newsletters
This newsletter model is dead.
Matt McGarry just posted about what he’s calling Newsletters 3.0. “If you’re running a ‘newsletter business’ the way most people do, you’re doomed to fail.” His post could be mistaken for a summary of the topics in my book on newsletters, but his take is from
Where does blogging fit in your newsletter strategy?
I got this question from a reader recently: “Have you written about how a blog and a newsletter could interact together? Two problems: 1. We’ve monetized each newsletter. Can I monetize the blog? 2. Can I train my audience to visit a ... blog (?) ... every day?” I moved my blog
SEO elder abuse
According to research by Neil Patel, 59.2% of traffic to blogs is driven by SEO. It’s the biggest single driver of traffic by far. He also reports that your SEO decreases over time, if you’ve published a lot of posts that no longer get the traffic they
What’s the job?
The Criterion Collection just put out their 4K edition of No Country for Old Men, which includes a new interview with the Coen brothers. The Coen brothers made two of my favorite films of all time: The Big Lebowski (a film about life trying — and failing — to change an oblivious
Newsletters are getting personal
A lot of my advice, especially to small businesses, involves getting more personal in their email newsletters. It remains a struggle to convince some businesses to include real names (not just the brand name), be a little less perfectionist in their designs, and write like a real human. The more
Brands became bands.
Rick Beato just posted a video about why bands have disappeared from the charts, replaced by solo artists and collabs between solo artists. Before recorded music gained mass popularity in the 1950s, music branding was all about individuals. As the industry became a well-oiled machine with global distribution, bands
When text wins over video
I know the future, and present, of online consumption is video. Audio falls in and out of favor. Text seems like a dinosaur. When does text still win over video? John Gruber thinks he knows and I find it encouraging – especially for email newsletter publishers. He recently released a podcast
“Don’t compete with yourself.”
There’s been a lot of great analysis this week of my favorite topic: the fuzzy line between personal and business newsletters. Josh Spector gave some good advice about why creating multiple brands is a trap that only multiplies your work and your readers’ confusion. “If you insist on building
AI Burnout
One of the most beloved Italian restaurants in the Chicago area has a different take on menu technology. No QR codes. No over-the-top printing costs. The menu is written on the wall. If you want it on your phone, you take a photo. Humanity is underrated. Does AI
New: Principles for Newsletters Paperback
There’s finally a physical version of the book at Amazon. You can find it here. There’s a Kindle version up on Amazon as well, if that’s more your thing. That’s over here. I’m still offering the book indie-style as a package in multiple ebook