Starting a Newsletter
Hey Indie Hackers,
I wanted to get some feedback, thoughts, ideas, and any opinions on starting a newsletter.
For 2023 I just launched a New Automotive newsletter / blog.
- Moshins: https://moshins.beehiiv.com
This is more of an outlet for me as I am a huge automotive junkie that finds himself looking for cool cars / car deals daily (it's an addiction)
And when I find them I really don't have too many people to share with to take an action on.
So the problem that my newsletter solves is that I do the upfront search for great deals on various cool or quirky affordable cars. And if you are subscribed then you get an email with my find and some more details around the car.
Example: https://moshins.beehiiv.com/p/2005-porsche-911-manual-coupe-cheap
And another take around this newsletter / blog is me sharing some of my favorite cars in certain price ranges or just opinions and thoughts on various automotive designs and vehicles.
Again I currently have two different posts as an MVP that I plan to deliver on the site, please check it out / subscribe for some feedback.
Side-note: I'm using the starter https://www.beehiiv.com plan and hope to go to the next level with custom domains, and some A/B testing after I get some more subscribers and get a better feel from this MVP.
Also I am not the best writer so I hope this endeavor will help me become better with my words and grammar.
Thank you and appreciate your time and opinions.
That's a super crowded space with countless (well-funded) car blogs, auction platforms, and youtube channels competing for the audience that you're serving.
If I were to sign up for your newsletter, I would want to be sure that the cars you share are actually interesting to me (I'm a dad with a family van but would also enjoy a Porsche, Lotus Emira, etc)
From my perspective, a great way to separate your newsletter from others would be to inject your personality more.
Instead of just making it about cool and quirky cars (which reminds me of Doug DeMuro), why not make it about your obsession?
You could make a newsletter about finding quirky and cool cars that most people would never find or would overlook.
Topics like: how to find the best deals on your dream car, how to spot fake car deals, 10 great-value Porsche's that are more affordable than you think, etc
If you were your own reader, would you want the fun of researching to be taken away from you because the newsletter writer did it for you? Or would you want to tips on doing better research?
Hey Jan,
Really appreciate you feedback and thoughts.
I have been thinking about how to make it about my obsession, and primarily my obsession is finding great deals on the cars I like or find interesting.
The other part is that I will have some overlap with some other well funded blogs in USA (Autotrader Oversteer (founded by Daddy Doug DeMuro), Jalopnik, Hagerty, etc) but I find them all to have similar vehicles and don't really go out to find something else.. I used to be a big subscriber to them but find their content overly corporate and not really helpful.
Also I hope people will benefit from my Daily Deal post and start to take action on those deals. As often as I do change and buy vehicles (multiple times a year) my friends and I can't buy them all. And many times car guys don't know what they are looking for until they see it haha..
But I will need to do various of tests on different Content pieces and titles etc to see how it goes the next few months..
I think a big hurdle is marketing the newsletter.. Like you said many blogs out there.. So this will be a fun challenge and problem to solve.. my current thoughts are the following
If you have any other marketing advice, I would appreciate your insights.
Again thank you!
Hi VTO,
I think you should remove the links to the search results for cars. It makes it look crowded and kinda salesy.
I think you were on the right track with the post on cars with manual transmissions. You could do a post on each one of those with an overview of them, the price ranges for them at present day, and some interesting trivia/tidbits on each.
I subscribed. Keep sending them out.
Rustyy,
Thank you for the subscription and some insights!
So your saying having a query link to search the internet for all the car is not that helpful and sort of spammy. You think If I would make it prettier it would be more appealing?
I agree that type of content is good especially if you have different choices then the big blogs (which I hope to have) I was thinking of doing a little summary for the next similar post for each car, so will definitely try that out.
Appreciate your time and insights.
Yeah i think it would look a lot better without those links
good luck!