NEWSLETTER RICHE$
When Google started its crusade against publishers, and when AI chatbots started stealing clicks from publishers in all impunity… it really looked like it was the end for the little guy to generate an income online.
Well, serendipity is a funny thing. When I stated pivoting away from Google and trying to safeguard myself against AI, I stumbled upon Scott Delong’s Twitter.
You might not know him by name, but the guy is nothing short of an internet legend. He’s known for creating Viral Nova that he sold for millions. But what I like most about him is that he made more money AFTER selling that site than he did before.
How? mostly through newsletter revenue or flipping them. My philosophy is, was and always will be…figure out who’s the best and learn from them. So after getting to know each other, I asked him if he would teach his newsletter formula (that made him $20 million) to the world.
He flat out refused. Why? Because the guy is pretty much anti-course. He said it himself “Most courses are regurgitation of stuff you can get for free”. I agreed.
So I told him to make it more of a playbook that revealed the actual steps of his methods instead of teaching theory. He liked that but then he threw me a curveball.
“Jon, why should I reveal how I build newsletters when I could instead build a newsletter empire and be more profitable?”
Touché. I couldn’t answer.
I didn’t push it. He was helping me out and my niche site’s newsletter was starting to take off like crazy. In fact I am now making MORE than I ever did with SEO (!).
But then something happened. Out of the blue, he shoots me an email about creating a course that would reveal everything.
What changed his mind? He’s just too old for this stuff. He’s a new dad and just doesn’t have the energy anymore to build newsletters.
Like I said, serendipity is a funny thing. Here’s what it’s all about…
Newsflash:
Google’s Not Your Friend
👉 Scott never intended to be famous, but a clever journalist ousted him as the guy behind Viral Nova, one of the largest sites back in the day.
Viral Nova’s traffic soared from no traffic to 100 million monthly visitors per month in 8 months. But one day (tell me if that sounds familiar), Facebook decided to cut his reach in half.
That is the context behind his famous quote “Running a business on FB is like opening a McDonald’s on an active volcano.”
This is not too far from what Google did to publishers, only 14 years later. So whether you are relying on Google or organic Facebook for traffic, it’s all the same thing: It’s risky. Plus now you’ve got sites like Perplexity that summarize all the results for you, bypassing the need to click completely.
The volcano can explode at any moment, in other words, the algorithm can cut you from traffic at any moment.
And as if I was clairvoyant: Google released the March update that DECIMATED hundreds of sites, if not thousands. And that was just the beginning of the year. Each update kept beating a dead horse.
If you’re still hanging onto Google for traffic. Here’s 3 reasons why you want to pivot right away…
🤯 Go to sleep rich, wake up poor
Building a website and just hoping Google would send you traffic is no longer a viable strategy. Why? Because they’ve been increasingly hostile to publishers that played by their rules
for years.
Thousands of bloggers & niche site owners went to sleep rich and woke up poor due to an algorithm update. With email newsletters, you own your traffic.
😠 You need to change everything, every time
A lot of niche sites are pure spam and deserve to be blown to bits. But if you are a legitimate publisher, it will drive you nuts having to change your website from head to toe every time Google decides it is so. If you started this publishing journey in order to be free…
Google is still your boss unless you own your platform.
😵 It’s never ending
If there’s 3 things you can count in life, it’s death, taxes and google updates. The risk, the content updates you’ll have to do will NEVER end.
Scott’s been building newsletters the same way for 14 years. Google has released 7 major updates…last year alone. And it will never ever stop. You’ll always be anxious for your site…unless you own your platform.
INTRODUCING THE
Million Dollar Newsletter Formula™
Scott is in my opinion the GOAT (Greatest of all time) when it comes to building non-business newsletters. I don’t know of anyone else who has such a consistent track record. And his method consists of 4 basic quadrants. Here they are:
CAPTURE EMAILS
Get their emails by running ads, or use your own organic traffic. Emails are the best asset you can own online because there’s no algorithm arbitrarily limiting your reach
STUPID SIMPLE ADS
Run cheap, extremely simple ads on Facebook. You’ll be stunned how something so stupid simple can bring in so much like clockwork. In fact, Scott’s ads still beat agency ads years later. Start with as little as $10 a day.
MONETIZATION
Most users will never see your site again, but with their emails you can have them click over and over again. Make money with display ads on your site (Yes, you can use content that Google has snubbed) or add affiliate links, your own products, etc.
TAKE / REINVEST
When starting, just put back the amount you make to make use of the compounding effect. Once the money snowballs, eat the bulk and reinvest a small part.