Chris Ray

I’ve been away from Bluesky for a few months now! 😬 Life’s been busy and I’ve been working on some new stuff so here are some updates 👇

#2 - I’ve returned to X 😱 I’ve done this for a good(ish) reason though. I’ve been investing for 4 or 5 years now, and I’ve recently become way more focused on it. I really enjoy buying and selling stocks, researching companies, etc.

Turns out X has an incredible investing community. That’s not to say it’s bad here, but it’s certainly not as large and I find things get missed. I’ve loved Bluesky for the builder/indie hacker community, just not the finance community. X account is @itschrisray if you’re interested!

I’ve been away from Bluesky for a few months now! 😬 Life’s been busy and I’ve been working on some new stuff so here are some updates 👇

#1 - I SOLD EasyStartupIdeas.com 🤯 This was my 2nd newsletter, and while much more successful than my first, it seemed to have run its course. It wasn’t going to be my “big thing,” so once I realized that, I listed it on a marketplace and got a good price for it.

easystartupideas.comEasy Startup IdeasThe inspiration you need to start your next business.

2 July 2025

Been taking it a bit slower when it comes to marketing EasyStartupIdeas.com But thankfully, we just crossed 1500 email subs! Hoping to double (or more) by the end of the year. If anyone has any advice on paid ads, I think now may be the time I start running them 👀

5 June 2025

Remember starter packs? 😅 But also - is there one for people building/running newsletter businesses??

2 June 2025

Whenever one of my comments pops off on Reddit, I definitely DON’T: A) check google analytics to see how many people are on my site B) switch to the Beehiiv dashboard and continuously refresh to see how many of those people are converting C) repeat A & B

2 June 2025

While Google says that traffic spikes don’t boost your site’s DR, I always see my site get closer to the first page of search results when this happens. 🤔

29 May 2025

Getting newsletter subscribers organically through Google search hits different

28 May 2025

EasyStartupIdeas.com continues to move in the right direction 😤

21 May 2025

Can you point to the 2 days from this past month that I commented about my newsletter on a viral Reddit post? 🤔

producthunt.comEasy Startup Ideas - The inspiration you need to start your next business | Product HuntEasy Startup Ideas is a newsletter that provides aspiring founders with complete roadmaps to exciting business ideas & side hustles 3x per week.

21 May 2025

Easy Startup Ideas is now live on Product Hunt!! 🎉 I’d really appreciate it if you guys could throw it a vote! Thank you! 🥹 🙏 www.producthunt.com/posts/easy-s...

20 May 2025

The newsletter just broke 1200 subscribers this morning. Let’s see what happens after tomorrows Product Hunt launch 🚀 I’ll be promoting it to the entire mailing list in tomorrow’s edition, so I’m hoping for some sort of a boost from that!

16 May 2025

Well this is a first. May has been FULLY booked with Beehiiv Ad Network ads! 🤯 AKA every day I've sent (or plan to send) a #newsletter in May, has received a sponsorship offer. Now if I could only fill all the ad spots I have set aside for advertisers outside the Beehiiv network...

14 May 2025

While it hurts to lose newsletter subscribers, it’s good to know that my cleaning automation is successfully re-engaging some! It’s also just nice to remove people that aren’t opening any emails and are dragging down my average Open Rate.

trendspotter.blueTrendSpotterDiscover trends and viral content on Bluesky Social.

12 May 2025

Kinda sad, but using the Profile Analysis tool in TrendSpotter.blue makes it obvious that Bluesky was way more active in late 2024/early 2025. WAY more engagement on posts from around then. Do you agree, or is it just the people that follow my account that have dropped off? 😅

12 May 2025

Hitchhiking on viral Reddit posts continues to be the best marketing tactic. In the last 24 hours I gained more than 85 newsletter subscribers by commenting on a viral Reddit post I found. This wasn’t luck, I knew it was going viral from the number of people viewing it. Use the Reddit mobile app!

11 May 2025

Just caught another viral Reddit post. 😏 My comment directing folks to my newsletter has gotten me 20 new subscribers so far in the last few hours.

12 May 2025

UPDATE: I added 80+ subscribers from that comment.

8 May 2025

Finally 😮‍💨 Now onto 5000 😅

7 May 2025

My views 1 month ago when I just started using Post Bridge (left). My views now after a month of Post Bridge (right). Thank you @jackfriks.bsky.social for helping me to learn and iterate quickly!

7 May 2025

The bittersweet feeling of finally being about to pass the 1000 subscriber mark… … but having my Beehiiv subscription jump up 40% because of it. 🥴

5 May 2025

Clicks for EasyStartupIdeas.com have been very meh, but impressions are really starting to ramp up. It’s OVER once I start getting proper organic traffic 😤

medium.comHow I grew a new subreddit to 1400 members in 3 weeksHustle, skill, and a little bit of luck

3 May 2025

For those wondering how I grew a subreddit from 0 to 1400 members in just 3 weeks, check out the Medium article I just wrote about it here: medium.com/@chrris.ray/... #Reddit #RedditMarketing #GrowthHacking

2 May 2025

3.5 weeks ago I made a subreddit (r/QuitCorporate) Since then: - it's gone from 0 to 1400+ members - it's in the top 19% of subreddits by size - every post get's tons of engagement (1K-4K views) This was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be.

1 May 2025

Which looks better? Real Jersey Mike’s sub (left) or ChatGPT sub (right)? 😂

1 May 2025

I’ve pushed my mailing list cleaning automation back 3 times already since I’ve been too scared too lose subs before hitting 1000 😅 This is the LAST time, I swear. Subscribers that don’t open a single email for 100 days are gone forever (unless they engage with the re-engagement email)! 🫡

1 May 2025

I still like having these 3 dynamic segments created in Beehiiv to let me know what kinda storm is coming 😬

trendspotter.blueTrendSpotterDiscover trends and viral content on Bluesky Social.

28 Apr 2025

TrendSpotter.blue is surfacing some great posts about the power outages in Spain and Portugal if you search any related keywords (“Spain,” “Portugal,” “blackout,” “outage,” etc.)

26 Apr 2025

I’ve truly had to FIGHT for each and every newsletter subscriber I’ve gotten so far. Sometimes they come in small waves from a particularly good Reddit post/comment, but it’s never more than 20 subs. Maybe this is simply the way in the beginning?

26 Apr 2025

Currently at 899 subscribers. Still heavily pushing short form video. 2 videos per day on Insta, TikTok, and YT. Testing and iterating. Still waiting for something to go viral.

25 Apr 2025

Hmm turns out reshoring all manufacturing doesn’t work at all 🤔

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25 Apr 2025

Just got the gpt-image-1 API successfully integrated in my next web app. It lives! 🤖

#newsletter problems

Yesterday was pretty crazy. I created a subreddit 2 weeks ago and yesterday morning it had 297 members. Now? It has 1210. The sub gained over 900 members in about 12 hours. How? Being the first to comment on a viral post I found. Here’s how you spot them 👇

And browse FREQUENTLY. It may be a bit of a slog, but it’s all about ensuring you’re in the right place at the right time. I know we don’t want to be on our phones all the time, but whenever you are, skim Reddit for these posts!

22 Apr 2025

Finally, when you see a post that fits this criteria, make a comment directing redditors where you’d like them to go. Most subs will ban you for self-promotion, but directing users to another subreddit is generally okay You can also put a link in your bio and tell people to look there. Good luck!

In the Reddit app, look for posts that have a lot of people currently viewing them. This can only be done in the app (not web browser). Not many posts will have a significant number of people looking at them. Anything over 10 people is great.

22 Apr 2025

If 10+ people are currently viewing a recently created post and it doesn’t have any comments yet, it’s probably about to go viral and you have an opportunity to be the first commenter. These viral posts are more likely to occur in large subreddits, so find the biggest one related to your niche.

21 Apr 2025

UPDATE: My “new” subreddit I created as another funnel for my newsletter is nearing 500 members after just 2 weeks. Change my mind: there is NO better growth hack than commenting on a viral Reddit post at the right time. I’m set to gain 200 members today alone from this one comment.

21 Apr 2025

EDIT: it flew past 500 and is at 600+ members now. This means it grew by more than 100% in a single day because of a 10 word comment I left on someone else’s post.

18 Apr 2025

As part of a new push to market my newsletter, I’ve started posting 2 videos per day to Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thanks to @jackfriks.bsky.social ‘s Post Bridge, I’ve gotten 120,000 views in just 10 days across all 3 platforms. It may not be a lot but it’s a start!

14 Apr 2025

Newsletter growth experiment #127: I made a subreddit The subreddit isn’t branded after the newsletter, but instead relates to a larger niche that the newsletter falls within. So far r/QuitCorporate is 1 week old and has 105 members - going better than expected! #newsletter