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Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

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Re: Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

#21

Post by ben_hall »

bosslee wrote: post #8
ben_hall wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, very similar - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if Timehop added this as one of there options as they already do twitter and facebook. I use Timehop but not sure about any user facing revenue model. They do however have the last 5 years of facebook and twitter data about me so I'm sure they're making some money from that.

yep. just check them out. there is no business model for the users. How do you find the service Ben? I read a post that they used to send daily emails. Do they still do that?

I get daily iOS notifications. I have a feeling if I didn't open the application then I would get an email which is a really nice way of handling notifications.

Re: Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

#22

Post by conjecTech »

bonemachine wrote: post #18

If you want to spike traffic, you can always follow the good example of Ron Paul & Associates, and start peppering your articles with random racial, homophobic and other gratuitous provocations. Don't overthink it, and don't make it too obvious; instead aim for approaches more oblique and back-handed, in the spirt of, e.g.: “If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed…

Wow, this is the most unnecessary and untimely comment I've ever seen. This has absolutely no relevance. This does not even address the question being posed and goes off on a wild tangent that can only be meant to incite others and detract from the conversation at hand. This doesn't belong here, and I'm questioning whether the kind of person who would post such a thing does either.

Re: Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

#23

Post by wikwocket »

Check out Dan Lewis's great newsletter "Now I Know," for ideas on content, advertising, and list-growing. Dan is here in HN as @DanLivesHere. He probably has ~100k subscribers now, and monetizes with ads and Amazon affiliate links.

Here is the newsletter: http://nowiknow.com/

Here is a good interview with him: http://www.mediabistro.com/10000words/now-i-know-real-person...

Re: Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

#24

Post by bonemachine »

conjecTech wrote: post #22
bonemachine wrote: post #18

If you want to spike traffic, you can always follow the good example of Ron Paul & Associates, and start peppering your articles with random racial, homophobic and other gratuitous provocations. Don't overthink it, and don't make it too obvious; instead aim for approaches more oblique and back-handed, in the spirt of, e.g.: “If you have ever been robbed by a black teenaged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed…

Wow, this is the most unnecessary and untimely comment I've ever seen. This has absolutely no relevance. This does not even address the question being posed and goes off on a wild tangent that can only be meant to incite others and detract from the conversation at hand. This doesn't belong here, and I'm questioning whether the kind of person who would post such a thing does either.

Apologies to anyone who felt distracted or incited. I assure you that wasn't my intention.

Re: Ask HN: How to make a profitable business from a newsletter app?

#25

Post by ada1981 »

bosslee wrote: post #11
ada1981 wrote: post #3

1)set up an affiliate deal with a service that turns the photos into real products and integrate with their API. Send them the photo, and then give them the option to buy a print / hat / sticker / skin / etc. 2) you can use display ads from other networks in your email news letter if you want to try that, but it's a pretty abstracted revenue stream 3) sponsorships are much better than ads on low traffic properties..…

thanks for the reply and suggestions. I agreed and feels that sponsorships (in this case) might work better for me. JV is definitely something interesting for me to try out too. I realised that dkokelley and you shared a common advice for me and that is to grow the users first. I totally agreed with that. This is my first web app too. So I also I like to ask in your opinion and dkokelley how long would you give your…

Sign ups will help you determine your cost to acquire a customer and how predictable that can be.. I'd look at that more than raw sign up numbers.. Also, how many people do you need to make money?
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