📬 Local Newsletter Life 1 Year Update

Well, here we are. It’s been a year of local newsletter life.

And it’s safe to say that things have not gone as expected.

The Recap

I started the local newsletter targeting the most affluent area of Vegas. It’s the area of town where I live, so I thought this would be a breeze.

Side note: I live in this area for safety (cause crime here is insane and this neighborhood has 24-hour security at the gate) and my rent is about half what the going rate is. No way in hell I’d pay the current market rates.

Feeling sure of success, I went with publishing 5 times a week (weekdays).

Spent a little over $3,300 acquiring leads before realizing things weren’t going as planned.

No one wanted to pay for ad space. The locals were kinda assholey sending me angry emails if I didn’t tell them about something that they missed.

The best subscribers we have are all people who have moved to Vegas from other states. No joke.

So, my wife & I decided to branch out and cover the entire west side of Vegas.

Side note: there was one guy who started a local newsletter targeting the same area that I did initially….in the last month or two he’s also pivoted to focusing on all the west side.

Guess what happened when we expanded?

Same shit, just covering a wider area.

But I really believe in this model. I still do. But, it still wasn’t working so we slowed down the publishing to two days a week, which is where we’re at right now.

The math still ain’t mathin’.

We made some revenue ($1353.12 after Stripe fees), but not enough to cover the amount spent so far. And then there’s the time spent on this every single week for a year.

But I noticed that the newsletter website (on WordPress) was ranking like crazy cause it’s getting the local relevance boost.

That’s when I thought doing website first might be a better strategy.

On our upcoming Tuesday edition, we’re announcing a two-week hiatus. And a big shift in what we’re doing.

We’re sticking with a website-first strategy. We’re scaling down to one email a week. We’re re-branding (again). And we’re covering all of Vegas with a target audience shift to tourists.

I think businesses here are more likely to pay for ads, etc. to reach tourists than they are locals, and that’s bananas. But it is what it is.

And if that doesn’t work, then it’s over.

Coming up…

More on what I’m working on and how it’s going.

Stay awesome,

Shawna

P.S. If you’re looking for high level discussions or tips on things like local SEO and Rank & Rent, I highly recommend Jacky Chou’s Advise community. I’ve been in it for several months and there’s tons of value in it, including a SOP for local SEO.

Some links may be affiliate links. I 💖 you if you use one!