How to Build a Local Newsletter From Scratch

TL;DR

Start by choosing a city, launching a simple newsletter site, and acquiring email subscribers through Facebook and Instagram lead ads before spending time on branding. Publish weekly at first, measure opens, and monetize the audience through sponsors priced by CPM, while increasing publication frequency only when the workload and sponsor demand are manageable.

Transcript

All right, everyone is talking about the newsletter business, specifically the local newsletter business. And guess what? Last time I checked, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions of cities, states, towns, geographies all around the world. So, I'm going to use Chat GPT to autogenerate a random city in the United States, and I'm going to... Read More

Key Insights

• Subscriber acquisition is the first meaningful milestone because a newsletter has little practical value without readers. The creator deliberately postpones detailed branding, profile setup, and other settings until the publication has begun attracting email subscribers.
• A local audience is straightforward to target because subscribers share a geographic connection. The proposed acquisition method uses lead campaigns in Meta Ads Manager to collect email addresses through advertising on Facebook and Instagram without relying on an existing personal audience.
• A city with roughly 50,000 or more residents is suggested as a practical starting point, although the creator says smaller locations can also work. Roswell, New Mexico, with a stated population of about 48,000, is selected to demonstrate the model in a modest market.
• A weekly schedule is a manageable starting commitment because it reduces the risk of losing momentum. Publication frequency can be increased later, while beginning with five or seven weekly emails may create excessive work and become demoralizing if the schedule cannot be maintained.
• Newsletter advertising is commonly framed through CPM, meaning cost per thousand opens or pairs of eyeballs. A publication with 10,000 subscribers and a 50% open rate produces 5,000 opens, which equals five units of one thousand for CPM calculations.
• A $50 CPM applied to 5,000 opens produces $250 for one advertising placement in a sent issue. At one issue per week that example yields $250 weekly, while five issues could produce $1,250 weekly if sponsors are available for every send.
• Publishing more frequently is valuable because each additional issue creates another opportunity to sell advertising. The tradeoff is that the publisher must produce more emails, find and manage more sponsors, and maintain a dependable schedule for subscribers and advertisers.
• An integrated newsletter platform reduces setup work by combining a website, subscription field, email design, analytics, publishing, and monetization. The selected news-site template also allows newsletter content to be shared, indexed by search engines, and read outside the recipient's inbox.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do you start a local newsletter from scratch?

Choose a city, research its population and local characteristics, create a clear publication name, and set up a newsletter website with a subscription form. Select a sustainable schedule, such as weekly, and use a readable template instead of spending excessive time on design. Then prioritize collecting email subscribers through geographically targeted Meta lead ads before developing the first full issue.

Q: Why is a local newsletter an approachable business?

A local newsletter serves people connected by a specific city or geography, which makes the potential audience relatively easy to define. The creator describes customer acquisition as straightforward because Facebook and Instagram ads can target and collect local subscribers. Once the audience opens the emails, local sponsors can pay to place advertisements or affiliate links in the publication.

Q: How large should a city be for a local newsletter?

The creator suggests looking for a city with at least about 50,000 residents as a practical starting point, while noting that a newsletter can work in a smaller location. The demonstration ultimately uses Roswell, New Mexico, whose population is stated as approximately 48,000. The choice is intended to show the process in a modest and economically realistic market.

Q: Why should a newsletter begin with weekly publishing?

Weekly publishing provides a manageable commitment while the publisher learns how to attract readers, create content, and work with sponsors. Starting with five or seven emails per week can create too much work and make it difficult to remain consistent. The creator recommends collecting quick wins first, then adding more weekly sends when the workload becomes sustainable.

Q: How does CPM pricing work for newsletter advertising?

CPM means cost per thousand opens, described in the transcript as one thousand pairs of eyeballs. If a newsletter has 10,000 subscribers and a 50% open rate, one issue receives 5,000 opens. Those opens represent five CPM units. At a $50 CPM, multiplying five units by $50 produces an advertising price of $250 for that send.

Q: How much could a newsletter earn from sponsorships?

The example uses 10,000 subscribers, a 50% open rate, and a $50 CPM to calculate $250 for each sent issue. Sending one sponsored issue weekly would produce $250 per week, while sending five could produce $1,250 per week. These are demonstration figures, and the creator notes that sponsors still must be found, sold, and managed.

Q: What should be included in a local newsletter website?

The website should include a clear publication identity, a subscription field, and published newsletter posts that people can read outside their inboxes. A web archive allows readers to share articles with others and gives search engines and ChatGPT an opportunity to discover the content. The demonstrated beehiiv setup integrates the site, email publication, and subscription process in one platform.

Q: Should you write the first issue before finding subscribers?

The creator recommends finding subscribers first, even though writing the first issue might appear to be the responsible sequence. This approach tests whether the publisher can attract an audience before investing heavily in content and design. In the demonstration, the creator sets up the site and template, then moves directly to Meta Ads Manager to create a lead campaign for emails.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• A local newsletter is presented as an approachable business because its audience can be defined geographically. The process begins by selecting a city, researching its population and characteristics, naming the publication, and creating a simple website and email template without allowing branding decisions to delay subscriber acquisition.

• The demonstration creates the Roswell Dispatch on beehiiv and selects a weekly publishing schedule. The platform provides an integrated website, subscription form, newsletter templates, publishing tools, analytics, and monetization features. A news-style website is chosen so articles can be read, shared, indexed by search engines, and discovered beyond email.

• The proposed growth strategy prioritizes acquiring subscribers through Meta Ads Manager before writing the first issue. Revenue can then come from sponsors paying according to newsletter opens and CPM. Publishing more frequently creates additional advertising inventory, but it also requires more content, sponsor sales, management, and consistent execution from the publisher.