Blog Success Story: My Sister is Going to be Rich

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What does blogging success look like to you? Is it the number of visitors, subscribers, or followers you have? The amount of money you make? Being able to quit your job and earn a full-time income from your blog(s)? No matter how you define it, I think most bloggers do what we do - at least in part - because we want to achieve particular goals or milestones along the way.

My sister, Jocelyn, is someone who I truly believe will make it big very soon. Not necessarily because of her writing skills or compelling posts (though she’s skilled in both of those areas, too!), but because of her background in marketing and her luck in choosing a niche. Before I tell you her story, I’d like to share a few of her stats:

• Average of 1500 pageviews per day
• Around $10 a day in AdSense earnings
• Over 1300 subscribers to her email newsletter, which is growing by 50+ each day
• Just under $1000 in sales less than 72 hours after a product launch

Those stats are pretty awesome, right? I think most of us would like to get there someday (assuming you aren’t already). But what if I told you that this is my sister’s very first blog, and that it has only existed for 36 days at the time of this writing?

The Road to Success

Back in June, Jocelyn told me she wanted to start a blog related to her job as a librarian in an elementary school. (She left her marketing career several years ago.) She spent some time this summer looking for resources and lesson plan ideas, only to find that there was nothing available. So she wanted to create a place to discuss and share library info, as well as possibly selling her own lesson plans that she created.

She and her family came in the week of July 4th and we spent some time building and designing her site. It officially launched on July 8th. Since she has to create lesson plans as part of her job, it made sense to spend part of the summer giving them a platform (and making them a little nicer to look at) so she could sell them to other librarians in need of resource help.

From early July to mid-August, through Pinterest, some links on library-related sites, and a LOT of word of mouth, she has grown the site into the amazing stats I listed above. I’m so excited about her success, though I’m also a little jealous - I still don’t do that well and I’ve been doing this for a long time! I expect her product sales to continue skyrocketing as more and more people find her site.

How She Did It

There are several factors that I believe made my sister’s blog (and product launch) more successful than many others.

Demand. This is the single most important aspect of her success. She found a niche that no one has tapped. Sometimes that can mean that there’s no market for it, but she knew there was one because of her keyword research. People were searching for library lesson plans like crazy, but there were no sites that actually provided the lesson plans for others to adapt and use. It also doesn’t hurt that the quality of her lesson plans is excellent.

Timing. It’s no coincidence that Jocelyn launched her site in July. With most schools starting back in August and September, that means it’s prime time for teachers and school staff to search online for things to make their jobs easier. Since her lesson plans are available a few weeks before each month starts, it’s easy for customers to download the plans and customize them for their own libraries.

A list with a purpose. If you’ve ever looked into monetizing your blog, you’ve probably heard all about the power of the mailing list. However, sometimes we set up a list without a clear plan regarding how we’ll use it. Jocelyn knew right away how she would use her list - to provide library resources beyond what’s in her blog posts, as well as to market to potential customers.

Incentives. Sign up for most email lists and you’ll get a free random ebook. In my experience, most of those aren’t worth my time. However, my sister’s subscribers got an awesome incentive - the entire set of August lesson plans for free, and discounts on future plans. It’s a perfect example of “try before you buy.” All of her subscribers are librarians, so their gift for signing up was perfectly tailored to their needs and interests.

Networking. Prior to coming up with the idea for her blog, my sister was already a member of numerous groups, email lists, and forums for librarians. Once her peers found out about her plans, they were all too eager to help spread the word.

What We Can Learn from My Sister’s Success

I blog because I honestly love writing. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to make money as well. And as I’ve watched my sister’s blog grow over the past 5 weeks, I’ve noticed a lot of ways that I could do a better job with my own endeavors.

• Find a clear need for a product or service and come up with a unique way to meet that need.
• Make sure the rate/price is consistent with your efforts, but also reasonable for the value buyers receive.
• Target a specific audience or niche. Too many times we say, “Oh, everyone could use this!” but that isn’t the best way to make sales.
• Leverage social networks AND real-life networks to promote your product or service.
• Make sure your audience actually wants/needs what you’re selling.
• Pay attention to feedback from your readers/customers and be willing to make changes.

Have you ever tried to monetize your blog? Was it successful? What do you think makes certain monetization strategies better than others?