Over the past 10 years, I led growth for a $1B+ company.
I ran over 1,000 experiments.
- copy tests
- order page tests
- price tests
- email tests
Here's an inside look at my personal notes + 9 growth hacks you can immediately steal (w/ data):
My friends are shocked I make $10k/mo. on the side with a niche site (that I bought!)
But I’ve found website brokers are the best places to find these deals.
There are hidden gems, but plenty of crap too.
Here are 5 SEO metrics to look for (and 1 to avoid):👇
Picking the wrong price for your product is a disaster.
Trust me. I’ve spent 15 years pricing products that have made millions.
Here are 7 must-read steps to nail your pricing:
(plus a free database of 200+ creators, links to their products & their prices) 👇
I've generated over $100m in sales with world-class copywriting.
I mostly learned it from books.
Here are my 11 must-read copywriting books that will change your life:
The odds of becoming a CEO are about the same as being struck by lightning - about 1 in 135,000.
Here’s how I became CEO of The Hustle, without even applying.
In 2021 I bought my first website.
I’ve now increased cash flows from the site by $4,568/month.
The best part - it took less than 14 months.
Here are the 3 (underrated) ways we did it 👇
I’ve reviewed over 2,000 headlines as Head of Growth at
@TheMotleyFool
and now as CEO of
@TheHustle
.
Here are 7 tips to help you always craft the perfect hook:
I helped grow a newsletter business to over $300m.
One of the biggest needle movers? Pricing out subscriptions.
Here are 5 data points that helped our growth.
Go ahead and learn from our wins (and mistakes!). 🧵
Persuasive copy has one goal: to convert.
- The Motley Fool uses persuasive copy to convert 1m+ paying subs.
- The Hustle uses persuasive copy to convert 2m+ readers.
Here's an 'inside look' at 6 persuasive copy tactics both co.’s use to boost revenue (w/ examples) 👇👇
A single price test made me $1.6 million in profit. 🚀
The best part? Took less than an hour to set up.
Reply “send it” & I’ll DM you the PDF (for free).
Must be following.
13 years ago I joined an 80-person startup during the great recession.
I wanted to quit after my first week, but I didn't.
Now the company is worth billions and has 600+ employees.
Here's what I've learned about succeeding at a startup:
Hope that was helpful for anyone going through a tough time right now.
Follow me -->
@dipietromedia
for tweets about:
- newsletters
- media
- growth
And sometimes, tweets about life, too. 😉
P.S. Monday is my annual oncology check-up.
Wish me luck 🤞🚀
One company analyzes data for WSJ, CNBC, The Economist, TechCrunch, and 1,000+ other media businesses.
I just read their 2022 benchmark report so you don’t have to.
Here are the 3 most interesting things I learned:
This dinner was one of the first times I thought, "Wow. This is really gonna work!"
Such a gracious, humble, hysterically funny, engaging group of founders, all supporting each other.
As
@adityafountane
said to me that evening, an 11/10 night with
@HamptonFounders
!!
Recent MFM episode with
@dharmesh
is so good, such a unique and great POV. (Hampton team now scrambling to spin up vector team 🤣🤯)
@thesamparr
@ShaanVP
In my opinion, you should focus on sites you can relate to.
I look for sites about:
- investing
- marketing
- startups
- business
- food
- travel
You can play outside your wheelhouse, it's just harder (and less fun).
A quick system to review DR:
- a DR of <40 is pretty crappy.
- a DR b/w 40-50 is average.
- a DR b/w 50-60 is really good.
- a DR >60 is fantastic.
On avg., don't buy a content site with a DR less than 40.
Very excited to open up the doors publicly - for the first time - to high-growth founders & CEOs. Check out and learn more about what it means to be a members of our community.
I've tried thousands of products, but these 3 from Hampton members have become my daily & weekly essentials - for me, and for
@HamptonFounders
.
Here's why I can't live without them (and a lil' story behind each): 🧵
@thesamparr
Next thing I know Sam showed up in Philly, knocking on my door.
Put his feet up on my desk.
"What do I have to do to get you to take this job?"
There are plenty of different sites to buy.
- content
- SaaS
- Amazon affiliate
- e-commerce
- digital services
I'll focus here on content sites (my fave).
Love reviewing our members' feedback on last week's
@HamptonFounders
Austin Retreat. Many more to come!
cc: Turns out
@jasminestar
knows a thing or two about what makes a great photo. 😉
1/ Domain rating (DR)
DR is a measure of the quantity & quality of backlinks present.
When other sites point to your site, it's called a backlink.
More, higher quality backlinks are a sign to Google that you have great content on your site.
Here's a recap - 6 of my favorite all-time business books:
1. Barbarians at the Gate
2. The Everything Store
3. Shoe Dog
4. Made in America
5. Steve Jobs
6. Zero to One
RT so more people find great book recs!
Buying the Dip 101
If you follow stocks, crypto, or watched even 20 minutes of CNBC, you’ve heard someone yelling “buy the dip”.
I spent 12 years (and 2 recessions) at The Motley Fool, and can tell you, that is terrible advice!
Here's why, and what you can do instead:
👇👇👇
I shifted to things that make me happy, even when I'm done.
Reading is a big one for me. So is cooking.
I call these "spillover " activities.
Now my overall happiness has automatically increased.
1/ Gamification increases conversions
Context:
- highly engaged names on email list awarded "credits"
- those credits could be applied to future products
- highest credit people had 24x higher conversion rate
It doesn't mean you should be worried, or paranoid.
Just be present, & try to enjoy every moment.
Even the hard & uncomfortable ones.
Now I know, everyday is a gift.
When you find a site you want to buy, you enter due diligence.
Typically, you see the seller's P&L for ~2 yrs.
You should get access to google analytics, access to search console, and maybe Ahrefs as well.
This is where you'll review these 5 SEO metrics:
A few weeks ago
@HamptonFounders
launched our first podcast, MoneyWise, w/
@thesamparr
.
It’s crazy there are hundreds of podcasts about starting companies, entrepreneurship, side hustles, investing, day trading, real estate, etc - all topics that teach you how to make money..
2/ Direct mail is simple & has a crazy high ROI
Context:
- we used direct mail for high-priced products
- we focused entirely on sales copy
- had a 56% conversion rate lift during this campaign
1/ Competitive landscape
Before you start pricing, ground yourself in reality by doing some competitive analysis.
You need to survey the landscape & price within reason.
Start here with a free database of 200+ creators (and what they’re charging):
Super excited and proud of our team that is launching The Hustle Daily Podcast. Make sure to go and smash that subscribe button wherever you listen!
@TheHustle
I vetted about 50 website offers last month.
None of them passed my “5-Step Test”.
But, this one just literally aced it.
I'll walk you through the offer (w/ the exact process I used to vet it) 👇
At
@HamptonFounders
we just surveyed 100+ founders with a total of almost a billion in revenue...
And 1/4 of them have set aside at least $100k for this one thing:
Earning a credit could be as simple as
- clicking a button
- downloading a module
- opening an email
The bottom line:
- it doesn't have to be complicated
- let people earn credits or just give them away
- people with credits want to use them
@HamptonFounders
team just got back from an incredible 3-day offsite.
Sure the activities and food, etc, were great… but the connections & convo are what mattered most.
So excited for our future. 🚀
There's a lot more to evaluate, but this is a good starting point.
- looking to acquire your first site?
- looking to learn about media, growth, & startups?
💥💥 give me a follow
@jdipietro7
!
So instead of focusing on what's wrong, focus on what's right.
During my worst days, if I didn't have a migraine, I'd say:
"Well, shit, at least I don't have a migraine!"
Now I know, there's always something to be thankful for.
At
@HamptonFounders
we're looking for someone that has an incredible personality and knows how to relate to founders (or are a founder yourself). Part-time Member Associate role.
Interested? 🚀
Here's a recap - 6 of my favorite all-time business books:
1. Barbarians at the Gate
2. The Everything Store
3. Shoe Dog
4. Made in America
5. Steve Jobs
6. Zero to One
RT so more people find great book recs!
New Podcast from
@HamptonFounders
just launched yesterday, hosted by
@thesamparr
. It's called MoneyWise.
Guests share:
- their budgets and monthly burn
- how money has impacted their happiness
- portfolio mix
All the uncomfortable questions that are never asked.
Hey!
🚨
@HamptonFounders
is hiring a Director of Membership Sales. This is an exciting opp.
If you have proven experience in this sort of role - working with our sort of audience (amazing tech founders) - then please hit up the application below!
How frequently do we have market corrections?
Since 1928:
- (5%) drop every 1.1 years
- (10%) drop every 1.6 years
- (15%) drop every 2.5 years
- (20%) drop every 4 years
- (30%) drop every 9 years
It sucks, but, stay the course people!
h/t
@money
I may be biased, but
@HamptonFounders
is one of the most exciting places to work.
And we're adding team members - yet again! 😂
Hiring for director of product and digital community manager. Applications can be found below 👇
Being humbled by cancer opened up my purview.
It's so much more exciting to fill other people up.
And it comes back to me in spades.
Now I focus more on other people, & their successes.
I like to find content sites that have > 70% of their traffic total come from organic.
Remember you are buying the site for its content and its sustainable traffic that you don't have to continue paying for (through paid or social or email).
4/ Find joy in celebrating others
I was so ambitious and competitive my whole life.
Which served me really, really well.
But it also made me self-concerned.
Proud of The Hustle Daily Show team doing live taping at INBOUND STAGE. Talking Apple, Jersey Malls, and hotel soap 🙌
If you ain’t listening, you missing out!
@TheHustle
@ImJacobCohen
@zzcrockett
@JBRylah
In 2009 I met the "Godfather of Persuasion", Robert Cialdini.
His 6 ideas changed how I think about persuasive marketing:
- reciprocity
- commitment & consistency
- social proof
- liking
- authority
- scarcity
Here are 3 in-the-wild examples of each 👇
Find a content subject matter that is trending upwards.
Find a niche that is expanding & reaching more people, not less.
A general rule of thumb I use is >70% should be new visitors!
📢Just a few days ago, we opened up a new chapter in
@HamptonFounders
. Room for a few hundred A+ founders.
And it's important to us to have more diversity. That's why we've launched The Hampton Bridge Fund. Check it out.
The truth is, we're all good at different things.
Some people are great at showing support.
Some aren't as great, and that's OK.
In releasing anger or judgement, I freed myself.
Now I don't hold any grudges.
3/ Long campaigns should have a soft & hard close
Context:
- a great soft close has countdown
- price goes up after soft close & a feature is removed
- generates crazy urgency & increased conversion rate
9/ Show affection
Most people respond well to affection and kind words.
It makes them more secure, & builds confidence.
There's no reason to hold back.
You have an infinite supply.
5/ Core web vitals
Core web vitals measure the technical aspect of the site.
It reviews performance, stability, & responsiveness.
You can find this in search console.
You want as few URLs that need improvement as possible.
⛺️Sitting at
@CIVANAresort
in Arizona, ready to host our first
@HamptonFounders
retreat with 30 amazing founders. At the same time, our team posts a lil' recap of the upcoming week.
🙌Feeling very proud - mostly impressed - by our peeps right now.
@JessSpivack
Don't take anger out on your loved ones.
And don't pretend you're not feeling something that you are.
As Zack de la Roca said, anger is a gift.
Now I use that gift to motivate me.
But until cancer humbles you, you don't totally get it.
You still kind of think you're invincible.
Now I know most things are out of my control.
But I can control my attitude, so I do.
Exciting news: Our team is growing
We're hiring for a kick-ass Content Lead to tell the stories of incredible founders in our newsletters, blog, social, and more.
If you're the person we should talk to, apply here👇
3/ Organic traffic
Website traffic can come from:
- organic search
- direct
- paid
- referral
- social
- email
All things equal, you want more organic traffic.
2/ Organic keywords (KWs)
Organic KWs are the number of KWs your site ranks for in various search engines.
KW research should inform your content strategy, b/c good KW content can drive a lot of traffic (and continue to be optimized and improved over time).
Those are my top 11 (with bonus pick)!
If you found this helpful, please:
- Retweet the first tweet so others can find easily
- Follow me
@dipietromedia
I give actionable advice on newsletters, marketing, and making money, twice a week.
The 100 Greatest Advertisements 1852-1958, Watkins
Pro Tip: This one is really a bonus pick- but there is no better time period than this one to read & mimic the best ad copy.
4/ Returning vs. new visitors
I like to make sure the site is consistently finding new readers.
If the same group of people keep coming back to your site every month, that might be fine for a paid product, but not for a general content site.
6/ Stay positive
I'm really analytical & naturally opinionated.
So I came off as "negative" sometimes.
I didn't care what others thought.
I wore it as a badge of honor.
So if someone is angry, I respond w/ love.
When someone road rages, I roll down my window.
"I'm really sorry", I'll say. "My bad".
You should see the response.
Now I imagine everyone *could* be having their worst day.
But I learned I can have opinions & still be positive.
The truth is, positivity attracts positivity.
And I need all I can get in my life.
Now, I try to give more than I take.
I love this stuff b/c it's not rocket science.
Some is trial & error, & some is learning from others.
Was this thread helpful at all?
1. Retweet the first tweet if you're feeling kind! 🙏
2. Follow me
@dipietromedia
for more weekly threads on building, growth, & media.
10/ Build strength for yourself
The only benefit of hard times is they build strength.
I lost my Dad in a great tragedy in my 20's.
And now, I've had to deal w/ cancer.
And that's OK.
Mostly you should gut check that organic KWs are going up over time.
If the site you're evaluating had 10K KWs and it's now down to 5K, something is going on underneath the hood (bad sign).
@khemaridh
Depends how much the home is making up of the $5m, but you probably can if your expenses are reasonable. Also depends a lot on kids, saving for colleges, etc.
7/ Don't judge a book
The day after radiation, a stranger said "you look great".
I wanted to be like, you have NO idea.
Of course they didn't have an idea.
And that's not their fault.
With every challenge & every obstacle, I move on.
I whisper crazy shit to myself like, "nothing can hold me down".
I imagine myself a boxer, training for the big fight.
Now, I believe it.
Excited to finally launch Ocho!
We help business owners build wealth with:
👩🏽🏫 The best personal finance education in the world
📈 Smart financial products to leverage the tax code to your benefit
And today, we're launching our first product:
The
@ochowealth
Solo401k (LFG!)
7/ Dynamic pricing
Nothing boosts sales like urgency (ex: pricing increases the longer you wait).
If you can bake that in, you'll see great results.
Recently, people do this in increasingly effective and interesting ways (see 'Doing Content Right' by my girl
@stephsmithio
).
2/ Consider your biz strategy
Are you optimizing for customers or for revenue?
One is a volume play. One is a margin play.
Price low for front-end products & high for back-end.
Being a founder or CEO means making a thousand decisions per week.
Most of them are small, operational.
Having a peer-group that can literally help you - in the exact moment you need it - can accelerate how quickly you make those decisions, and the quality of them, too.