Hi Reader, I see this mistake all the time… People try to cobble together a digital product business using: Free advice Free (or very cheap) tools This is because they don’t want to “waste” money on: A decent course or membership Proper sales and checkout software Deadline tools A good email marketing platform And then they’re baffled when sales are… underwhelming. Here’s the thing. If you want a successful digital product business, you need to think like an investor, not like a 1950s...
27 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Quick question for you… Would you rather have an RPM of $34 or an RPM of $284? Feels like a no-brainer, right? And yet – every single year – huge numbers of bloggers choose the first one. Why? Because they choose to monetize with ads instead of digital products. I run the Blogging Income Survey every year, and the pattern is remarkably consistent: 👉 Digital products earn around 8x more than ads for the same pageviews. Let’s put that into context… If your blog gets 10,000 pageviews...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
This email contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may get a commission. Hi Reader, You may have heard people saying that keyword research is dead. That with AI search, LLMs, zero-click results, and Google “answering everything”, keyword research just doesn’t matter anymore. And on the surface, I get why people think that. But here’s the truth 👇 Keyword research is not dead. Not even close. Why people think keyword research is dead Most of the “keyword research...
3 months ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, In case you’ve not heard, both Raptive and Mediavine have dramatically changed their requirements recently. First came the news that you can now join Raptive ‘proper’ with just 25,000 pageviews. (It used to be 100,000 pageviews.) Read about that here >>> Raptive Drops Traffic Requirement By 75% To 25,000 Views Then came the news that Mediavine is basically changing everything! From 15th January 2026, bloggers will be able to join Mediavine Journey at just 1,000 monthly sessions....
4 months ago • 8 min read
This email contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may get a commission. Hi Reader, Today I want to tell you a story… It’s the sad and sorry tale of a café owner who went bust... Let’s call her Ruth. It was Ruth’s lifelong dream to open a café. However, from a young age she had always been taught to be careful with money. Her parents had taught her things like: Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves. A penny saved is a penny earned....
5 months ago • 7 min read
Hi Reader, Does this sound familiar? It’s time to write your weekly email newsletter. You sit down at your laptop, ready to type… and then? Nothing. Your brain is as blank as the screen in front of you. So you scroll social media… Make another cup of coffee… Reorganize your desk… Eventually, you get something written – but it takes forever, you’re not happy with it, and honestly? It all feels a bit pointless. You can’t help but wonder if writing a newsletter is even worth the time. If that’s...
6 months ago • 6 min read
Hi Reader, Have you ever felt like your email list is just… sitting there? You’re sending emails, showing up for your audience, doing all the “right” things – but it doesn’t actually make you any money… It feels frustrating. And honestly? It’s one of the biggest reasons people don’t really prioritize email marketing – it feels like a huge time suck, with very little reward. If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In fact, when I recently surveyed this list about your biggest email...
7 months ago • 5 min read
Hi Reader, In this current world of brutal Google updates, unreliable traffic and rapid advancements in AI, there is one strategy that stands head and shoulders above the rest: email marketing. Email marketing is the #1 way you can protect yourself and your business from future shocks. Why? Because email marketing gives you a way of ‘keeping’ the traffic you have worked so hard to attract. Without email marketing, you start at zero every day. And every day you have to work hard to attract new...
7 months ago • 6 min read
This email contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may get a commission. Hi Reader, A question I keep getting a lot at the moment is… “Should I start a Substack?” And in this climate of uncertainty and volatility in the blogging world, it’s easy to understand why. Substack sounds great in theory: It’s free to get started There are no monthly fees (you just pay a % of what you earn) You can publish content (a bit like a blog) You can send free newsletters You...
9 months ago • 8 min read