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First30Days.com Offers Guidance (and a Guidepost for Digital Entrepreneurs)

Ariane de Bonvoisin, founder and CEO of First30Days.com, which helps people through life changes, says digital entrepreneurs have to be “passionately insane” to make their Web sites succeed. There’s probably more than a little truth to that. However, de Bonvoisin’s advice on how to launch a (niche) Web site — and make it grow — is eminently sane. “You need to rise above the noise,” she said, adding that it’s critical for niche Web sites “to find a way to take people’s pain away.”

While First30Days.com is the hub of the company, de Bonvoisin also stresses that she works hard to spread the First30Days.com gospel through traditional media vehicles. In addition to managing the Web site and its team of 340 experts, de Bonvoisin regularly contributes to Redbook and Health magazines. Her book, “The First 30 Days: Your Guide to Any Change,” was published in May by Harper Collins and there may be a cable show in her future.

“We need to touch people in magazines and TV,” said de Bonvoisin, who in 2007 was named one of Silicon Alley Insider’s most influential people in New York’s digital business. Media companies can’t stay “stuck on one platform.”

The formula appears to be working. Since First30Days.com launched earlier this year, the site has seen its subscriptions grow to 410,000. The site currently garners 5.5 million page views a month and 1.5 million unique monthly users, according to comScore. Each “life change” (nearly 60 in all) has its own section on the site, along with Top 5 Things to Do, expert interviews and blog posts from across the Web on a particular topic. The site also has links to relevant Web sites, books and movies and includes a weekly podcast called “Change Nation.”

In the last few weeks First30Days.com has seen a surge in readership because of the lousy economy and subsequent layoffs. But the financial and mortgage crises shall pass, and de Bonvoisin said niche Web sites require long-term thinking to stay in the game.

In a recent interview, de Bonvoisin talked about the growing appeal of First30Days.com and where the Web site goes from here.

Enjoy.

Matthew Schwartz is Senior Editor of ScribeMedia.org and host of the WebTV series, From Print to Digital.