How many readers do I need to get sponsor for my newsletter?
Hey everyone! I am starting out with an interview series with indie developers and founders. It's going to be a huge learning experience for me but I am going to put good time in curating the content and managing the flow so I would like to receive a bit of side income from it.
Can you drop your suggestions on monetizing a newsletter? I don't wanna ask my readers for any sort of payment.
There are a number of newsletter experts here but here's my two cents.
Once you signup 10 subscribers, ask one person here in the Indiedeveloper community a dollar in exchange of putting their name or company. Most will oblige.
Now you are technically 'sponsored' and have social proof to show when looking for the next one.
This is fantastic advice. Social proof is incredibly powerful -- it plays on FOMO.
Agree Sergio! I remember you walking the talk on the social proof with Danny Postma's Makerlog Ad!
Awesome point!
good advice. i did something similar.
me and @coreyhaines exchanged “sponsorship” on each other websites when we first started.
a) good social proof for genuine future sponsors
b) nice cross promo with his site
That's an effective way to immediately gain the trust of a new audience. Thanks for sharing!
Hey! Much appreciated reply. Do you think 10 subs are enough? And how do the math work? Like, how many subs for what amount of money.
Well it's obvious they won't be sponsoring for ROI but as a token of support. Many of them are generous and would relate to someone starting something new.
Anyway, it's just a dollar!
Aha! Gotcha. Thank you so much.
I'd start at 5 cents per subscriber. if no sales, lower it. if you get sales, raise it.
But ads aren't the only way to monetize a newsletter.
I'm partial to ads because I run HypeLetter, but it's not the only way.
I share a lot of ways to monetize here: http://subscribersintoprofits.com/
As well as discuss my own journey to monetizing a newsletter.
The problem with the subscription service is that I need to setup my payment gateway and it's too hactic. In my country, I need to verify a lot of documents as I am under 18 while I have collected foreign payments as an individual so technically it will be easier to go for the sponsorships.
There are more options to monetize than sponsorships and subscriptions.
Oh, I see. I will try them as well.
Hey digvijay, I was in a similar payments situation. You can try out Paddle based subscription if you're building something on your own.
Otherwise it will be your best best to start a company soon and get IEC/GST so that you can accept foreign payments via stripe
Actually, I have been accepting freelance payments on PayPal. I am 15 and have somehow managed to get a 700$ PC with my earnings. Now, I am focusing on learning and building a product on my own. Registering a company is quite tough for me tbh. Thanks for the help and advice about Paddle based subs.
It makes me so happy when people start freelancing and doing real love projects when they're young. More power to you sir.
My 2c: Paypal charges too much. Try to ask your client to send via Transferwise(best on all terms, just a little complicated for the clients to set up) or Remitly(as easy as paypal for the clients to use and charges you very less fee and has great rates)
Feel free to DM and I can share some other ideas too.
I monetised with sponsors at 50 subs but I had a viral product on Hacker News.
Ask other makers for sure! Even a small audience is worth something, especially if it's niche. Start asking straight away!
Wow. That is nice. I will try the same. Will do my best to bring quality content.
Would love to sponsor and support your newsletter. DM me 👋
Thank you so much! I am super excited for it. Would like to ask for just 3 hours of time, I am completing with my website and initial posts. The website will be live today. I will mail you immediately after it. Thanks!