Welcome back to another edition of Leveling Up!

In today’s email:

• How to write cold emails that always get read

• The secret to a $1M+/year SEO profit engine

• 5 evergreen SEO tactics that just work

• And much more…

Here are the top 10 most interesting links to check out this week:

1. 🎥 This AI video editor creates viral content (automatically)

2. 🆕 LinkedIn changed its algorithms. This is what works now

3. 🧑‍💻 How to leverage any website with ChatGPT to increase sales

4. 💤 4 (not boring) ways to name a new product line

5. 🌲 5 evergreen SEO tactics that just work

6. 😔 The REAL reason why your business isn’t growing

7. ✍️ How top creators repurpose their content

8. 🎨 8 visuals that will teach you to invest better than 90% of books

9. 📡 Do your PPC and SEO teams need upskilling or reskilling?

10. 💲 Now you can launch influencer ads directly on LinkedIn

👾 Deep Dive

How to Write Cold Emails That Always Get Read

Cold emailing is a powerful way to reach out to potential customers and generate leads.

But a study by QuickMail found that the average cold email open rate is 44%. Said another way: less than half of all cold emails are ever opened.

So how can you increase your chances of getting your cold emails read?

We had outbound expert Alex Berman break it down for us:

Always Think From the Recipient’s Point of View

Your recipient has received cold emails in the past.

And it’s obvious to them when they’ve received a bad email.

A couple of things will hit them right away:

1. They’ll see the subject line

2. They’ll see a little bit of the first line of the email

Those two bits of copy will determine if your email gets opened.

That’s why your first focus should be this:

Make Sure Your Subject Line Is Intriguing

Alex is a big fan of generic subject lines.

For example:

• Hi, from {your first name}

• Quick question

• Question about {their company name}

The reason why these generic subject lines work is that they don’t turn somebody off.

If you had pitched your product in that subject line, there’s a much higher chance you’ll get deleted, which means they won’t read the body of the email.

Next up:

The First Line of the Email Needs to Be Very Specific About Their Business

You can accomplish this by using a compliment.

Here are a couple of winning templates:

• Hey {name}, came across {company name}, congrats on {case study}!

• Hey just looked through your website, love the {photography/descriptions/etc.}

The combination of an intriguing subject line plus a customized first line will give your email the highest chance of being opened—for (1) your email will look unique—and (2) you’ll avoid the spam folder.

This means you’re already beating out most of the bad cold emails.

Alright, so now your email is open.

How can you get a response?

Tell Them Something They Already Think Is True

Present yourself as the expert and tell them the solution.

Let’s continue with our previous example.

This time, we’ll fill in the blanks as if we’re contacting agency owners:

Hey Eric, came across Single Grain, congrats on working with Uber!

My name is Alex, and I run Facebook ads for digital agencies.

Right now I see you’re only running video ads, but in my experience, video ads sell 15-35% worse for agencies than ads with optimized still images. That’s why I recommend launching a split test using my winning templates.

Notice how this is a very niche idea.

The more specific your recommendation is to your recipient’s pain point (in this example, low-performing Facebook ads)—the better your response rate will be.

Then finally:

End Each Email with a Clear Call-To-Action (CTA)

It can be as simple as:

• Let me know if you find this interesting. I’d love to hop on a call with you and discuss further. Would you mind if I sent over a few times?

The CTA doesn’t really matter as long as it is a question they can understand that ends with an actual question mark.

You’d be surprised how many emails go out that end in a period.

Now you know how to write a winning cold email. Once again, special thanks to Alex Berman for the breakdown (you can book a consult with him here).

And we’re curious:

Have you had success with cold email in the past? Why or why not?

Hit reply and let us know!

The SEO Profit Engine: How One Page Can Generate $1M+/Year In Profit

Watch to learn:

• Why SEO is not dying despite AI domination

• How to rank on Google with strong domain authority

• Why keyword volume is not everything

• Plus more!

Click here to watch the full video.

Top 3 Available Marketing Jobs

1. Paid Media Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Manage and optimize ad campaigns on Google and Facebook, develop and lead strategic presentations to clients, including media strategies, QBRs, and year-in-reviews. (Full job description here.)
   

2. SEO Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Perform ongoing keyword discovery, content strategy, expansion, and optimization. Audit client websites to identify optimization opportunities and prioritize work based on SEO impact. Develop and implement link-building strategies using competitors as a baseline and more. (Full job description here.)
   

3. CRO Manager (Single Grain). Remote | F/T | Analyze web data to monitor website performance and identify areas of opportunity. Execute CRO activities to help achieve overall marking goals and objectives for assigned clients and more. (Full job description here.)

Until next week,

The Leveling Up Team

P.S.

Here are more ways we can help your business grow:

• Listen to our Marketing School podcast for daily marketing tips

• Subscribe to the Leveling Up YouTube channel

• Read the Single Grain blog for actionable marketing playbooks