Creative foodies, positive mindset coaches, healthy lifestyle activists and food authors, Carla and Emma Papas, are real life sisters with an entrepreneurial flare.
Starting with a simple but honest blog, these sisters have taken the healthy living community by storm, boasting over 200 000 followers across their website, club membership, podcasts and their very own cookbooks. They’ve even partnered with some really cool brands, like Reebok and Women’s Fitness, and featured internationally on social media channels like Virgin Australia.
The Merrymaker’s healthy recipe Mobile App, GetMerry, ranked as the top paid App on iTunes. Yes, you read right. That’s Number 1 paid App on iTunes.
You wish that you could be the proud creator of a number 1 ranking iTunes App? That people actually PAY MONEY for?
Then keep reading.
Get Real and Start Something
The Merrymaker sisters were inspired by their followers, and wanted to offer them even more value through a simple, convenient and fun Mobile Recipe App.
“Ever since we started Merrymakers, we talked about creating an app. A place where all of our recipes could be easily accessed. Our goal was to add convenience to the lives of our readers and audience as well as build a stronger Merry brand.”
STEP#1
First they found a suitable App template. Then they jumped right in and started work on a first draft. Building the draft App included steps like rebranding the template, finding cool graphics, and designing key aspects like the App Icon.
The sisters soon discovered that they had A LOT of content to share. What they saw was a future of adding, and adding, and modifying, and adding some more content to keep the audience ‘hungry’ for their recipes.
STEP #2
This meant that they needed to be able to easily update the App themselves, without having to go through developers every time. So they created a fillable form that directly linked and updated their XML file.
“Our XML file is full of the content that tells the app what to look like and what content to share! The form is super simple but super powerful, as it means we can jump in at any time, add new content and edit any content!”
STEP #3
From there, it was just a matter of inputting all the recipes into the App.
“This was very time consuming but kind of fun! And we did it all ourselves as we wanted to see the App come to life! After a few final design tweaks, we were ready to go live!”
Don’t be Shy. It’s Just a Little Help.
Nobody knows everything. But everybody knows something.
Carla and Emma may have done most of the work themselves, but they needed help from someone with more experience when it came to setting up the App. This was a whole new world to them.
And this help came in the form of Teacherpreneur’s own Jarrod Robinson, and his new service The App Match – where his team helps you build an app for your existing audience.
“We wouldn’t have been able to create this by ourselves as we really had no idea where to start! Jarrod guided us the entire way.”
Jarrod provided mentoring and support, and advice about the App developers and development process.
“Having someone who knows their way around not only with Apps but also the developers meant we could trust the process and also make quick decisions based on Jarrod’s previous experiences. It was amazing to have the support, whenever we needed it, Jarrod would be there helping us work through an issue or providing a solution. Without Jarrod the App would still be an idea floating around in our heads!”
Listen to Jarrod share his app creation and launch tips on the Merrymaker Sisters podcast:
Launch into Success
The Merrymakers adopted a simple launch strategy for their App. This included 3 direct emails to their mailing list, shared images and live videos across their social media accounts, and a ‘giveaway’ for anyone who left a review on the App Store after purchase.
“We also added 6 App Exclusive recipes to the App, which we promoted through content on our blog as well as social media.”
And the results were, well let’s just say they were better than expected.
“#1 on the App Store wasn’t a goal of ours so it definitely shocked us when we hit it within 9 hours! Our mouths dropped to the floor and we were jumping up and down with excitement! A super simple launch with an amazing result!”
And what was the cost of this success? So much less than you would’ve thought! From start to finish, including the IPhone and Android development, the GetMerry App cost them $2500 USD.
“Before this we’d been told that it would cost up to $100K to build a good app! So it’s safe to say we were amazed and over the moon with the result!”
Related: Launch a Profitable & Highly Rated Mobile App in 5 Days
Now it’s Your Turn
If you know something, have experienced something, or are passionate about something… the chances are that somebody else out there in that big connected world wants in on it.
You just need to take the plunge and make yourself and your idea accessible. Just like the Merrymaker Sisters did.
If you want to bring an App to life for your audience, sign up to The App Match and make it happen.