Issue #181 All About Email

In partnership with

Hi, friend. 👋

Welcome to Issue #181 of All About Email!

Last week, we had a first review of Notion Mail, and then we will discuss why knowing/understanding your data is essential.

This week, I answer a reader request about newsletter monetisation. Don’t worry, I promise to not write like a bro…because I can’t. 🤣

Have a big Happy St. Patrick’s Day (I’m Northern Irish, if you didn’t know). If you are celebrating today, maybe there will be a pot of gold at the end of this newsletter. 🤭 🍀

Without further delay, let’s go! 👇

How Not To Monetise a Newsletter

This is an easy one:

• Don’t do extensive research and then leave it to gather dust.

• Don’t leave that research to gather dust for two years!

That’s what I did. 🤣 🤦‍♂️

It took my good friend Emily Ryan to monetise her newsletter “9 Things Sunday” to get my butt in gear! (Thanks, Em. 🙌)

Why Do People Struggle to Monetise…

I will come at this one from a slightly different angle than you might imagine.

1. Not everyone wants to monetise their newsletter, and that’s totally fine. 🙌 

2. Where to get started can be a significant barrier (more on that in a moment). 🤔

3. Despite the bro economy, some people (like me) still don’t like asking for money.

4. Perhaps, friend, you feel your opinions are worthless or your content isn’t good enough?

⚠️ Before we go any further, number 4 above? If you feel your opinions are worthless, stop that thinking now!

Your content can be tweaked and improved, but someone will always be willing to listen and learn from you. 🙌

It could be that you don't have the right audience right now (more on that next week).

How Do You Get Started?

🚨 Remember that significant barrier in number 2 we discussed above, friend?

That’s where I made my biggest mistake. I researched other newsletters for months but did nothing with my results.

🎉 You can look at, copy, and download (whatever you want) my research document.

The numbers might be outdated, but you can see my thought process and:

1. My thought processes.

2. The different sponsorship methods offered by newsletters.

3. Audience sizes to sponsorship values.

4. Copy and landing pages.

5. How to get paid (payment methods and fees)

While the research document wasn’t quite finished (99%), it was complete enough for me to finally monetise my newsletters.

⚡️ Grow My Newsletter (from Louis Nicholls of Spark Loop) has an excellent Google Doc worth reading about how he monetises his newsletter with Partnerships.

I’ve spoken about Spark Loop before (a long time ago) in this newsletter, and we will discuss it again next week as we conclude our look at newsletter monetisation.

🚨 Lastly, the article below from Inbox Collective is brilliant and gives you a teaser of what we will discuss next week.

A Quick Note Again on Notion

Remember, last week, I said my initial impression was underwhelming?

I’ve played around a little bit more since then, and this is still the case.

However, after watching some videos and reading more articles, it’s clear that if you use Notion daily, Notion Mail will be a potent email tool.

That’s it for this week 👋

⏭️ We will conclude our look at monetisation as I explain how I finally started sponsorships for my newsletters and the tools you can use.

Remember, friend, if you would like to ask me any questions (like this week’s topic), reply to this email and let me know.

Your question could be my next newsletter topic or mini-series.

See you next week! 😀

Sponsorship Opportunities

🚨 If you’re interested in sponsoring the “All About Email” newsletter, you can find all the details in this Google Doc. I currently have “Classified” slots and a Main Sponsor slot available.

Email Marketing News & Tips

This week's excellent and insightful email news & tips:

• Email Basics - John Walker had me on his podcast to chat about some of the basics of email marketing. (Vend Digital)

• 24 hours left - Create Better Emails in Mailchimp. (Emily Ryan)

• 1 Million Times - Most email deliverability issues can be traced back to the opt-in process. (Alison Gootee)

• Email Toolbox - 35+ Professional Email Marketing Tools (Not ESPs). (Userlist)

• Good Question - Do spamtraps exist? (Word to the Wise)

• Trouble - What Happens When You Don’t Warm Up Your Emails? (ZeroBounce)

• Gmail Annotations - Your Secret Weapon for Email Visibility (House of Email)

• Better Late Than Never - Optimising Email Infrastructure for Success. (SocketLabs)

• The International Inbox - How Anne-Kathrin Gerstlauer Built More Than a Consulting Business Around Her Newsletter, TextHacks. (Inbox Collective)

• What Do You Do? - Is double opt-in required? Generally, no, but use it anyway. (Email Toolester)

• It’s Nearly Time! 🎉 - The New Outlook for Windows! (EMC)

• Get It Right - Requirements for Animated Gifs in Email. (Sarah Gallardo)

• Spam Complaints - This is one of my favorite topics to talk about (besides dogs, coffee, and Severance). (Alison Gootee)

• Authentication - Al Iverson shares two examples of new authentication and alignment warnings that you can find when reviewing an email message in Gmail. (Valimail)

• Poor Sending - What Spamtraps Tell Us. (Word to the Wise)

If you have a question about this email or email marketing, reply, and I will answer you as soon as possible.

I hope you have a great week! 👋