How to Monetize a Newsletter: 10 Ways to Make Money with Your Email List

There are so many ways to earn as a blogger. And there are so many benefits of email marketing, such as forming relationships with readers, building an engaged audience, having a platform that you have control over, and also growing your brand.

But you can also make money with your email list in multiple ways. That’s what we’re covering below. 

How to Monetize a Newsletter

1. Affiliate Marketing

The first idea on the list of newsletter monetization ideas is to recommend products or services to your subscribers. 

Use your unique affiliate links and earn a commission for each sale. Keep it relevant to your niche to build trust.

2. Sell Your Products

Create and sell e-books, online courses, printables, or guides. If your audience sees value, they’ll happily purchase from you.

3. Sell Your Services

There are so many ways to sell both products and services, and to even do it often but naturally, without overwhelming people.

For example, there can be a whole section at the end of your newsletters where you list your products and services, share a bit about each and link to the landing pages.

I have this in my email signature, just the links. 

But what I like to do is naturally talk about them whenever it makes sense or when it comes up, such as when there’s a new piece of content I’m sharing with subscribers and it’s on the exact topic of one of my courses. So if someone want to learn more about this and needs support along the way, then my product can help.

I also sometimes inform people on what’s going on inside our blogging membership, Fearless Bloggers. I share the new video training for the month, or a PDF file I just shared with members, or a nice testimonial I got, or what reactions my latest monthly income report got, or anything else. I enjoy that and try not to be repetitive, but to ‘promote’, so to say’ with a different angle every time.

Also, sometimes it’s been months since I’ve even mentioned some of my paid offers, so new subscribers don’t know that there’s a course they might want to invest in, or a book that is exactly what they needed in their business (I mean my book High-Value Offers, in this case), or a membership that can provide accountability on their blogging journey.

It’s worth mentioning these every now and then for new people in my audience, who might want to explore more of what I have to offer.

So you get the point. There are so many ways to talk about your products and services naturally. 

That itself is selling, but by serving your people, and it’s a beautiful way to make money from your newsletters.

4. Offer Exclusive Content

Set up a paid newsletter or members-only section. Charge a monthly fee for premium content that goes beyond what you usually share.

5. Promote Webinars and Workshops

Host live or recorded webinars. You can charge for access or use the session to promote a paid product.

6. Sponsored Emails

Did you know that brands can pay you to feature their products or services in your email? Just make sure it aligns with your audience.

Sometimes it can be a one-of sponsored email (much like a sponsored post on a blog), or it can be a section inside your newsletter where you mention the sponsor and link to their product or service.

Obviously, you can’t do this too often. It won’t be nice for your subscribers and that’s not what they joined your email list for.

But you can do it every now and then, and get paid a lot for each promo as compared to just displaying ads.

7. Display ads.

Newsletter ad networks are also a thing, just like ad networks are for bloggers. You can sign up for one and monetize your email list with ads.

That might make more people unsubscribe, though, especially if you add too many ads or have them right at the beginning. Personally, I wouldn’t like to see that in a newsletter, it’s enough that all sites these days are covered with ads.

But there are always ways to do it in a way that works well for both you and your audience.

8. Sell ads directly.

Another way to do that is to contact brands and sell them ad space in your newsletter. You don’t need to use a third party for that.

But this makes it harder to find advertisers. Although sometimes just 1 can turn into a long-term partnership and can be enough to monetize a newsletter.

It could also be a brand you believe in so then you’ll feel good about it.

Also read: How to Earn $1000/Month from Your Blog with Ads

9. Have a paid newsletter.

Another way to earn from your email list is to make it paid. Just like you can charge for a membership, access to content on your site, your products or a library of resources, so can you for your newsletter.

Or you can even have a second one that’s paid and exclusive and offers resources people would actually paid for.

10. Buy Me a Coffee

Some creators like to accept donations inside their newsletters. That’s usually the case if they provide free content and invest a lot of time in making it valuable. Then you can create raving fans and allow them to support your business.

This can look like a link at the end of each newsletter. They can just click it and donate something.

There’s a popular platform called Buy Me a Coffee which lets you do that easily. You can quickly set it up to start accepting support for your creative work and ‘get funded’ so to say.

Your anchor text for the link can also just say ‘Buy me a coffee.’ That’s friendly, doesn’t sound like a sales pitch, and some of your subscribers might actually want to do that already. Now you’ll just give them the chance.

This can also motivate you to grow your email list.

Conclusion

Now you know how to monetize a newsletter and have 10 different email list monetization strategies.

Let me know which ones you’re willing to try.

And of course, don’t forget to put value first. Your email list exists to serve people and they join it for the value they get. Don’t take that away from them and don’t focus on monetization too much.

That means not promoting too often, not turning every email into a sales pitch, not forgetting to disclose partnerships and affiliates.

Also, make sure you only promote products you believe in. 

If you don’t want to annoy people, you might also segment your list. Some subscribers might hate the ads or sponsored products or even the sales and launches of your own products. In that case, you can segment your list. That allows you to target the right people with the right offers. Then everyone will get what they want and fewer people will unsubscribe. 

Email marketing is about relationships – you start them with an opt-in form and you nurture them with your newsletters. Don’t forget that.

Over to you now. What’s the first newsletter monetization strategy you’ll try?