The Scott Max Newsletter

Hi 👋, this is the Scott Max newsletter. The daily newsletter bringing you one step closer to your own thriving online business. 

We analyze a wonderful, small, online business each week with a full breakdown of how it makes money, why it makes money, and its opportunities to grow. Below that, we give you the action steps to build a business like this to create freedom for yourself.

This is the best way to learn the tactics, skillset, and nuance of making money online.

Let’s get to the good stuff you'll see in this email:

• A monthly revenue of $20,000

• An effective content strategy to help maintain relevance

• A roadmap to setting up your own successful online enterprise.

But first, let me introduce our partner for this email,

RYSE

Last chance to invest before this company becomes a household name

What if you had the opportunity to invest in the biggest electronics products before they launched into big box retail, would you?

Through retail distribution deals with Best Buy, Ring changed doorbells and Nest changed thermostats. Early investors in these companies earned massive returns, but the opportunity to invest was limited to a select, wealthy few.

The game has changed, and for once investors have the option to invest in a company that’s gearing up for a massive retail rollout.

RYSE is set to debut in 100+ Best Buy stores this month, and you're in luck—you can still invest at only $1.25/share before their name becomes known nationwide.

They have patented the only mass market shade automation device, and their exclusive deal with Best Buy resembles that which led Ring and Nest to their billion-dollar buyouts.

Round closes this month, don't miss the opportunity to invest.

What does this online business do? 🚀

In today’s edition of this enriching newsletter, we explore a thriving plant blog that is a sanctuary for those seeking to nurture their green thumb and cultivate a thriving indoor garden.

The plant blog offers an array of plant-focused treasures including articles, guides, and blog posts, covering various aspects of plant care.

It serves as a valuable resource for plant enthusiasts, providing knowledge, advice, and products to help individuals learn and improve their plant care skills.

Further in this newsletter, we'll pull back the curtain on this plant blog’s financial prowess, analyze the techniques that have propelled its success, and probe the potential opportunities that it can embrace to further flourish.

How does this online business make money? 💻

The plant blog we are analysing today generates revenue through multiple channels, including Display ads, Amazon Affiliate commissions, and Book sales.

Here's how each of these revenue streams works;

Display Ads

This plant blog generates income through ad revenue by displaying advertisements on its website.

By partnering with Mediavine, the blog is able to access advanced ad placement strategies, ad targeting options, and ad performance analytics.

These performance analytics tools allow the website to track ad performance and revenue generated by different posts or pages.

The data from the analysis helps it identify the posts or content types that generate the highest ad revenue.

By analyzing this information, the blog can create more posts similar to the high-performing ones to increase ad revenue.

Amazon Affiliate commissions

This plant blog generates Amazon affiliate revenue through its storefront.

The storefront is organized by different categories and designed to provide visitors with convenient access to recommended products

The products are also regularly updated, providing visitors with up-to-date and relevant plant care products.

When visitors make a purchase after clicking through the affiliate links, the blog earns a commission.

Book Sales

This plant blog earns through book sales by offering ebooks and hardback copies for purchase.

The blog owner with his extensive knowledge and expertise in houseplant care, has taken on the role of an author to share his insights with the audience.

What has this business done well?🔥

This plant blog capitalizes on its ability to effectively expand its online presence, attract a larger audience, and drive engagement and conversions.

Here's how the blog incorporates these strategies:

Content-Led SEO

By providing valuable content on various plant care topics, this plant blog positions itself as an authoritative source and attracts visitors who are seeking information related to plant care.

The blog utilizes relevant keywords to create high-quality content which increases its visibility in search engine results.

This also contributes to driving 173K targeted organic traffic to the website every month.

In addition, by targeting low-difficulty keywords with high search volume, updating content regularly and employing other SEO best practices, this blog is able to rank on the first page of SERPs for several keywords.

Email Marketing

This plant blog utilizes a mini e-mail tutorial as an incentive to capture email subscribers.

By providing a valuable incentive, this blog increases the likelihood of visitors subscribing to its email list.

The blog leverages email marketing for community building, driving traffic and engagement to its website content and promoting its products.

Niche Expertise

By providing in-depth and comprehensive information on various aspects of plant care, this plant blog establishes itself as an authoritative source.

Niche specialization allows the blog to attract a targeted audience who are actively seeking plant-related information, leading to higher conversion rates.

The blog also displays social proof of top websites that it has been featured in which serves as external validation of its expertise.

Furthermore, the fact that the creator of this blog has authored books on houseplant care adds a level of prestige and perceived authority to the blog.

User Experience Optimization

This plant blog optimizes its website in order to fulfil users' needs and offer them a seamless browsing experience.

The website offers a clear and organized navigation menu and includes a search function, allowing users to find information with ease.

It incorporates visuals, such as images and graphics and categorizes content to enhance readability.

The website also appears to have commendable performance and responsive design.

What this business could improve?🔥🔥🔥

Here, we will delve into the potential avenues for growth and improvement that this plant blog can pursue to enhance its reputation, expand its audience, and bolster its financial success.

Improve Social Media Integration

This plant blog does not showcase social media icons or links on its website pages; instead, they are discreetly tucked away on the "About" page.

Social media icons are commonly placed in a prominent location, such as the header or footer of a website.

Without these icons, users may not immediately realize that the website has a presence on social media platforms.

This can result in missed opportunities for users to engage with the brand on social media.

Expand Product Offerings

By combining digital products, online courses, and plant-related products, this plant blog can provide a wider range of offerings for its plant-savvy audience.

It can curate product packages and bundle digital products together to increase their perceived value and generate more revenue.

The Reveal, check this online business out for yourself 👀

As promised, we will unveil the remarkable business we analyzed, and it is none other than Ohio Tropics!

Through Ohio Tropics, the founder Raffaele Di Lallo has assisted millions of individuals in acquiring the knowledge to grow their houseplants.

Raffaele started the blog as a side hustle but his passion drove him to quit his day job and focus on the blog full-time.

He has gone on to provide many invaluable resources in the house plant niche through this blog and has authored two ebooks and one hard print book.

His book was mentioned in The New York Times and he appears on local TV shows, where he regularly educates viewers on plant care.

Raffaele has strengthened his expertise in the plant niche by earning certificates and completing programs in Home Horticulture and Green Gardening.

The Takeaway, What We Learned 🎓

• Content-led SEO is a two-pronged approach that helps Ohio Tropics establish authority through valuable content and attract organic traffic through search engine visibility.

• Utilize E-mail Marketing to communicate directly with an audience, drive traffic to a website and increase cross-selling opportunities. Ohio Tropics uses an enticing mini-tutorial to encourage e-mail signups.

• Niche Expertise allows an online business to establish itself as a trusted authority and niche specialisation helps it to attract its target audience.

• Optimize User Experience by ensuring an excellent website performance with easy navigation, attractive visuals and elements that enhance readability and dwell time.

• Optimize Social Media Integration on a website by ensuring that social media links and icons are prominently displayed on the header or footer of the website.

• To optimize revenue, consider exploring potential revenue streams and creating opportunities for expansion to effectively scale the financial aspects of the business.

Action Steps if you’d like to start a business like this… 👩‍💻

If you’re already up and running with an online business, keep with it and try to implement some of the lessons you might have found in this email.

If not, I very highly recommend our free course in digital marketing & business at Max Business School.

You’ll learn all the fundamental skill to build an online income like the one we did a case study on in this email.

Here’s what to expect:

Week 1 - Fundamentals

In this week, you will establish a solid digital marketing foundation. The focus will be on personal branding, but the concepts apply to other business models as well. You will explore:

• WordPress Website Development: Learn to create a professional and user-friendly website using WordPress, a powerful and widely-used platform for various online businesses.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Understand the basics of SEO to increase online visibility and attract organic traffic to their websites.

• Web Analytics: Discover how to analyze website data using tools like Google Analytics to gain valuable insights into user behavior and make data-driven decisions.

Week 2 - How to start a business

In this week you will delve into expanding the online presence and driving traffic to your website. You will get to learn about:

• Email Marketing: Understand the importance of building an email list and learn effective email marketing strategies to nurture leads and convert them into customers.

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Dive into the world of paid advertising and explore techniques to run successful ad campaigns on search engines like Google.

Week 3 - How to grow a business

The final week will focus on harnessing the power of social media platforms for business growth. You will discover:

• Social Media Marketing: Discover how to develop and implement social media strategies to engage with the target audience and build brand loyalty.

• Facebook and Instagram Ads: Explore advanced advertising techniques on these popular platforms to reach a wider audience and generate leads.

Get started now 

Before You Go 👋

Thank you for reading.

Take a moment to check out our newsletter's sponsor: RYSE

Remember, if you know someone who might like this newsletter, sharing is caring.

If you are ready to get started with your own business, one of the first steps is always a website. Click here for our exclusive hosting deal and click here for an invite to our Max Business School community where you’ll hang out with thousands of fellow ambitious business builders.

Remember to check out the classroom tab (top left corner) for all of our free courses teaching you all you need to succeed online.

Bye for now,

Scott Max