Question that we've been pondering and I thought I'd see what everyone in the forums thought -- if you had a great site that generated 200+ unique visitors per day and got 2-5 signups of your now FREE newsletter... what is the general consensus on turning the newsletter into a paid subscription if it has awesome content? Has anyone had experience with paid newsletter subscriptions on their sites?
I think you are best served at the moment to continue marketing it as a free newsletter until you get your base of subscribers up. Let them spread the word about your newsletter virally and as you start to see a significant increase in interest use this newsletter as a lead in to other paid ones that might specialize in niche areas revolving around your main newsletter. People will be more receptive this way if they allready see you as an expert in your field. Then they will want to find out more of what you have to say and would be more willing to pay for a subscription to one of your other more detailed newsletters.
If you are going to charge for newsletter it would have to include content/news/info that people couldn't easily get elsewhere. I probably subscribe to 100+ e-mail based newsletters and don't pay for any of them. If you're only getting 2 - 5 signups per day when it's free you would probably end up with next to no subscribers if you charge. You'll probably have better luck montizing your newsletter by plugging your own products/services in it, or, selling advertising in it to other companies/individuals.