Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
I Abandoned My 6-Figure SEO Business for a Newsletter
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Hi Reader, For years, I ran a content publishing business. I published 100s of articles a month with the help of a team of freelance writers. I got millions of page views from SEO. I earned five figures a month from display ads and affiliate revenue. Last year, I let my editorial team go. I sold off most of my niche websites. And I changed my business model. Now, I run a daily newsletter. And I provide content strategy and coaching services to a few high-paying clients. When I posted about this change on LinkedIn, one follower asked: “Why are you changing your business model?” “I’m having a mid-life crisis!” I said No… I quit because… AI tools are lowering the barrier to entry for niche website owners. Most people consume content on social media, not on a content website. The Google algo favors big brands like Forbes and Reddit over smaller creators. And… I was tired. SEO content is boring to write and publish. Slam keywords into an over-optimized article, all in the hopes of some more traffic? No thanks. I’d rather write story-driven content for my newsletter. Content that converts a few readers into clients. As for staring at Google Analytics and Google Search Console? I’d rather help a few clients and creators get what they want. I haven’t replaced income from my old business model yet, but my newsletter and revenue is growing. I’m attracting higher-quality readers than from SEO. By higher quality, I mean readers willing to invest in themselves and their creator businesses. It’s more profitable and less work. You can do the same.
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Letters From the Desk of Bryan Collins
Do you want to grow a profitable content business? If so, join 25,000 readers. I share daily insights about personal brand building, writing online and growing a profitable business. It's for creators, coaches and business owners.
Hi Reader, Do you find writing content hard? Figuring out what to post online takes time. And that’s before factoring in writing the post and turning followers into email subscribers or, gasp, clients! I get it. Lurking online is easier than writing and pressing publish. Sometimes, I fool myself into thinking it’s “market research”. But I know if I don't press publish, I won’t grow my brand. I almost always feel better when I write a post and press publish. If you’re feeling stuck like me,...
Hi Reader, This week, I launched a private Telegram community for readers of this email list. My goal is to share insider content about how I run my six-figure content business and help you add $3k to yours by 2025. I also want to explore other distribution channels that don't rely on an algo. Then, I can share the results with you so you can do the same. After I launched my Telegram community, a few subscribers emailed me to ask, "Why not WhatsApp?" Well, I picked Telegram because of its...
Hi Reader, For a few years, I was a content strategist for a Fintech. One of my projects was improving a newsletter for small business owners. The newsletter enjoyed a lousy 5% open rate. The back of a cereal box was more engaging than the boring product content inside the newsletter that a developer banged out between coding sessions. So, we stripped out the boring product content and started sending customer stories and how-to guides. And open rates slowly climbed towards 20%. My open rates...