your newsletter subscriber list grows, and as you start to establish more authority in your market, there will be individuals and companies who will want to pay you to reach your subscriber list via ads in each newsletter issue. This is where you will insert specific advertisements around the content of your newsletter for your subscribers to click on and engage with. Ads being inserted in a newsletter are normally sold on a CPM basis (cost per 1000 subscriber basis), and you can customize ad packages any way you choose.

2. Sell Ads On Your Newsletter Business Website: As your newsletter continues to grow, and as you establish more authority in your market as a credible newsletter business, you will have individuals and companies who will want to pay you to reach your website traffic coming into your newsletter business website. You can get as creative as you want with these type of ads, and can package and sell them in a way where it is a win/win between you and the specific individual and/or company you are dealing with.

3. Sell Solo Ads To Your Newsletter Subscriber List: Another way you can sell an advertisement to an individual or company is by creating a solo email ad and sending it to your subscriber list. These type of ads are stand alone emails that are sent to your newsletter subscriber list where you are the sender of the email, but the content of the email is from the advertiser paying for the exposure. You can package these specific email advertisements in whatever way you choose as you work with the advertiser who is interested in reaching your audience with one.

4. Sell Specific Products In The Newsletter As An Affiliate: If you don’t want to deal with selling advertisements to individuals or companies, you can also go down the Affiliate Marketing route. This will allow you to find specific products to sell so you can earn a commission for every unit that you end up selling to subscribers.

Do I Need To Sell My Newsletter Business to an Interested Buyer in The Future For Lots of Money?

You can, but it is not necessary if you don’t want to.

Here at The Pursuit Newsletter, we realize that individuals get into the newsletter business industry for many different reasons.

And with that being said…

Choosing to sell your newsletter business in the future to an interested buyer who wants your website, and access to your subscriber list into perpetuity is totally up to you.

The bottom line is…

If you do specific research on what newsletter businesses have been sold over the course of the past six years (between 2017-2023), you will be surprised to find out about what certain newsletter businesses have been sold for by the initial founders of the businesses themselves.

Regardless of what you want to accomplish with your newsletter business, or if you want to eventually sell your newsletter business in the future, the entire Pursuit Newsletter Team will be here with you every step of the way no matter where you are starting from!

What is Really “Possible” with a Newsletter Business?

One interesting aspect to building a newsletter business is the fact that you can make it exactly what you want it to be, so that you can live the life you want with a business.

Because you realistically only need an email address, a phone, a domain, and a specific website with a place to manage your newsletter subscriber list via an internet connection…

A newsletter business really does offer a lot of flexibility for the right person who wants to build one.

Follow one of the three business models below, or create a hybrid model that works for you.

1. Build A Newsletter + Sell Ads: If you want to create a newsletter business website, post content to it, drive traffic to it, build an email newsletter list of people who are interested in the topic you are writing about, and monetize it through the various ways available to you that don’t involve selling affiliate products…this is 100% possible.

2. Build A Newsletter + Sell Affiliate Products: If you like the idea of building a community of people around your newsletter subscriber list, and want to recommend good products to them while making commissions from them as you continue to write about and engage with others who you enjoy spending time with…that is another option as well.

3. Build A Newsletter + Sell Ads + Sell The Business: If you want to create a newsletter business that you intend on selling for 5-6x your yearly revenue, so you never have to worry about money again in the future…that is possible too.

The bottom line is…

Make your newsletter business the way you want it to be. You have all the power in the world to create your newsletter business in whatever way you want.

Now That You Know What A Newsletter Business Is, and How A Newsletter Business Works…Now Is The Time To Take Action…

Here at The Pursuit Newsletter, we are focused on serving the “online newsletter business owner” who wants to reach their newsletter business goals as quickly as possible.

The content on our site and in our email newsletter, will absolutely give you the “entrepreneurial edge” you need as you start, build and grow your online newsletter business into what you know it can become.

The content you will find on our website, and in our email newsletter, will absolutely help you in a major way as you continue your pursuit of being an online newsletter business owner that reaches their goals.

Make it a great day!

-The Pursuit Newsletter Team