Using giveaways to maximize growth with Aleyda Solis of SEOFOMO
Sep 6, 2023
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Louis Nicholls interviews Aleyda Solis, founder of SEOFOMO newsletter for SEOs. They discuss how Aleyda used her newsletter to grow her consulting business, her unique referral program strategy, and how she manages affiliates & sponsorships. They also talk about the challenges and mistakes with offering physical rewards in a referral program, and the importance of choosing valuable giveaways for newsletter growth.
Aleyda Solis successfully monetized her SEO newsletter through sponsorships, carefully selecting sponsors that align with her audience and creating valuable sponsored content.
Aleda emphasizes the importance of choosing a creator-friendly newsletter platform and suggests integrating community features to enhance engagement and foster connections with subscribers.
Deep dives
Aleda Solis shares the story behind her SEO FOMO newsletter
Aleda Solis, a respected SEO consultant, started the SEO FOMO newsletter to help the SEO community stay up-to-date with the latest news, resources, guides, and tools in the industry. Her goal was to make it easy for SEO professionals to keep up with the ever-changing landscape without feeling overwhelmed. The newsletter is sent every Sunday evening to coincide with the planning for the upcoming week. Aleda's curation of different sections, including search engine updates, guides, resources, SEO tools, events, jobs, and recommended SEOs to follow, has made SEO FOMO popular and successful. The newsletter has attracted over 27.5k subscribers and continues to grow at a rate of 400 new subscribers per month. Aleda has leveraged the popularity of her newsletter to attract sponsorships and monetize her audience effectively. She has been strategic in selecting sponsors that align with her audience's needs and preferences, and she ensures that sponsored content adds value to her readers while maintaining trust. Through referral programs and giveaways, Aleda has incentivized her subscribers to refer others and participate in community-driven milestones. She has learned to bundle giveaway prizes to cater to different segments of her audience and has streamlined the fulfillment process for physical rewards. Overall, Aleda is excited by the opportunities presented by newsletters and believes that there is enormous growth potential in this medium.
Choosing the right platform and integrating community features are crucial for newsletter success
Aleda emphasizes the importance of choosing the right platform for your newsletter, one that is creator-friendly and offers necessary features for content creation and distribution. She highlights the value of platforms like ConvertKit that cater specifically to creators' needs. Additionally, Aleda identifies the potential impact of integrating community features directly into newsletter platforms to enhance engagement and interaction among subscribers. Leveraging discussions, comments, and feedback within the newsletter platform can create a sense of community and foster stronger connections with subscribers. By focusing on community and integrating valuable features, newsletter operators can optimize the potential of this medium.
Sponsorships should align with audience needs and be thoughtfully executed
Aleda has built a successful sponsorship model for her newsletter by choosing sponsors that align with her audience's interests and needs. She advises sponsors to consider their goals and whether they want to focus on direct conversions or brand promotion. Aleda recommends a thoughtful approach to sponsored content, ensuring it adds value to readers and maintains a high level of trust. By offering special offers and exclusive promotions, sponsors can create a sense of excitement and incentivize conversions. Aleda also suggests carefully managing the number of sponsor slots in each edition to avoid reader fatigue and maintain a balanced mix of advertisers. Finally, she highlights the importance of long-term partnerships and regularly revisiting sponsorship agreements to adjust pricing as the newsletter's subscriber base grows.
Lessons learned: Choose the right giveaways, streamline fulfillment, and select the appropriate referral incentives
Aleda shares valuable lessons she learned from running giveaways and referral programs. She recommends bundling giveaways based on specific audience segments, ensuring that the prizes appeal to the targeted group's needs and interests. By doing so, Aleda avoids dispersing prizes that might not be valuable to all subscribers. Additionally, she advises considering fulfillment costs and logistics when offering physical rewards. Integrating fulfillment services like Printful can streamline the shipping process and reduce costs. Finally, Aleda suggests adjusting referral incentives to strike a balance between attracting participation and managing potential challenges such as fake referrals. By optimizing the referral program, newsletter operators can maximize engagement and growth in a sustainable way.
Welcome back to another episode of the Send & Grow podcast. This week, SparkLoop cofounder Louis Nicholls sits down with Aleyda Solis of SEOFOMO, a newsletter for SEOs.
Aleyda Solis started the SEOFOMO newsletter to keep up with SEO news for her consulting services. "I was saving all the links anyway," she told us. Now SEOFOMO goes out to over 27,000 SEO professionals (or SEOs). And her newsletter brings in over $80k per year in addition to her consulting service.
In this episode, Louis & Aleyda discuss…
How she used her newsletter to grow her consulting business
How Aleyda created giveaways to maximize growth—for free