A Daily Curation of the Web's Best Content for Startups

Sujan Patel of Mailshake

Sujan Patel of Mailshake
Another great example of the value of content marketing and growing an audience.

Sujan Patel, co-founder of Mailshake, talks about how they grew their blog to over 300k visitors a month through content marketing, the importance of building a personal brand, the value of launching on AppSumo, and more.

Sujan knew he wanted to build a SaaS app, but realized the value of building an audience first so he started blogging first. About a year later he wrote an ebook that ending up selling more than $342k through a lot of hard work and grew his newsletter subscribers to 35K.

That audience and AppSumo launches to build awareness were key factors to the early traction of Mailshake.
 
saasmarketer.io

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Community-curated knowledge networks

Community-curated knowledge networks
“We are living through the emergence of a new business category that doesn’t even have a name yet, but which I believe will become an important part of our digital lives: online communities at the intersection of content curation and knowledge management. “

In our world of information overload, curation is becoming more critical to keep up with and succeed in fast-changing business environments. I started this curated IdeaEconomy newsletter because I think it is critical for entrepreneurs to keep up with trends and skills to maximize their startups success.

There will be big opportunities in this space.

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I Blogged Every Night for a Week. It Went Terribly

I Blogged Every Night for a Week. It Went Terribly
Even a giant like Rand Fishkin of Moz and SparkToro can still publish mediocre content. He shares some good advice about what to avoid when publishing content.

– Uncompelling Titles
– Lack of Singular Focus
– No Encapsulating Visual 
– Serving Too Many Audiences 
– No Keyword Targets 
 

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Why Content is King

Why Content is King
“Content can create incredibly strong moats. There are properties inherent to narratives and ideas that make them naturally powerful — kind of like how social networks, marketplaces, and platforms are inherently power-prone.”

“We’re going to analyze media from a systems perspective and explore the properties that make it a good source of power. We’ll use my favorite framework, Hamilton Helmer’s 7 Powers, to structure our exploration. If you haven’t read 7 Powers, that’s totally fine. Basically, all you need to know is it’s a list of the different types of powers businesses can have, which enable them to maintain profitability and resist competitive arbitrage.”
 

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Lead Magnet Ideas That Actually Work

It’s important to give people a reason to sign up to your email list. A lead magnet is a short ebook, checklist, resource list, etc. to encourage people to subscribe. Pat Flynn offers advice getting the most out of your lead magnets. 1. Make it visual. Show them what they will get. 2. Sell it. Convince people that it is worth their time and email. 3. Experiment. Try different kinds to see what works. Shorter lead magnets are working better. He is getting a 60 to 70% conversion rate on his landing pages. Pat provides lots of examples and value in this video. Lead magnets are something I need to work on for IdeaEconomy.net.

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Writers Explain How They Earn Enough Money to Do Nothing Else

Writers Explain How They Earn Enough Money to Do Nothing Else

Can you make money as a writer? Tim Denning shows 11 examples of writers who are making a living with their craft. Writing is an essential skill to master if you want to be successful, so in a sense, we are all writers. I think the best advice is to avoid starting with a blog. There are better places to start earning attention. This article is on Medium. If you are past your allotment of free articles, open it up in a new browser.

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No, I Won’t Give You My Email for a Downloadable Ebook

No, I Won’t Give You My Email for a Downloadable Ebook

Everyone talks about how popups, browser notifications, splash pages, etc. increase newsletter signups. They work. You will definitely get more signups if you annoy people enough.


However, the other side of the argument is never presented.

How many people are so annoyed that they never return to your site again? The world is in a race to the bottom to interrupt as many people as possible. How about just focusing on good content that people want to read? There have never been any popups on Seth Godin’s website.

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The Story of Humans of New York in a Twitter Thread

The Story of Humans of New York in a Twitter Thread

You’ve probably heard about Brandon Stanton and his project to photograph 10,000 people in New York City. This Twitter thread tells the full story.

He has gone on to raise millions of dollars for charity.

This is a great lesson in the power of consistency and how opportunities will come if you just persist long enough and adjust.

Marketing Idea: Telling the story in a Twitter thread like this is also worth noting. This is a good way to get more attention on Twitter.

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21 Mistakes Bloggers Make (and How to Avoid Making Them Yourself)

21 Mistakes Bloggers Make (and How to Avoid Making Them Yourself)

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.com identifies many of the key mistakes new bloggers make. I think I’ve made most of these mistakes myself in the past, but I’m trying to correct for them on IdeaEconomy.net. I recommend picking a couple of the items and going deeper to see how you can improve. I’m focusing on #13. New subscribers don’t magically appear, so I’m trying to become more active on forums like IndieHackers and on Twitter. Reddit and Linkedin are next. I’ll be sharing more of my process of building this newsletter in the future.

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