Simplifying your content strategy, 8 Tips To Improve Your Homepage Copy, Perrell's Outline Strategy
Simplifying your content strategy, 8 Tips To Improve Your Homepage Copy, Perrell's Outline Strategy
Growth Currency ⚡ 0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣
Welcome to the 26th edition of Growth Currency ⚡
👋 A warm hello to 45 new subscribers this week—including Jens, Karl, Julia, Jennifer, Max, Rishikesh, Andrew, and Carolee!
We are now a community of 300 at Growth Currency ⚡!
Did you know: I’m building this newsletter in public? Here’s the thread of the progress!
✨ ANNOUNCEMENT ✨
I’m excited to share with you all that I’m launching my first digital product in the form of an eBook!
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
I’ve learned a lot starting and growing this Growth Currency ⚡ newsletter on Substack—and I want to share what I’ve learned with anyone curious.
Give this 👇 a share if you want a free copy! It’s a 20-page guide full of my learnings and ways I recommend doing this whole Substack thing.
I’m planning on putting the finishing touches on it this week and will share it with those interested soon!
WORTH NOTING…
This guide will be of value to you if you’re:
1) Considering starting a newsletter (even if it’s not on Substack)
2) Already started your newsletter (even if it’s not on Substack)
3) Struggling to grow your newsletter
ARE YOU COMPLICATING YOUR CONTENT STRATEGY? 💣
First, picture this.
You’re 12 years old and you’re at the pool. Your friends (victims) are hanging out beside the pool on some chairs.
You’re on the diving board. They’re aloof to your plans. You spring as high as you can off the board. Mid-air, you yell as loud as you can, “CANNONBALL!” Your folded-up torso plunges into the water, and with a massive splash you drench your friends.
Success.
1. Your content needs a platform springboard.
2. You need to take the plunge and publish it.
3. And you need to soak your audience with it.
Call it... the Cannonball Content Strategy? Sure.
To reference the analogy, all you need are the following:
a platform (your diving board) to engage with and grow an audience
published content (your torso) to garner attention and create interest
a distribution channel (your splash) where you immerse your audience in your brand
Using the Growth Currency⚡ brand as an example...
PLATFORM
I’ve published 99% of my content on Twitter. It’s where I’ve created awareness, interest, desire, and action (AIDA). It’s where I’ve grown my brand 📈.
PUBLISHED CONTENT
I’ve created helpful & engaging content and published it on Twitter. In turn, my Twitter following has grown and I’ve been able to drive those interested to subscribe to my distribution channel.
DISTRIBUTION
I’m not even sure if “distribution channel” is the right word... it’s more of a content hub.
Regardless, this is where my pillar content lives. I use Substack (👋).
And it’s where I connect with those who went down the AIDA funnel and took ‘Action’ by subscribing. This could be your website, your email list, your Medium page, etc. It’s also where you’ll help drive promotions and direct communication with an engaged audience. This is where your 1,000 True Fans live.
So that’s the concept. What do you think?
Platform + Content + Distribution = The Cannonball Content Strategy.
If your content strategy feels a too complicated, or you’re hesitating on even starting due to overwhelm or uncertainty of where to start—try this strategy.
Or, book a chat with me and we can discuss it.
CREATOR SPOTLIGHTS 🔦
Michelle McCausland || A graphic designer by trade, Michelle is giving away LOADS of knowledge in her weekly Design Insight newsletter. She provides design tips + teardowns of landing pages & websites. Great stuff for even the non-designer.
Jessie van Breugel || Jessie is a digital nomad freelancer and co-constructing Build Your House Club: a 21 Day Content Challenge to create content, build assets, & grow your following. He also offers 1:1 coaching.
Austin Schlessinger || Austin’s becoming a Twitter thread-master. His latest thread about Tim Ferriss is pure gold. Check out his newsletter filled with more gold here.
TWEET OF THE WEEK 🐦
Share your knowledge. Don’t let your own bias and knowledge blindness hold you back from helping others.
THIS WEEK’S GROWTH CURRENCY ⚡
📈 MARKETING
8 Tips for Making Your Homepage Copy More Effective by Annie Maguire
Annie Maguire is a copy wiz. She’s helped hundreds of clients improve their web copy. She recently did a free homepage audit and shared her 8 tips on how to make YOUR homepage more effective:
Some of her best tips…
→ Make your key value prop crystal clear
→ Clearly explain your product or service early and often
→ Incorporate proof when relevant
How to use Twitter to build your email list by ConvertKit
The fine folks at ConvertKit are learning how to build email lists using Twitter. This is a podcast episode that was a fun listen as it’s from the perspective of 2 people relatively new to Twitter. Very #buildinpublic—I love it.
Here are a few of their takeaways:
→ A successful tweet is clear and concise
→ Tweet consistently and provide the value that you’re known for
→ Create threads that take people on a journey, use valuable data, and tell a story
→ Know your why. You don’t have to engage with every platform…Twitter should make sense for your brand and your intention
🛠 TOOLS
stickK — Can’t stick to a goal? Put some money 💰 on the line. Miss your goal and you lose money. THAT’S accountability.
Similarly (but health-focused): WearableChallenge.com
Typedream — A very clean and simple to use no-code site builder: “Typedream helps you build a beautiful website using a simple interface.”
✍ WRITING
How To Outline An Article with David Perrell
David shows you live—on the fly—how he can come up with an essay outline, gather all the research, AND put together a thesis—in under 10 minutes 🤯 The biggest takeaway for me was the importance of data collection and note organization.
💰 BUSINESS & MONETIZATION
My newsletter is profitable without using sponsored issues or ads by Janel Loi
I really admire Janel and her approach to monetization. She’s in line with my ‘authentic affiliate’ philosophy, and she’s made a decent income with her newsletter.
And so can you.
Check out Janel’s curated newsletter Brain Pint. It’s like this one, but better!
🎧 PODCASTS
Making the Leap To Full-Time Creator with Matt Ragland by The Future Belongs To Creators (a ConvertKit Podcast)
In my quest to deliver quality content aimed at Creators, I’ve been diving into the ConvertKit podcasts and they’re pretty darn good.
In this episode, Matt Ragland discusses the rarely talked about practical aspects of financing a freelance career. He also shares his reasoning for risking it all and how to keep pressure from stifling creativity.
🏘 COMMUNITIES & NEWSLETTERS
The Orbit Community Model
If you’re considering building an online community—who isn’t these days—strongly consider The Orbit Model. I love the combination of using the visual below to really help flesh out this community concept.
In Orbit’s words: The Orbit Model is a vocabulary and visual canvas that helps organizations understand, manage, and grow their community.
It helps answer questions like:
How do I measure my community's engagement and growth?
How do I attract new people to my community?
Which members should I prioritize spending time with?
What contribution should I ask each community member to make?
And that’s a wrap for the 26th edition! Thank you so much for reading to the end. I hope that means one of two things:
1) You found enough value to keep reading!
2) I entertained you enough to hold your attention….?
Here’s to a great week 🥂
If you learned something about creating content or how to improve as a creator here, I’d love to know and so would other creators! Please feel welcome to share this email with anyone you think it might help.
Lastly, connect with me on Twitter and say ‘hey’ — DMs are open. Unless you’re a jerk 😆
PS if you want to help support the newsletter, feel free to buy me a coffee. I take a drip 12oz black, no sugar. Thanks 😆 ☕