It’s easy to find people selling online courses on SEO, paid traffic, copywriting, and many other skills that marketers in 2017 should have.
No doubt some of them will accelerate your education.
There is also a lot of free, high-quality info out there. You’ll find it via Google as part of the content marketing ‘value’ that marketing experts looking to eventually sell those courses on email marketing skills will provide.
If money’s tight and you’re motivated you can absolutely get started without paying for a course.
There’s one problem: a lot Internet marketing info online is either inaccurate of outdated. The tools and methods change constantly.
Also, it can be hard to know if someone you’ve never heard of before has actual experience or just a bunch of theories.
A Solution: Internet Marketing Newsletters
Internet marketing newsletters are a great way to get some of the best content from professionals you’ve decided are competent, most likely after reading their blog content.
Often marketers feel obliged to deliver some of their best free content to their newsletter subscribers.
Over the years I’ve been blown away at the quality of the best of it–articles introducing me to concepts and methods I’ve used to make money.
Today I’ll point you to several marketers whose free content–blog posts/lead magnets/emails–have helped me become a better marketer.
But the newsletters these experts send all include an additional helpful little built-in hack.
I suggest subscribing to all the newsletters below not just for the quality info each provides in their area of expertise, but because each of them, if you pay attention, also gives you a lesson on how to how to communicate with your subscribers, from the initial content marketing thru to product launches.
After all, marketing with email newsletters is itself an important skill to have in 2017 and will be for a while.
Some of these folks have businesses doing seven-figures per year of revenue. Their newsletters, for all of them, are a big part of their success.
Think about that.
Who better to learn email marketing from? Not theory, and not a course. The actual processes that work for each of them.
You can be sure the emails you’re getting from them have been tested and refined for conversions.
See how valuable this is?
So here’s what I’m suggesting: get as much as you can out of the free material these experts share with you in lead magnets, emails and even free courses.
But look at the email sequences they send too.
As I say, I’ve done this myself–reading one email after the other to get the flow and the big picture. It’s helped me.
So on to the list, in no particular order. If you’re worried about getting flooded with emails, set up a new account just for your Internet marketing education.
And by the way, if you’re just getting started and wondering how to ‘get on a list’, just look for the enticing free offer somewhere on the person’s homepage, or in a pop-up– that’s the lead magnet. Sometimes there are a few of them!
(Btw I have no relationships with any of these people outside of a little back and forth on social media maybe.)
Pat’s been around for almost 10 years and has helped so many people. There’s gold in the archives of all the marketers on this list but no one more than Pat. It looks like nowadays from his homepage you can choose which of the following topics you want to learn, and enter a unique email funnel for that topic. You’ll be offered a ton of free education and lead magnets appropriate to the topic. See how Internet marketing newsletters work?
- affiliate marketing
- email marketing
- tools and resources
- blogging
- podcasting
- creating online courses
Bryan focuses nowadays on helping you build your list–and fast–but you should also look through the articles in his site archives. Brian has a creative, original approach–spend time on his site looking though a huge amount of free value, like his business formulas to get an idea of what I mean, but definitely sign up for his list!
Affiliate marketing using paid traffic–Facebook ads, Google Adwords, mobile ad inventory, etc.–to earn commission on products you don’t own, is a complex challenge with a lot of moving parts. To do well at it requires competence in several different skills.
This form of Internet marketing is also a way to make a whole lot of money quickly if you can find or create an edge.
Charles Ngo has been one of the top affiliate marketers in the world for almost 10 years now. To determine whether this business is for you, or to start to really understand it if you think it is, I can’t think of a better person to learn from than Charles.
And that’s saying something.
Affiliate marketing is notorious for fake gurus out to exploit people full of hope who know how lucrative the business can be. Charles is unusual in that he educates extensively without hammering you with the fact that he does offer paid training!
As an extension of that free education he offers on his site, his training course/lead magnet takes you deeper into the nuances of Affiliate marketing. You’ll get a very good foundation without spending anything and you can be sure that it’s coming from someone who walks the talk.
Charles, as much as anyone I know, helps you to think of Internet marketing as more than a set of skills, but as a business. Highly recommended.
Brian Dean has become recognized as a true SEO guru. The proof is that he ranks very highly for some of the most competitive keywords imaginable: SEO-related keywords like onpage seo. If you’re interested in Internet marketing his blog is an incredibly valuable resource, and there’s no reason not to get his newsletter either.
Where to begin with Jeff Walker? He’s been using doing product launches and teaching others how to do them since the mid-1990s. Jeff delivers much–not all–of his education nowadays via video, taking advantage of his exceedingly likeable, easygoing manner. But don’t be fooled. He’s a true creative pioneer– the first time I heard the details of constructing a ‘Sideways Sales Letter’ I was blown away.
Remember that I called each of these experts’ email sequences–the way they construct their emails, content mixed with sales–a source learning separate from their area of expertise? With Jeff Walker you also have an amazing lesson in ‘how to deliver value by being pleasant and natural on video’. Get signed up, because if you have an area of expertise (or even if you think you don’t!) Jeff will explain how to build a digital product around it, from A to Z.
Pete is a copywriter who focuses on helping people “launch simple yet highly profitable online courses”. He emphasizes education that won’t blow you out of the water if you’re worried you might not have enough tech skills to be effective. Take him up on it. Pete also uses Facebook heavily and along with joining his list you should join his Facebook group too.
Bob is a master copywriter who’s published 100 books while sending out regular emails to his subscribers. His newsletters cover all aspects of making money from writing generally, but especially sales letters and copywriting. Sign up and you’ll get an ongoing education in how to balance ‘giving value’ in each email with a sales pitch in every email too. It can’t be easy to do this consistently, but I’ve been getting his newsletter for a long time and I’ve never been tempted to unsubscribe: too many interesting tips and educational topics.
Dan teaches retargeting: using Facebook ads and Google Adwords to show ads for whatever you or your clients are selling online, after visitors leave your site and surf the web. The technology is extremely effective. In fact this is still one of the best marketing methods a person can learn, because it’s so effective and costs relatively little to run. Dan’s enthusiasm for retargeting is infectious and he excels at explaining it.
He has a long career in sales behind him. It informs his approach and sets him apart as more of a business guy than most Internet marketers. Sign up and look at his quickstart video and you’ll see what I mean. When he shares his case studies I’ll bet you’re drawn right in.
The first thing you’ll receive from Kurt is an incredibly helpful and well-written five-email sequence on making the transition from freelancing to offering productized services.
Until you understand productized services you might think selling your time for money is the only way get paid for a marketable skill you have. Listen to Kurt’s story as a guy who went from selling one-off services at a low price to any client who would hire him, to offering a defined service to Shopify ecommerce store owners only. No exaggeration: it will really open your eyes, and maybe change your approach to your business. In fact if you’re a freelancer it should change your approach.
Kurt is another one of those marketers I mentioned earlier, who shows you the kind of emails you should be sending to your subscribers long after they sign up, with pertinent, non-sales-y content that doesn’t turn people off.
Who did I miss? What Internet marketing newsletters have blown you away even with their free content, whether you later bought a course from the people behind them or not? Let me know and I will expand this Digital Media Minute list over time.
I received an email from a Digital Media Minute reader in response to a recent post on Internet marketing newsletters I recommend subscribing to, where I listed nine newsletters that have helped me a lot over the years.