The ultimate step-by-step guide for how to make money with a newsletter and get on that crazy newfangled money train.

Blogging is dead.

Google is dead.

Content creators are irrelevant.

AI will replace all of us.

These are the headlines I’ve seen and I’m sure you have too.

I do beg to differ though.

I make some good money doing and using all of the above right now, and my online businesses are not old. I’m sure AI will cover more and more of the content creatin world, but it isn’t there yet. It still can’t replace the actual human element.

I know, I’ve tried to teach it to.

With all of these new headlines popping up, the one I do agree with is that newsletters are the new way to make a lot of money online.

Think about it, you have subscribers that have already opted in to hear from you. They like what you have to say, and they trust that you will put them on the right path to achieve their goals.

You have a captive audience that you can write for and market to.

It really is the golden chalice of one-person online business models.

I have my own newsletter set up and I’m helping others do the same.

Below is a step-by-step guide on how to make money with a newsletter to help you get up and running too.

This post may contain affiliate links. This means I could earn a commission if you purchase through my links, however, there is no cost to you. Rest assured, I only promote products that I use or think are great. Thanks for reading!!

How To Make Money with a Newsletter

1. Pick a Topic You Like

Coming from someone who has spent countless early mornings and late nights downing caffeinated bubble water – pick a topic that you are passionate about. Maybe even something you would write about for free.

Ok, I get it, maybe you are not necessarily passionate about any one thing, but it should at least be something that you find interesting enough to write a lot about. Or, it’s something you have a lot of knowledge about and the information can just pour out of you easily.

Also make sure you niche down enough.

You are not going to be able to write for everyone and their Aunt Betty, so don’t try.

There are those prolific writers that do write with a large scope – covering anything they feel like and still manage to amass a huge audience. For the most of us learning how to make money with a newsletter, appealing to a smaller group of passionate people is usually easier and leads you to success faster.

2. Who Are You Talking To?

Anyone who will listen I hear you saying…

This is true in theory, but it really helps to define who you’re writing for. Who are you trying to help? What are their interests, demographics, and goals?

The more you can answer about your hypothetical typical subscriber, the easier it will be to refine your content to match them.

The more people feel like you are writing for them specifically – helping them fix their problems, the more they will come back. These people want to come back, so write something that is worth their effort to do so.

The more they come back, the more likely they will be to buy something from you.

3. What Does it Look Like and When Are You Sending it?

You don’t want to send out something that is hard to read.

You especially don’t want to send out something that is hard to read, frequently.

Take a moment and think about how your newsletter reads. Can you clearly read the text? Are the paragraphs too big? Does the format feel squished? Make it easy to consume your content.

Then think about how often you are going to send out your newsletter. If you pseudo spam your subscribers too frequently, they will dump you in the trash can the second they get it. If you don’t send frequently enough, you run the risk of being forgotten. No one wants to be forgotten.  

It also depends a lot on your bandwidth. How often can you realistically get a well-crafted newsletter together? You don’t want to send out junk, so you need to commit to a schedule you can commit to.

I’d recommend starting at once a week and then you can gauge how your audience is reacting and change up your tactics from there.

4. Brando

More specifically, branding.

I can hear you groaning already – didn’t we just talking about formatting?

Well, formatting isn’t the same as branding. Branding is having a look, a feel, a personality. It’s what sets you apart from the rest. Every time a reader gets one of your newsletters, you want it to be consistently you.

You don’t want them opening up your newsletter wondering who it’s coming from – you need your brand identity to do the talking for you.

When you drive past a McDonalds, you know what those golden arches signify. When people scroll through their inbox and open your newsletter, you want them to know it’s you and what they are going to get.

Get a logo, pick a color scheme, get an identity or personality to your newsletter.

If you can’t figure all this out on your own, I always recommend finding a freelance graphic designer on a place like Fiverr to do it for you cheaply.

5. Choose an Email Newsletter Platform

You can’t just send your email newsletter through Outlook or Gmail. If you want to know how to make money with a newsletter, you’re going to need an email newsletter service provider or platform.

There are tons and tons of online newsletter platforms to choose from, but the below three are the main ones that I would consider. Always do your own research and pick the platform that you think will fit with your online business the best.

Substack

Substack is probably the platform you hear about the most. They make it really easy to start to pay wall your content to start making money right away. Everything is streamlined and simple with paid subscription features. It is mainly a newsletter platform, so there are not a lot of extra things you can do beyond that though.

Beehiiv

Beehiiv is free up to 2,500 subscribers (as of this writing), so for those who are just starting out, this is a good option. The people behind Beehiiv are newsletter pros themselves, so they have made a very efficient platform that is easy to use.

ConvertKit

I use ConvertKit. I started out with ConvertKit as my email automation tool, but soon found that it has a really nice paid newsletter feature that rivals Substack as well. The added benefit to using ConvertKit for your newsletter is that you can then use it for everything else – emails, landing pages, sign up forms, list segmentation, etc…I also find it easy to navigate with built in templates so I can get things done faster.

Some other programs to consider are MailerLite, Flodesk, Ghost, Mailmodo, AWeber, and Mailchimp.

6. Write Away

Now you gotta start writing.

This should be the easy part, but it rarely is.

Most people have to go through that awkward growth phase – big, squirrely teeth and all.

You’re not going to know what to write. You won’t know what your voice is. The cursor will sit there and stare at you more times that you can count. You will have imposter syndrome thinking you should even be doing this at all. You will want to give up.

I would implore you to just spit the first one out. Once you get that first bad boy out the proverbial door, things just get…lighter. I don’t know how to explain it, but it just does.

You will want to do it again, but better. And you will.

The key here is to remember to not stop. Don’t quit too early.

There are so many people who start a newsletter and they don’t get traction right away so they stop, before they even get going.

Getting an audience and subscribers takes time. Some hit the jackpot right away, but for most of us, you gotta earn your stripes. Just hang in there until you start to see some trickles flowing in.

You can always quit, so why quit today?

7. Marketing Schmarketing

I don’t think anyone likes the thought of having to market anything, but the reality is that if you want to get paying subscribers, you need to promote yourself.

You have to let them know you exist and that you have the newsletter they have been waiting for.

Here are a few of the main players in the marketing arena:

Social Media

Social media is everyone’s first thought when it comes to promotion.

That’s because it is free, and effective – if done well.

The usual players are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (X now?!?!), Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and LinkedIn. I am sure there are others that some people have done well on, but these are the big guys.

I would say that you should pick two and focus your efforts there. Get to know the ins and outs of the platforms. Get some followers. Get some traction. Once you get your footing on two, you can always branch out to more.

Just be careful not to over extend yourself here. It is very easy to go insane trying to keep up with it all. Many hair clumps have been pulled out.

To help, I use Tailwind to manage my social media posting. I can batch create all of my posts and then schedule them out. Tailwind even tells me when my audience is most likely to see my posts so I can schedule then. This way, I’m not glued to my phone or laptop trying to post every day, Tailwind is doing it for me.

Other Writing Platforms

If you want to learn how to make money with a newsletter, write elsewhere. There are other places to put your writing that will also help you promote yourself. As a bonus, some of these can even be extra income streams.

There are online writing platforms like Medium, Newsbreak, Hubpages, etc…These platforms already have built-in audiences that are looking for content to read. If you publish on one of these, you get access to that audience, for free. The great thing about writing platforms like these is that you can post a link back to your newsletter sign up form.

Another great place to write is your own blog. I always highly recommend you start your own blog or website in addition to a newsletter or any other type of online business. A blog is great for SEO reach and really elevates you in the eyes of Google. You can put your newsletter sign up form all over your blog for even more subscribers, plus it is another business and income stream as well.

Check out my post Believe the Hype: How to Start a Blog and Make Money to learn more, or head on over to Bluehost and get a domain name and hosting account to get going. It’s not hard, I promise.

Guest posting is another tried and true way to get more exposure. It also helps with your SEO since you can link back to your newsletter sign up form or blog. More eyeballs = more content.

Last but not least are answering questions on forums, like Quora or Reddit. You need to be subtle with these or you will get found out, but you can market yourself on these by coming across as an expert on different subject matters that are aligned with your newsletter.

Paying

I’m including this last promotion side kick here at the end because it is a little controversial.

Pay for some advertising.

Yep, I know, it’s not pleasant, but it does work faster.

As will all things, do your research, set a budget, and proceed carefully.

You Can Learn How to Make Money with a Newsletter

Whew, that felt like kind of a lot.

In all reality, learning how to make money with a newsletter with paying subscribers is not hard. It just takes a little upfront work to get all the pieces together.

But, once the puzzle is put together, you just have to keep the ball rolling. It will gain traction and keep feeding you more and more of that new money as it grows.

That would be nice, wouldn’t it?