Question about Great Ideas Letter and...

other paid newsletters/ezines.

I am doing a bit of research and had some questions if I could.

I notice that the newsletter is actually emailed out as a PDF attachment. Does this cause any problems? Are there ISPs (AOL comes to mind) that strip all attachments?

I also see that there is no archives available and I understand the reasoning behind this. Do you think that this is a "turn off" to not have a private site with archives and other special features. I also understand that what is being sold is the information in the newsletter not a lot of bells and whistles.

The reason I ask these questions is that I'm trying to launch my own paid newsletter (not a competitor to Great Ideas) and it has literally been one problem after another. The majority of the issues are problems with web design, setting up the owners area, content management, etc.

It's not an issue with having good, relevant, saleable content. Most of the problems could be easily resolved if I had enough money to throw at the site for the right scripts, a webmaster, etc. But until money is coming in I'm in the classic "catch 22" of needing money to make money.

Like I say I have the content just not the backend stuff that many people seem to expect. If those things are *truly* not as important as the actual content of each newsletter then I have my answer I've been looking for. Do my newsletter similar to this one and as money comes in open the owner's area when I can pay the people who are proficient in the areas I need help with. If I do this then I can concentrate on what *I'm* proficient in.

Thanks in advance for any ideas or advice,
Mark

Mark,

I am a subscriber to the Great Ideas newsletter,
and have been from early on. When I subscribed,
I was subscribing to the newsletter...period.

I think there was a bonus report with the subscription.
But no big bonus worth a zillion dollars, and no
promise of a "private" web site.

I have been a "member at large" of the Sowpub
group and have read Dien and Michael's writings
for several years now--how long has it been Dien?

I knew their style of writing, their quality of
work...and I wanted a part of that. Hence, I am
a subscriber. I just renewed for another year.

So if you provide good content, you really don't
need a web site or a mega-bonus or backend products.
It might grow faster with more exposure, but it
can be done without all the bells and whistles.

I believe Dien and Michael had established themselves
at Sowpub and on other forums prior to the
Great Ideas venture. I am sure that helped to
launch the newsletter.

Good luck with your newsletter venture.

JDB


Proven Tips, Tools, and Tactics...

Hi Mark,

> I notice that the newsletter is actually
> emailed out as a PDF attachment. Does this
> cause any problems? Are there ISPs (AOL
> comes to mind) that strip all attachments?

We haven't had too many problems. Different email accounts do treat things differently, so you have to become aware of how different email accounts treat different types of email. I have several email accounts which I use myself for "testing" purposes, to try to make sure the email gets through for several different types of email systems.

By the way, I went to a lot of effort to figure out a system which would work with many different email systems.... So I don't want to give the impression it's necessarily easy.

> I also see that there is no archives
> available and I understand the reasoning
> behind this. Do you think that this is a
> "turn off" to not have a private
> site with archives and other special
> features. I also understand that what is
> being sold is the information in the
> newsletter not a lot of bells and whistles.

We wanted to give people the opportunity to "try" it out at a low price - that's why we have the monhtly subscription rate. People can just subscribe for a month if they like, then unsubscribe if they don't like it.

If we had all the archives available, then some people would subscribe for a month, get all the back issues then unsubscribe. Then they might wait a year, and do it again. That wouldn't be fair to the other subscribers....

There's a little bit more about this topic on our Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.sowpub.com/greatideas/TGIL-FAQ.html

By the way, I print out and keep all my issues of The Great Ideas Letter in a big 3-ring binder. That way, it's easy to leaf through the earlier ideas.... Quickly leafing through all the back issues is a great way to "inspire" new business ideas in what you're doing! Seeing a lot of different and unusual business ideas in quick succession helps to "stimulate" your brain to think along similar lines.... (For subscribers, try it and see!)

> The reason I ask these questions is that I'm
> trying to launch my own paid newsletter (not
> a competitor to Great Ideas) and it has
> literally been one problem after another.
> The majority of the issues are problems with
> web design, setting up the owners area,
> content management, etc.

Well, ours is not a "membership site" - it's really a newsletter (delivered via PDF format), so we don't have some of the problems that you seem to be mentioning. Of course, sending out many emails with attachments has its own difficulties to overcome!

We did set up a small "membership" section here on Sowpub once - this was a couple of years ago, when Gordon Alexander ran the "Study Group Forum". Buying one of our products at that time gained you access to our special members-only forum, where Gordon would share with us a practical daily lesson in marketing. To help set that up, I used Locked Area Lite http://www.locked-area.com . It's very basic, though - to set up a full membership web site today I would probably use a full software solution for the whole site....

Maybe others know of some good software you could use to set up a membership web site?

- Dien Rice


What's in the next issue of The Great Ideas Letter? Click here to find out (half way down the page)

Hi Dien,

>> If we had all the archives available, then
>> some people would subscribe for a month, get
>> all the back issues then unsubscribe. Then
>> they might wait a year, and do it again.
>> That wouldn't be fair to the other
>> subscribers....

Here's a thought then...to add bonus value *and* extra incentive for people to take take out a long term subscription, why not make your archives available *only* to those who take out a 12-month subscription...

...personally, I think that option is a bonus in itself and will entice people to sign up with you long term!

regards,
Adam

> Hi Mark,

> We haven't had too many problems. Different
> email accounts do treat things differently,
> so you have to become aware of how different
> email accounts treat different types of
> email. I have several email accounts which I
> use myself for "testing" purposes,
> to try to make sure the email gets through
> for several different types of email
> systems.

> By the way, I went to a lot of effort to
> figure out a system which would work with
> many different email systems.... So I don't
> want to give the impression it's necessarily
> easy.

> We wanted to give people the opportunity to
> "try" it out at a low price -
> that's why we have the monhtly subscription
> rate. People can just subscribe for a month
> if they like, then unsubscribe if they don't
> like it.

> If we had all the archives available, then
> some people would subscribe for a month, get
> all the back issues then unsubscribe. Then
> they might wait a year, and do it again.
> That wouldn't be fair to the other
> subscribers....

> There's a little bit more about this topic
> on our Frequently Asked Questions page at
> http://www.sowpub.com/greatideas/TGIL-FAQ.html
> By the way, I print out and keep all my
> issues of The Great Ideas Letter in a big
> 3-ring binder. That way, it's easy to leaf
> through the earlier ideas.... Quickly
> leafing through all the back issues is a
> great way to "inspire" new
> business ideas in what you're doing! Seeing
> a lot of different and unusual business
> ideas in quick succession helps to
> "stimulate" your brain to think
> along similar lines.... (For subscribers,
> try it and see!)

> Well, ours is not a "membership
> site" - it's really a newsletter
> (delivered via PDF format), so we don't have
> some of the problems that you seem to be
> mentioning. Of course, sending out many
> emails with attachments has its own
> difficulties to overcome!

> We did set up a small "membership"
> section here on Sowpub once - this was a
> couple of years ago, when Gordon Alexander
> ran the "Study Group Forum".
> Buying one of our products at that time
> gained you access to our special
> members-only forum, where Gordon would share
> with us a practical daily lesson in
> marketing. To help set that up, I used
> Locked Area Lite
> http://www.locked-area.com . It's very
> basic, though - to set up a full membership
> web site today I would probably use a full
> software solution for the whole site....

> Maybe others know of some good software you
> could use to set up a membership web site?

> - Dien Rice