Why I’m Betting on Email Marketing for My Digital Empire
The $260 Question That Changed My Business
I woke up this morning to my $193.8 Aweber bill. Which, as of now is $260.05 Canadian.
That’s a bit of a pill to swallow when you first wake up in the morning. And I had to ask myself a couple questions:
- Is Aweber’s pricing too high?
- Is the cost of email marketing worth it anymore?
Your Digital Empire Won’t Be Built On Reads Alone
Like you, I’m working towards making a full-time living online selling digital products. But I do have business debt from my gym that needs to be paid off.
My email list hasn’t been growing as fast as I’d like this year. That's because I got lazy with my outreach for new subscribers. And I haven’t tweaked my email newsletter opt-in to increase conversions for a long time.
If the goal is to make a consistent 6-figures online, I figured it was high time I looked at the pros and cons of my business model.
And that business model is…
Content marketing and email marketing to gather leads to sell digital products. Always has been since 2002.
So I weighed the pros and the cons so I could figure out how to best move forward from here.
The Good Stuff…
- Aweber is reliable. It has great features that I need to run a successful email list that buys my solutions to their problems. I’ve used them for years.
- There’s huge upside potential. Even though my list is growing slower lately, email marketing remains my best marketing strategy. One good email campaign can make my whole year, income-wise.
- Aweber makes my automation easy. Aweber has tools that save me time sending out my newsletter as I work towards making The Secret Sauce a daily email. I can also test ideas to see what resonates with my readers.
The Bad Stuff…
- High Cost: The current cost is in the higher range for email providers. I always like to keep more money than I spend. But I also have to spend money to make money. And cheap sometimes means problems.
- Gambling: Continuing to invest in a costly service only makes sense if I can foresee a larger return on investment down the road.
You Might Ask Yourself These Questions Too
I looked at the performance of my email campaigns. Because if email wasn’t providing a good return, it might not be worth the investment.
But again, what about the future potential? Will I ever grow my income enough without an email platform and a list of customers I own?
And what about stability? If I stopped my newsletter then I would be relying 100% on an external platform for monthly pay…
But That’s Very Risky
I could research other email marketing platforms that might be more cost-effective. Because many offer similar features at a lower price. But is transferring all my data worth the effort to save a few bucks?
No. Time is precious…
So I’m Improving My Strategy
I decided to focus on improving my email marketing and opt-in strategies. I needed to quit being so lazy. So I refined my target audience and will be creating more useful content, and optimizing my opt-ins.
To make a six-figure income this year, I need to smarten up and prioritize my biggest money-making activities. This means spending more money in direct-to-sales page ads. This not only brings in sales but also builds a buyer's email list.
I also need to write more here on this platform where I have better growth potential than my personal blog.
The Recap
I wrote this draft last month before things started doing a lot better. Starting middle of last month both my email subscribers and monthly income have skyrocketed.
So thank you for your continued reading and support.
Obviously, I decided to continue with Aweber because it’s so essential to my overall business strategy. They have treated me well over the years…
But Are Email Lists Worth It For You?
It depends. To make your money back from using an email platform, especially in the context of selling digital products and being an online writer, you’ll need to focus on several things.
And you can read about them in the next article which will come out tonight or tomorrow.
I will come back and link to it or you can just get notified by email as soon as it’s published: https://raymondburton.com/Secret-Sauce