Am I Just F%^cking Kidding Myself? Or is this value?

[100k]

I want to start a fastlane business that provides VALUE.

After a lot of brain-storming and forethought on what sort of business I could set up that best suites my current situation I've come to one main idea: A Premium News Letter

In theory it meets all the 5 fastlane principles:

*Need, Time, Scale, Control & Entry.

The idea is to offer value to people by saving them the time and energy of having to rummage through hundreds of articles/websites in any given niche to find the handful of articles/posts/case studies/videos etc. posted every week that are worth their weight in gold. Basically I'll be finding those golden articles/posts and curating them into a nicely presented email that I send out 2 times a week.

Is there any value in that? Or am I kidding myself?

---------------------

I know the best way to find out is by actually doing it and letting the market tell me what they think, however I wanted to hear what you guys think and I'm also having a hard time thinking of what sort of criteria I should have for filtering out and selecting viable/possible niches.

I'm thinking, I do not want to set this up in a niche that already has a lot of curators/authorities; i.e NBA or NFL or Entertainment.

But I do not want to go TOO niche and try it in a niche that is too small or does not require news update every week... like oh I don't know.... French Antique Chairs from 1800s.

Your help would be greatly appreciated, guys.

TL;DR?

1) Would you pay someone to save you time and energy of having to dig through hundreds of websites find the handful of golden posts/videos/articles in a niche you are passionate about and emailing you those golden posts 2 times a week?

2) What criteria would be good to have when selecting a niche to work with (don't want the niche to be too big, but not too small either).

Thanks

 

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[MitchC]

Cool idea, you could monetize it without people having to pay for it though, I wouldn't pay for it no matter how good it was.

That's my thoughts, but I do like your thinking

 

[Phones]

1) Would you pay someone to save you time and energy of having to dig through hundreds of websites find the handful of golden posts/videos/articles in a niche you are passionate about and emailing you those golden posts 2 times a week?

2) What criteria would be good to have when selecting a niche to work with (don't want the niche to be too big, but not too small either).

Dm Engage FB group is a good exemple of this. 30 something $ a month and there are more than 6.000 people there.

Your biggest disadvantage is free content, and with a lot of people providing premium free content as a lead magnet, it might be hard if you're not an authority.

 

[theag]

A lot of businesses are already doing that. But they are doing it to generate leads for their main product/service. I think its very hard to do as a standalone business model. Would probably have to be in a very high value niche like financial/investment...

A good example is Justin Brooke's Traffic tips for Busy People newsletter.. Once a week, you get something like this: http://imscalable.com/blog/traffic-tips-for-busy-people-47/

He runs a media buying agency and with this newsletter he provides value to potential clients.

 

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[theag]

Dm Engage FB group is a good exemple of this. 30 something $ a month and there are more than 6.000 people there.

I dont think thats a good example. With DM engage your not just buying access to their FB group (which is becoming more and more useless with all the noobs btw), but also to tons of unique premium content from DM (execution plans, webinars, etc).

 

[100k]

Cool idea, you could monetize it without people having to pay for it though, I wouldn't pay for it no matter how good it was.

That's my thoughts, but I do like your thinking

If I monetized it without people paying a subscription then it would just be another newsletter that sent out emails and promotions every now and then. There is nothing unique or blue ocean about that.

Why would you NEVER pay for something like this?

Lets say you had a hobby you was VERY passionate about, but you had a very busy work week doing 60-70+ hours a week. You wanted to be up to date with what was going on in that industry/hobby/niche of yours BUT you did not want to get emails from people that had an agenda to get you to buy something (i.e we would ONLY be curating and sending you the BEST content without promoting anything in hopes that you would buy it and earn us a commission or what ever). Would you still not pay $5 per month for something like that?

 

[100k]

Dm Engage FB group is a good exemple of this. 30 something $ a month and there are more than 6.000 people there.

Your biggest disadvantage is free content, and with a lot of people providing premium free content as a lead magnet, it might be hard if you're not an authority.

Yeah, I agree. I would have to find a way to provide more value than the people offering FREE premium content.

Thats why its also very important that I choose the right niche - one that does not have a lot of free PREMIUM content or authorities that curates premium content for free.

Thank

 

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[100k]

A lot of businesses are already doing that. But they are doing it to generate leads for their main product/service. I think its very hard to do as a standalone business model. Would probably have to be in a very high value niche like financial/investment...

A good example is Justin Brooke's Traffic tips for Busy People newsletter.. Once a week, you get something like this: http://imscalable.com/blog/traffic-tips-for-busy-people-47/

He runs a media buying agency and with this newsletter he provides value to potential clients.

IDEALLY - I'd LOVE to set this up in a niche like stock trading - and hire like 5-10 expert mathematicians or other really smart people that would spend their time night and day to find VERY safe bets... and then send that out to my list and tell em... BUY BUY BUY.

But want to start off in a different niche first and prove the concept.

 

[GuestUser113]

So you want to create "Pandora" for news content?

 

[100k]

So you want to create "Pandora" for news content?

Not familiar with Pandora.

 

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[Digamma]

This works well in several niches. For example I know of several paid programming newsletters for particular technologies.

 

[100k]

This works well in several niches. For example I know of several paid programming newsletters for particular technologies.

Thank you for your input. I only found a few websites offering "premium newsletters" from my research, but a few is still a positive sign.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=premium+newsletter

 

[RogueInnovation]

To me it seems like you are farming emails to leverage marketting (very low barrier to entry), and the need is sloppily defined, and as a result the scale is severely limited due to the over saturation of newsletters.

IF however, it was a service you provide to companies that want a newsletter but don't know how to create them it might be better.

But, much better than either is to solve a problem, like... "ok, these people are not aware of certain sites, let's make it super easy and fast to appraise them and select the ones you like the look of" and "lets make all their subscriptions display in one place, by scraping the text and making a uniform styling, that they can choose the preferences of".

That way you solve the problem of useless newsletters, rather than just competing in a low barrier to entry and gimmicky market.



I don't think its valuable in the grand scheme of things, because it just saves a person a bit of time and makes them a bit better informed (like a newspaper)... BUT, if you got really awesome MAAAAYBE.

Lots of places are trying to solve the information problem, will this solve it? No.


Personally I think VALUE, real value comes from making life less D#CKY to people.
From giving refuge, to giving people a way to connect and express themselves, to easier purchasing, its all less HASSLE, and newsletters tend to be fiddly, hassling, near spammy things.

So if you do not innovate and sit on your a##, the newsletter idea will suck.


YOU are the only one who can do the work to make things work
- find the real issue
- simplify to solution
- don't rely on monopolies and everyone falling in love with your work
- produce great, clear, results for them
- give it a good price and improve the service/product

 

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[100k]

I appreciate your input. Thank you.

 

[Chaseb731]

I don't think it adheres to "entry". What is the barrier to entry with a newsletter?

Also, something to think about is whether or not there is a need there that someone would pay monthly to relieve.

 

[100k]

I don't think it adheres to "entry". What is the barrier to entry with a newsletter?

Also, something to think about is whether or not there is a need there that someone would pay monthly to relieve.

Well, to be honest ... if you are not giving the users quality content then they won't stay subscribed. So unless you have at least 2 people working full time just digging for new content and you know how to build converting landing pages and you know how to make a sales funnel and create high CTR ads... then you probably will not be able to do it.

But in theory, you CAN put together a sloppy newsletter in 1 day and try do duplicate it.... but that does not mean that you'll be able to compete with someone that provides HIGH Quality Premium content.

 

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[tafy]

I subscribe to a few curated newsletters, I love them and I think its a great idea aslong as you can find 5-6 great articles a week.

 

[100k]

I subscribe to a few curated newsletters, I love them and I think its a great idea aslong as you can find 5-6 great articles a week.

You are a father, you have your career, you have responsibilities around the house (so you are a busy man and FREE time is a luxury for you), but you have a few hours every week that is your "me time" and wouldn't it be nice if you could have an email or two sent to you with the BEST content from your most favorite "hobby" that you can just enjoy and go through at your leisure .... WITHOUT having to spend like 3 hours of your "me time" looking for those "golden" posts/articles !?

Thank you for your confirmation

 

[tafy]

Curated newsletters are booming atm, theres even a startup to deliver the content. Cure.at or something like that. Maybe you need to search for it. But I'm sure MailCheat(Chimp) will work fine too.

Btw the curated emails I get are about saas, I read lots of great articles that I would never have found myself.

 

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[Bila]

I actually love the idea...and wish i could find a service like that ( never was offered to me anyway )....I do think all the time, i am missing out on important current issues/ political analysis/ financial info...so yes i would pay for a service like that

 

[Chaseb731]

Well, to be honest ... if you are not giving the users quality content then they won't stay subscribed. So unless you have at least 2 people working full time just digging for new content and you know how to build converting landing pages and you know how to make a sales funnel and create high CTR ads... then you probably will not be able to do it.

But in theory, you CAN put together a sloppy newsletter in 1 day and try do duplicate it.... but that does not mean that you'll be able to compete with someone that provides HIGH Quality Premium content.

I wouldn't consider that a barrier to entry, it's how much time would it take to recreate the necessary components to compete with you, along with the degree of difficulty.

How do you compete with free? Like @theag said, most people use these high quality newsletters as a lead generation tool.


Be careful with your blinders though, confirmation bias can be a dangerous thing.

 

[nzerinto]

I previously subscribed to a paid email newsletter for SEOs, and as long as the content was high value, it was absolutely worth it, so I can imagine this would definitely work in a bunch of other niches.

 

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[mayana]

I think that most commenters on this thread have mentioned the key to whether this will work or not. Value. If you really and truly provide something that saves people time (and thus, money), people will pay you for it.

There is SO much noise out there and, especially for a busy person, it can be tough to sort through everything and find the good stuff. I know I'd pay for it, and I know my husband would pay for something like that in his field, too.

But that's part of the barrier to entry, truly. It's the knowledge and experience you bring to a business (especially if you have INSIDERS knowledge or extensive background in the field). I don't always see barriers to entry as financial (though they can be, and often are).

 

[BigBrianC]

Whats the difference in this and Flipboard/Google Newsstand?

 

[Silverhawk851]

Would I pay for someone to dig up gold for that could result in massive ROI? Hell Yes!

But my question is how would you know what exactly I want or need?
What I consider 'gold' ?

But I'm in Internet Marketing, which is so technical that
very few people would know what is 'gold'.

For example in IM, I want to find a Programmatic DSP that has granular targeting,
where can you find an article like that?

I think key niche selection would be everything here...
and then you're just running traffic to em

Could be profitable in a funnel for sure

I'd set up as a subscription offer,
but you'll need a tripwire
to get upfront conversion and then upsell
the monthly subscription as a INSIDERS Member
where the get newsletter + INSIDERS forum + private FB group

I'm just getting started with these guys: http://www.scrapehero.com/

They basically scrape any site that I want and gather information for me.
Maybe worth talking to them, or seeing what they do.

Also I've tried www.buzzsumo.com and it was pretty good for getting content

Also, I'm attaching a list of like 1200 niches that you can think over.
I promise you can do this for atleast 100 niches in there
if you can curate the content properly

 

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[100k]

Curated newsletters are booming atm, theres even a startup to deliver the content. Cure.at or something like that. Maybe you need to search for it. But I'm sure MailCheat(Chimp) will work fine too.

Btw the curated emails I get are about saas, I read lots of great articles that I would never have found myself.

I actually love the idea...and wish i could find a service like that ( never was offered to me anyway )....I do think all the time, i am missing out on important current issues/ political analysis/ financial info...so yes i would pay for a service like that

Appreciate you sharing your thoughts .


I'll probably give this a shot in a niche and targets busy people that want to stay updated on an interesting topic/niche that does not really have a lot of authority content curators.

Thanks again!

 

[100k]

I wouldn't consider that a barrier to entry, it's how much time would it take to recreate the necessary components to compete with you, along with the degree of difficulty.

How do you compete with free? Like @theag said, most people use these high quality newsletters as a lead generation tool.


Be careful with your blinders though, confirmation bias can be a dangerous thing.

You are right, there really isn't much of a barrier - any wannabe marketer from warrior forum can copy the business model....

That's got me a bit worried. However I still think its worth trying out just for the experience and to quench my curiosity if nothing else.

Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[100k]

I previously subscribed to a paid email newsletter for SEOs, and as long as the content was high value, it was absolutely worth it, so I can imagine this would definitely work in a bunch of other niches.

There is a LOT of noise in the SEO world, and only a handful of SEO blogs actually provides REAL value and isn't out to push their amazing new out of this world animal proof SEO service.

But that's not the niche I'll be going after .... I want to go DEEPER and Nicher!

I think that most commenters on this thread have mentioned the key to whether this will work or not. Value. If you really and truly provide something that saves people time (and thus, money), people will pay you for it.

There is SO much noise out there and, especially for a busy person, it can be tough to sort through everything and find the good stuff. I know I'd pay for it, and I know my husband would pay for something like that in his field, too.

But that's part of the barrier to entry, truly. It's the knowledge and experience you bring to a business (especially if you have INSIDERS knowledge or extensive background in the field). I don't always see barriers to entry as financial (though they can be, and often are).

Yes, I want to provide REAL value - I want to hire 2 full time assistants just to go out digging for those "golden posts" ... and a lot of the time the posts will be on some unknown blog that nobody's heard of by some guy or gal that has a deep passion but doesn't have the necessary skills to optimize their blog and content so it ranks high in Google.

And I'll hire another person that has studied and/or is very knowledgeable & passionate about the niche and have them go through the content the 2 assistants find and filter out whats actually useful and good (something only a geek in that niche would know)... then write a short description on why the content is great and should be checked out.

I think that will be my Modus operandi (MO).

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!

 

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[100k]

Whats the difference in this and Flipboard/Google Newsstand?

I guess the difference is that I'll be focused/specialized in 1 niche and I'll be the one choosing what content the subscriber would get....

I mean take the fastlane, I love the forum... its full of great content... but would not necessary want an update of all posts from here going into my email, and even if I ONLY got emails updates from content related to SEO (the thing I am hypothetically interested in for this example)....90% of the posts would be useless to me and I'd still have to filter out what to read and what to skip.... but then there would be 10% Replies/Comments/Posts that are just ACE/GOLDEN...Those are the posts I am looking for and I would like to end up in my email inbox.

And thats basically what I want to do but in another niche/industry/vertical.

 

[100k]

Would I pay for someone to dig up gold for that could result in massive ROI? Hell Yes!

But my question is how would you know what exactly I want or need?
What I consider 'gold' ?

But I'm in Internet Marketing, which is so technical that
very few people would know what is 'gold'.

For example in IM, I want to find a Programmatic DSP that has granular targeting,
where can you find an article like that?

I think key niche selection would be everything here...
and then you're just running traffic to em

Could be profitable in a funnel for sure

I'd set up as a subscription offer,
but you'll need a tripwire
to get upfront conversion and then upsell
the monthly subscription as a INSIDERS Member
where the get newsletter + INSIDERS forum + private FB group

I'm just getting started with these guys: http://www.scrapehero.com/

They basically scrape any site that I want and gather information for me.
Maybe worth talking to them, or seeing what they do.

Also I've tried www.buzzsumo.com and it was pretty good for getting content

Also, I'm attaching a list of like 1200 niches that you can think over.
I promise you can do this for atleast 100 niches in there
if you can curate the content properly

Thanks for sharing your Bilal!

Given I've been doing IM since 2010, I understand what you are on about when you say DemandSidePlatform that offers granular targeting!

But you writing it down helps me understand how important it is that I've got people that REALLY deeply understand the niche I'll be going in, because I don't want to provide content that is readily availability or that does not offer real VALUE to my subscribers.

I was thinking the same thing .... 10 page report on the subject as a lead magnet, then a upsell/OTO that is the WHOLE ebook worth $39 + free subscription to the premium newsletter for just $1 as the trip wire AND core offer rolled into 1.

My idea is to make it so cheap ($5 per month) and provide so much value that people stay subscribed and just forget that they are actually paying anything for the great content I find. And yes, I'll just be sending the traffic to where the content is posted, I won't be re-posting it on my site or anything...Although that is something I might do and make it a private membership site, so people can access PAST content that was useful.

I'll check out the scraper guys and buzzsumo is great for finding the most shared content on the web - we'll def. be using their service to find content.

Thank you for your insight bro.

John