A client contacted us a little over a month ago - they wanted to start their newsletter from scratch.

Newsletters, much like like podcasts, have kind of exploded recently - everyone wants to start one.

Yes, it has benefits and yes, it can be better than social media in many ways (Read more about it here).

But if you are just starting out, it’s important that you know the reality of the time and effort it takes to get the ground up and running.

So today, I’ll walk you through everything we did for this client in the first month.

P.S. We host all our newsletters on Beehiiv - there might be specific features mentioned below that are only available on there.

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Week 1: The Foundation

Writing comes later; first, you have to build technical and strategic foundation.

Here’s all that goes into it:

1. Domain Creation and Integration:

   After the domain was bought according to the niche and brand identity, it was integrated with Beehiiv.

2. Payment Setup:

   To receive money though ads and Beehiiv Boosts, it is important to have Stripe connected to Beehiiv, and that’s also done here.

3. Content Strategy:
   This takes research into topics, planning the frequency, the days, and the time according to the target audience.

After this, we were ready to set up the publication.

Week 2: Publication Set Up:

This week is quite happening - it was all about branding and execution.

1. Logo:

   The logo and thumbnail for the newsletter was created during this time, which helped to shape the personality of the brand.

2. Welcome Email:

   This is the first impression that readers are going to have about you - it should tell your readers what to expect from your newsletter.

3. Email Design:

   According to the brand colors, the email was designed which both reflected the brand personality and was easy-to-read on various devices.

4. Landing Page and Home Page:

   This helps to convert visitors into subscribers - a simple page with benefit-driven copy works best here.

5. Survey and Thank You Pages:

   To understand the audience better, we set up a short survey with key questions. A thank you page also needs to be set up that shows after the readers have subscribed to the newsletter.

6. Email Polls:

   A feedback poll at the end of every newsletter helps to quickly test and see how people are liking the content and the formats.

7. First Email:

   After everything is set up, the first email is finally published to get the ball rolling!

Week 3: Consistency and Growth:

With the brand and publication structure in place, week three was all about consistency and growth.

1. Content Consistency:

   We followed the pre-agreed schedule to publish content.

2. Growth:

   When you’re starting out, you can choose the organic route for subscriber growth.

   But our client had set apart a budget for ads as they wanted rapid growth, so we set up the ads account during this process as well.

Week 4: Experimenting and Optimizing

This week was about refining strategies and experimenting.

1. Experimenting with Content:

   To find out a format that works for our audience, we keep experimenting with different styles.
   

2. Optimizing Ads:
   With ad creatives, testing and optimization is a continuous process for best results.

3. Revenue Strategy:

   With Beehiiv’s “Boost” feature, we have also been able to monetize the newsletter.
   Though the number is not substantial, it is a good start.

Currently:

At the end of the first month, we had reached 190 subscribers. This might seem like a modest number, but for a new newsletter, especially one competing in a crowded niche, it was a strong start.

It’s essential to understand that building a loyal subscriber base takes time.

Meta ads, while effective, require patience and fine-tuning to find the right audience.

But once the initial months are done, it is a process you can repeat to keep growing.

And that was about it. Yes, newsletters can be amazing but don't expect explosive growth from the start.

It's gonna be slow but with consistency, you'll definitely get there.

And if you need any help along the way, you can always reach out to me.

Hey hey! I want to understand where you’re stuck at your newsletter and figure out how I can help you better.

This can happen in 2 ways -

A group webinar (I'll also explain the complete newsletter creation process here)

A 1:1 call (This will be more focused towards your specific needs)

If that’s something you’re up for, please choose what will be most suitable for you:

P.S. If you are stuck with your newsletter growth at any point, reply to this and I can help you out! 📈