So there's quite a bit of buzz going on about ​Scott DeLong's Million Dollar Newsletter Playbook​.

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I'm always looking for new ways to drive traffic to my sites, so this course was right up my alley.

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One of my favorite ways of driving traffic is from Google, but recently Google has cut off rankings and traffic from small publishers like me. Which means...

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I've had to find other ways of generating traffic to my sites.

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So far, I'm doing well with Pinterest and Google Discover.

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But, it still hasn't made up for all the Google traffic I lost.

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I was chatting with a friend recently and he said he's starting to make up for his Google traffic loss with his daily newsletters.

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He sends two per day to the same people 😳

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Yet, they eat it up.

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They click on the links in his emails and they're taken to his site where they can read the articles while my friend makes money from the ads. He's driving like over 200,000 people/month to his site from his newsletter.

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I asked him where he learned about how to do this and he told me he learned it from Scott DeLong - a guy who's made millions from sending simple newsletters to people.

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And Scott's done it for multiple sites. So it's repeatable, because it works.

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Once I found out ​Scott launched this course​ teaching his exact method to how he makes a ton of money from sending newsletters, I immediately got myself access.

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I was inspired once again to give the newsletter thing a go.

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About 10 years ago I tried running a newsletter for my niche site and it completely bombed.

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I lost thousands of dollars from paying writers and my huge bill to MailChimp every month.

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At one point I had over 250,000 email subscribers and yet I couldn't figure out how to make it profitable.

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So, now I'm going through Scott's course, and it made complete sense why I had failed.

Here are the 3 main reasons why my first newsletter failed:

Reason #1: I was attracting the wrong audience to my newsletter

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Reason #2: I enticed them to sign up for my newsletter in the wrong way

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Reason #3: I was creating and sharing the wrong kind of content for email

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Reason #4: I tried to figure it out on my own instead of learning from someone with experience

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There are several challenges to creating a newsletter and Scott helped me figure out how to overcome each one using his method. They are:
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• What niche or audience you should target
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• How to get email subscribers (the right way)
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• What you should write about (and how to make it easy to come up with content)
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• How to maximize every email for profit
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The most eye-opening part of the course was when he talked about the kind of content you should be creating.

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It revealed to me what I did wrong the first time around...

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I was sending 250,000 people on my newsletter list links to content they just didn't find interesting and timely.

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Because I was creating content that ranks well on Google because it was meeting the needs of people searching for that specific information.

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But that doesn't necessarily mean they always want that information...

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This course taught me how to create content people want to read everyday.

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The key is to attract the right audience and give them links to content on your site that satisfies their curiosity, inspires or entertains them, and, most importantly...

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It's something they're interested and, ideally, passionate about.

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Scott did a great job laying out the course and walks you through how to find your audience, get subscribers and give them content they want to consume.

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Plus, he gives you plenty of ideas on how to leverage ChatGPT to create all this content so it doesn't take very much time.

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So, if you are like me.. you're probably wondering if this course is right for you.

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This course is for you if:

• You have a topic you're passionate about, and other people are too (e.g., crocheting, football, makeup, dessert recipes, etc..)
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• You can invest at least $5/day in getting subscribers through paid Facebook ads (Scott teaches how to do this step-by-step with a real example)
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• You don't want to rely on the whims of Google's algorithms for traffic and revenue

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This course isn't for you if:

• You have a site that's mainly targeting searches people perform every once in awhile (e.g, how to fix a lawn mower, types of hammers, best credit card for traveling, etc..)
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• You don't have at least an hour a day for two weeks to dedicate to going through the course while applying the lessons

Course Highlights + My Thoughts On my Favorite Lessons

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Module 1

"The Entire Playbook At A Glance" - This is my favorite lesson because Scott walked me through the whole strategy really quickly, which gives you the basic knowledge you need to get through the course.

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Module 2

"Monetize Your Mind and Passion" - I love how he puts that. Scott showed me how to find the ideal match between what I'm personally interested in and what other people are too, and how I can help them. The key is to find a topic you can blabber on about forever. But even if you don't want too, Scott teaches how to leverage ChatGPT to help.

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Module 3

"Create a Facebook Ad Your Entire Business Is Built On" - This one was wild. I never would have guessed I could launch Facebook ads to promote a free newsletter and I'd end up making a profit. He's figured out how to come up with the right "lead magnet" to attract people to be happy to give you their email address in order to get content from you.

(and the bonus video for 6 Free Lead Magnet Templates to Use made it super easy to come up with an idea for my newsletter)

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Module 4

"5 Ways to Monetize (And Why The Future Is Bright)" - Honestly, I skimmed this one. I'm currently making money from ads on my site and will stick to that for now. I'll probably come back to this in a few months.

But.. the "Bonus: A Tried and Tested Ad Layout Template" is spot on if you're going to put ads on your site.

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Module 5

"How the Power of Compounding Will Explode Your Growth" - This one spoke my language because he started off with a spreadsheet 🤓 (He shared the link to the Google sheet for me to copy). But he broke down the math on how to make the newsletter profitable. I wouldn't have thought to track these numbers. I'm glad he included this because it's keeping me from ending up where I did last time - in the hole, losing thousands every month.

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Module 6

"9 Golden Rules of Running Your Newsletter" - This is the kind of sage wisdom you can only get from experience, and I hope I can fully embrace and remember these. Whenever I get frustrated with my newsletter progress - I should probably go back to this module.

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Alright, that about wraps it up!

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There are several lessons in each module. It's a good balance of written material and videos.

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Plus, Scott is easy to listen to and understand.

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I think my favorite thing about this course is that Scott walks you through a real newsletter he builds in front of your eyes. So he showed me how to do this step by step because he literally had to.

Questions I Asked and Got Answers To

I got a chance to ask the course creator a few questions I had and thought I'd share them here:

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Isn't sending an email every day going to piss off readers?

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Not if it's the right audience and content they care about. Plus, you probably get daily emails from your favorite brands (like my wife gets one from Old Navy every day). Doesn't mean she reads them all. But she stays subscribed because sometimes she's bored and finds some interesting new outfits and deals (and then an email from me when I forward the spending alert email from my bank lol)

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How does this model make money?

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You basically email links to articles on your site and it has ads on there you make money from. But.. there are companies who are coming out with ads for emails.

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Plus, down the road you can create a digital product or course you can sell and probably make way more than ads.

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How do I produce all the content I need daily?

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Either you sit down for hours and pump it out or do it like what I do and Scott, too. Leverage AI to assist with the writing process. You can also leverage other people's content that's doing well on Facebook. Such as reporting their story and including your unique angle/commentary. Scott walked me through all sorts of ways to create content easily. At this point, it's not something I'm concerned about it. It's easy enough I have a VA doing it.

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How fast will it generate revenue?

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Honestly, it will take a bit of time. It comes down to how much money you can get pumped into Facebook ads to grow your subscriber list. If you're making money with ads.. you'll need to send at least 500 people/day to your site from the newsletter to see anything significant. If you give it your full focus, you can earn your money back from the course within 2-6 months. FYI, Scott breaks down all the math on this in module 5. Which helps you set realistic expectations based on your budget.

My Final Verdict

If you read everything I've written til this point, I think it's pretty clear where I land:

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Yes, I highly recommend Scott's course.

​​You can get the course here​ and FYI - doors close Sunday, March 3rd, at midnight. So don't sit on this one.

P.S. The links to Scott's course are my affiliate links, which means I'll earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. If you're skeptical of my review - I honestly recommend this course no matter what, so feel free to get it without my affiliate link ​here​. But if you appreciated my honest and thorough review, ​you can get it through my affiliate link here​.