Informational websites often have to make money through ads and affiliate products. They can sell affiliate products directly through email…
Or they can write blog posts, push to those blog posts with educational emails, and link to the affiliate products in there.
Not a bad online business model for niche websites.
Doing this builds a loyal following who trusts you and will buy anything you recommend. Not to mention the sweet, sweet SEO juice you score from constant website traffic.
Let’s look at an email that’s part of this strategy.
About Homegrounds.co
Homegrounds is an online resource that helps coffee enjoyers learn more about their favorite caffeinated bean water.
Whether you’re a barista, business owner, or homebrew hobbyist, Homegrounds might have some nuggets of knowledge for ya. They have articles on brewing methods, recipes, gear reviews, “best XYZ” lists, recipes, and more. They also have neat tools like coffee-to-water ratio calculators and grind charts.
So if you consume some of the caffeinated brown stuff, and want to become a snob on the subject, Homegrounds might be a nice place to start.
The Email: An Educational Piece
Homegrounds appears to be an educational site, with articles, guides, and reviews. It makes money through ads and affiliate links (the latter is where the reviews and guides come in).
And so they don’t sell many products through email. Instead, it looks like they use email to educate readers and send them to the site.
That:
- Builds reader loyalty
- Boosts SEO through site visits and time spent on the site
Both these flow through to affiliate sales and some ad revenue.
This is one of those emails. Let’s take a look.
The Subject Line: “Espresso vs coffee beans (what’s the difference)”
First, we have a common question among coffee drinkers and beginner hobbyists:
I was never sure of the difference, except that espresso is stronger.
(It’s like a beer vs. a shot, only you’re waking up, not getting turnt up, as the late millennials/early Zoomers say.)
But anyways, this subject line promises to answer that. The use of parentheses adds to the “eye-catching” factor since it’s a symbol instead of a letter.
I like the informal style in Homegrounds’s subject lines. They establish a “person-to-person” feel, mitigating the “corporate” feel plaguing other brands.
The Body Copy
Homegrounds starts with a nice greeting. Then, they pose a question similar to the one in the subject line, only more specific:
It’s like a reverse pyramid — the subject line is broad, then zooms into a more detailed and relevant question.
Bolding espresso beans is quite the deep style touch. It draws the eye’s attention and breaks up the text, sure…
But espresso itself sounds like a more powerful word, and it evokes more dramatic imagery. It’s not your average cup o’ Joe… it’s espreeeeeessssssso (*cue p!ss-poor Italian accent*).
They build on that question with another question that just so happens to double as a potential objection:
The GIF is a nice touch (the image above was actually a GIF). Breaks up the text to enhance readability and adds some fun/personality.
Then, Homegrounds moves into one of the key differences — the brewing method:
It’s science but not highly technical. This makes the reader feel smart, which I feel is important to win over a “coffee snob” type of audience (for lack of a better descriptor).
It also satisfied their need for an answer to their objection brought up earlier.
But the process itself doesn’t say much. Readers will still wonder, “Ok, how does that actually make espresso different in terms of taste, look, caffeine, etc.”.
Dimensionalization time:
Homegrounds elaborates on the qualitative results that brewing differences cause. The reader has a better idea of why the differences matter… how they play out in the real world.
But there’s not much detail…
Onto the CTA, which promises to dive much deeper into the differences:
I checked out the article, and it discusses all sorts of stuff like service size, caffeine levels, roasting, grinding, brewing, and more.
Relevant affiliate links are in there, of course. Therefore, this email does contribute to revenue, although indirectly.
Finally, a PS:
Pure, genuine, helpful advice.
One thing I’d add is a cheeky PPS that includes a second CTA. Just to make it as easy as possible to secure the click.
Takeaways
If you run an informational niche site, you don’t need your own products right away. Or at all. Instead, your “offer” is the information and guidance you provide to your loyal followers.
Instead of sales, you build customer trust. Which, then, translates into affiliate dollars (and ad revenue, I suppose).
The money follows once you’ve built that trust and authority.
Homegrounds is a great example. It presents itself as a knowledge base for everything coffee, instilling trust in the coffee hobbyist or homebrewer. They return to the site again and again to further their coffee knowledge and along the way, buy products through affiliate links.
The best part?
If Homegrounds launches its own product — be it a course, gear, merch, or coffee brand — they’ve got hungry (or thirsty) customers who will hand over their dollars without question.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Homegrounds.co for all your coffee-making and coffee-knowledge-learning needs