I essentially have a non-existent newsletter at the moment with 3,000 sign-ups thus far. I’m looking at a schedule of a bi-weekly release just to get myself into the groove of curating content on a scheduled basis; but I’m unsure how to actually monetize it beyond allowing for businesses/events to purchase ad space in the form of either a short sponsored article (photos included), a hyperlinked banner, or a 1:1 photo/logo placement in a grid.
I can’t really find much to guide me along the creation of a monetization plan, nor how much I should be charging for X amount of time per ad placement.
I help startups grow online so feel free to ask me any questions you may have.
3,000 newsletter sign-ups is impressive and you should definitely start thinking of monetizing. You are on the right path with building a content plan for the newsletter, but you can go many different directions.
The idea of having ad spots on your newsletter is a decent idea, but I’d suggest a few other ways. I would need to understand you business more and what you are offering to get so many sign-ups. Then we can find out a plan for you. DM me and we can chat more about it.
You can do sponsorships, for sure. That seems to be what the big newsletters are doing. How much to charge depends on the value of the people signed up. So if it’s auto afficionados who tend to be big spenders on accessories, you’d be able to charge a higher rate (I think). You’ll have to experiment - I don’t think there’s a one size fits all where you say every 1k readers equals 30 cents or 50 bucks or whatever.
Also, affiliate links. There are affiliate products in literally every niche. Definitely consider becoming an Amazon affiliate.
I don’t know your niche, but if, say, you’re an artist and people are signing up for art tips, you could have a post on your blog that talks about “my favourite art supplies” and stick Amazon links on every item mentioned in that post. Link to that post from all your other posts and from your newsletter - this is a 2-fer: there’s internal link juice plus also the potential of a tiny Amazon payout. Note: it’s important that these links be in a blog post (or a social media post) because it’s against Amazon’s TOS to include affiliate links in an email (yeah, I know).
Or if you’re in the health and fitness niche, list your tried and trusted equipment or supplements - jump rope, hula hoop, skates, basketball, etc. Photography? Links to your favourite equipment. Etc., etc., etc.
What exactly does a sponsorship in a newsletter look like?