Why you need an archive for your newsletter and how to create one

A good newsletter serves two purposes. It’s a communication channel with your audience and a library of content. However, as a newsletter consumer and creator I think the latter is highly overlooked.

Creating a library of content with your newsletter is super easy - host a public archive of all of your previous posts. Understandably, newsletter creators would want their content to remain exclusive to their newsletter subscribers, but doing so might prevent you from experiencing all the great benefits of having an archive.

Benefits of Having a Newsletter Archive

1. Interest new readers
   You might have the perfect value proposition written on your newsletter’s landing page or call to action, but that might not be enough for some potential readers. People are (rightfully) very protective of their inboxes so giving them a chance to read a sample issue might be the extra push they need to subscribe. On the other hand, if they don’t subscribe, that might be a blessing in disguise. Chances are if someone subscribed and the newsletter wasn’t for them, they probably wouldn’t open your emails or opt-out - negatively impacting your open and churn rate.

2. Adds more value to your existing readers
   Your most dedicated readers might want to look up an issue and/or a specific link you shared but searching through their inbox might be too daunting. Having an archive would make it easier for them to find what they are looking for. Your current readers can also check out issues from before they were subscribed to your newsletter.

3. Opportunity to monetize
   This is one of the easiest ways to monetize your existing work. Kai Brach, writer, and curator of the excellent newsletter Dense Discovery has a paid tier called Friends of DD where he provides a few bonus features for $22/year. One of these features is the Dense Discovery Index, a searchable index of previous issues. I don’t know how many people are paying for this but considering that Dense Discovery has 35,000 subscribers I am guessing it is a non-trivial number of people.

4. Shows that you have nothing to hide
   I have been burned multiple times by enticing landing pages and lead magnets only to be utterly disappointed by the quality of a newsletter once I subscribe. It’s one thing to promise that you send high-quality, non-spammy content, but showing your potential subscribers examples of your issues puts your money where your mouth is.

Hopefully, I have convinced you to create an archive. Here are some ideas on how to do it.

How to Build A Newsletter Archive

1. Use your Email Service Provider.
   This is the most straightforward way to create an archive. Platform-based ESP users don’t have to worry about this as Substack and Revue already take care of this for you. If you are using an ESP with a custom domain, searching your ESP name create archive or contacting customer service should help you get an archive set up.

2. Notion
   Notion is a great option for a stand-alone website that serves as your archive. A great example of this is The Curious Bunch archive(by @learnwithvidya). While this is no longer updated it’s still useful to potential and current readers.

3. Your Newsletter Landing Page
   Adding an archive or sample issues to your newsletter landing page is a perfect way to prove your value proposition to prospective subscribers. Someone who does this well is @Janel who writes and curates [BrainPint] (brainpint.com).

4. AirTable
   Probably not the best tool for a simple archive but a great option if you want to build a database of resources you have shared with your audience. @philipptemmel of Creativerly created a subscriber-only database of all the tools, resources, and articles shared within Creativerly using AirTable.

Even if you don’t make all of your newsletter issues publicly available, you and your subscribers will reap the benefits of having a newsletter archive.
I hope this post was helpful.

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