How I'm generating a steady stream of newsletter subscribers

One of the biggest challenges with content creating on the Internet is getting eyes on your content--there's just so much of it out there. This is becoming exponentially harder with the widespread use (and misuse) of ChatGPT for content creation.

I recently launched How the Web Works, a newsletter codify 20 years of tech experience into easy-to-digest installments.

👋 If you'd like to support How the Web Works please subscribe to the newsletter for free here! You can also follow it on IndieHackers here.

The idea of writing about How the Web Works isn't exactly novel, but I do think I have a knack for writing about complex topics simply. And given that there's a good bit of existing content on the topic, I take it as some validation that it's worthwhile to write about.

But this leads me to the challenge I initially mentioned: how to get eyes on my content?

Get value from giving value

I have been writing about tech for quite a while and giving it away for free. Specifically, I have two resources that get a decent amount of traffic:

• https://typeofnan.dev, which is a front-end development-focused blog with how-to content. It's not super active at this point, but still gets a lot of traffic.
• https://interviewguide.dev, which provides an opinionated framework for technical interviewing.

I recently added links to my How the Web Works newsletter to both of these resources.

Earnest content results in good leads

I suspect that, since I created typeofnan and interviewguide prior to thinking they could generate business leads, the content is pretty good and stands on its own. Therefore, when people see my links to How the Web Works, they trust that it will be well thought out content. I'm guessing that, if I had created my free sites explicitly for the purpose of generating leads, I may not have the same success.

My results thus far

I'm getting about 10-20 subscribers per day from the two free resources I'm offering. I think that's pretty great! Every new subscriber is a potential paying customer for future content, or at least could refer someone who may end up paying.

Perhaps a good case study for others

I'm not suggesting that you need to have created free content some time ago and then suddenly realize that it could be a good lead generator. However, I am suggesting that your free content should stand alone and not serve simply to generate leads.

Good luck out there!