Mom Blogging for Dummies – Free Sample Chapter!

Mom Blogging for Dummies Free Sample Chapter

It is mid-August, Mom Blogging for Dummies (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) has been out less than a month, and so far I’m super-proud of how the book has done so far. I’ve gotten great feedback from readers – even from a few guys and dads!

I’m excited to present a free downloadable chapter of Mom Blogging for Dummies – no strings attached! You don’t have to give me your email address, sign up for anything, or even promise me your first born child. This chapter is simply free for the taking – please share it wherever you want or with whoever you want – as long as it’s legal, duh. :)

In this 20 page chapter I talk about:

* Understanding what makes mom blogs different

* Exploring the range of opportunities you can develop with your blog

* Avoiding some of the easiest mistakes to make

* Getting to know some of the blog-writing basics

Mom Blogging for Dummies Book Trailer

If you haven’t yet seen the book trailer, in it I talk more about who will get the most out of reading the book and some great tips to get started blogging:

And as a quick reminder – I’m traveling quite a bit in 2011 and 2012 speaking at conferences on the subject of blogging – if I’m in your neck of the woods, please come and say hi!

Filed Under Blog, Social Media Moms · 1 Comment  

16 Market Research Facts Proving Social Media Moms’ Influence

Social Media Moms RuleRight now I am up to my ears in writing my book, Mom Blogging for Dummies. I have a packed folder of bookmarks with tons of statistics and data on social media moms and mommy bloggers. The information has been surprisingly scattered all over the web and difficult to find. I really thought someone would have collected some solid market research for our industry and put it all in one place.

Then earlier this week, my friend Barbara shared a link on Facebook – 23 Social Media Facts to Share with Executives. Jeff’s post is truly worth a permanent place in your bookmarks. And at the end, he invites us to come up with our own posts on stats and facts. I happily took him up on it. So, if you were looking for proof that mommy bloggers are a force to be reckoned with, then you have come to the right place.

  • Parenting and pregnancy websites are the top source moms and expectant moms use to learn about products and services. (eMarketer)
  • 3.9 million women with children write blogs in the US. By 2014, that number will jump to 4.4 million.  (eMarketer)
Number of Moms who Blog

Number of Moms who Blog


  • 55% of active (daily) social media moms said they made their purchase because of a recommendation from a personal review blog. (NPD Group, Inc. via Technorati)
  • Of the 3.9 million mom bloggers, only 13% of them primarily write about parenting and 9% about family updates. That means mom bloggers are vastly more likely to write about topics other than being a mom. (Technorati)
  • Mom bloggers are 21% more likely than the general blogging population to be approached by a brand. (Technorati)
  • Moms are picky about what brands they blog about – a whopping 77% of mom bloggers will only write about products or brands that they approve of. Another 14% will write about brands or products they boycott. (Technorati)
  • 18.3 million internet users who are moms read blogs at least once a month. (eMarketer)
    (I estimate more than that, because not all people can distinguish between a blog and a website).
  • 60% of Mom bloggers say they blog about brands they love or hate, compared to only 50% of the general blogging population. (Technorati)
  • 87.1 million women online are active on a weekly basis in social media (including blog interactions, Facebook, message boards, and other social networking sites). (BlogHer/iVillage)
  • One in four of moms have purchased a children’s product because of a recommendation from a social networking site or blog. (NPD Group, Inc. via SFGate)
  • For the 20+ million BlogHer Network audience, engaging in reading blogs is their number one regular online activity, above watching TV, visiting Facebook, or reading other traditional media sources such as newspapers or magazines. (BlogHer/iVillage)
  • Because of blogging, 24% of surveyed women watch less television, 25% read fewer magazines and 22% read fewer newspapers. (BlogHer via Kim Vallee)
  • One of the strongest driving reasons that moms use technology is to be able to monitor what their kids are doing. (BlogHer)
  • Moms mention brands an average of 73 times per week compared with just 57 among males. (eMarketer)
Social Media Moms Talk About Brands

Social Media Moms Talk About Brands

  • 90% of moms are online vs. just 76% of women in general. (eMarketer)
  • 66% of moms believe word of mouth is credible. (eMarketer)

Do you have additional mom blogging statistics to add? Please leave them in the comments with a link to the source!

Filed Under Blog, Business, Social Media Moms · 15 Comments  

Mom Blogging for Dummies – Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You!

If you’re even reading this blog post, it probably means I’ve known you for a very long time. :) Yeah, I don’t update much around here. I get my personal chatty stuff out on Facebook, and all my bloggy stuff out on Woo! Jr. (and my even newer Copycat Crafts). So all of my readers here probably know me from my eMom days – I’m feeling old!

But I have big news to share with you – lil’ ol’ me is writing a book! That means I have to get back on top of my A-Game and stay on top of things! Yeeks.

Mom Blogging for Dummies Coming SoonMom Blogging For Dummies is coming soon – soon enough to be ready for BlogHer next year, in fact. Besides a completely crazy writing deadline, this also means Ii’m hiring writers for Woo! Jr. (So message me if you are interested!)

This is a book that has been inside of me since 2007 – the year, in fact, that I bought the domain StartAMomBlog.com. Sure, mom bloggers can learn a ton about blogging from any regular blogging book. But in my book, I’ll be paying special attention to working with brands, finding sponsorships, dealing with PR pitch overload, and the nuts and bolts of reviews and giveaways. 54% of moms who blog have been approached by a brand compared to only 33% of the general blogging population. I aim to write a toolbook to arm these women with the knowledge they need to leverage these brand opportunities to their advantage!

The best part is that I’ll get to write about so many of my amazing friends, peers and colleagues and share this spotlight with all of you! YAY!

This also means that I am stepping up my speaking schedule big time in 2011. I’m already confirmed to speak at Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle, MJ Tam’s Brands & Bloggers  Summit, and Kelby Carr’s Type A Mom/Parent – and am working on many more.

No more lazing around with the dog for me!

Filed Under Blog, Business · 11 Comments  

The Story of Selling My Business

During my keynote panel at BlogWorld last week, I was able to make the announcement that I have sold Sparkplugging – and I honestly didn’t anticipate the flurry of questions that would come my way since then! So for all of you asking for the back story – here you go. :)

The Deal That Almost Broke Me

Last October, I was approached to sell Sparkplugging by a different company. Thinking this was a perfect match and that everything would go according to ‘plan’, I started getting ready to let Sparkplugging go. I began a new project, said my emotional farewells, and then the economy slammed me in the face and the deal fell through. I was devastated at the time – and found myself in a difficult position. My fledgling new kids network was taking off better than I had expected, I was burnt out on business writing, and suddenly I was stuck with a business that I had just spent 4 months saying goodbye to.

For a while, I didn’t really know what to do. So I hired Kelly McCausey to be the Senior Editor of Sparkplugging to buy me some time to determine what was the next best move. In the meantime, my kids network started not only replacing, but surpassing my Sparkplugging income, and I was even less interested in going back to something that was so much more work for so much less ROI.

Letting Go

I ended up turning to my weekly mastermind group of friends for advice – and lo and behold, one of them was interested in taking Sparkplugging off of my hands. My old co-author on Sparkplug CEO – Dawud Miracle (and a business partner) soon purchased the site in a deal that was 20 times better than the one that fell through 7 months earlier. Then he lays the news on me that they have hired Easton Ellsworth to be Editor, because Kelly wanted to move onto other projects.

And then I cried.

I cried because I was so happy that my “baby” was now in the hands of dear friends. I cried because I had worked for this 3 and a half years, and finally saw the fruits of my labors. I cried because I was closing a chapter in my life that was both blissful and painful. And I cried because somehow I doubted the universe had my best interests at heart when I lost the first deal, only to find that the universe totally carried me through to exactly where I needed to be.

What I’m Doing Now

What I find probably most interesting of all is that Woo! Jr. is everything that Sparkplugging wasn’t – and everything that I wanted it to be. Sparkplugging was best monetized through consulting and product sales – two avenues I tried and absolutely hated. I wanted a blog network monetized by affiliate revenue and advertising, and I didn’t want to have to hire writers anymore. My 7 Woo! Jr. sites just surpassed 1 million page views this October, and seriously – my life couldn’t be more awesome. I don’t have to travel and speak anymore to promote myself, I get to make crafts with my kids, and I’ve finally replaced my old income from the corporate world.

2009 was a rough year in many ways – I had some health issues, experienced a difficult betrayal of a friend, and I thought I might have to shut Sparkplugging down at one point. If I had to choose between it and my health, well, the blog was going to go. But I swear that God works in mysterious ways, because all the things that I thought went wrong this year were actually the very things that set me on the right path to where I am right now.

You know that saying – what comes around, goes around? Well for many years I sent around great karma, waiting for it to come back. And waiting. And waiting. And now it’s here, and I honestly have a difficult time putting my gratitude into words. I’m grateful to all of the writers I’ve worked with along the way, grateful to my husband for supporting me when I wasn’t making a cent, grateful to my kids for putting up with all the long work hours, grateful to my friends who helped my website grow, and grateful to my God for bringing me here.

Yeah. :)

Filed Under Blog, Business · 19 Comments  

Momfluential Social Media Marketing: Making the Nielsen Mom Power Pack List

I woke up today to find my name on a list. It’s not just any list, but probably one of the most important lists I could be on as a mom in social media. Nielsen (yes, that Nielsen) included me on their Online Power Mom 50 list.

“Nielsen Online’s Power Mom 50 is a collection of leading voices in the mom blogosphere based on a blend of blog posts and comments, and inbound/outbound captured via Nielsen BuzzMetrics, as well as Twitter followers and other metrics.

The complete list is available here.”

-Jessica Hogue, Research Director, Nielsen Online
Power Moms Consumer Insight Report

Since I’ve been laying low lately as I launch my second blog network and take some much needed rest, I was especially pleased to know people haven’t forgotten about me. ;)

So what does it mean to be on The List? The following 16 “Power Pack” moms are considered “…Momfluentials that pack too much of a punch to be categorized. These women create powerful mom networks; speak around the world on the dynamic digital world of mom; and have legions hanging on their every word -via TV, magazines, podcast, blog or tweet.”

What an honor to be included with some of my favorite women in social media! I do want to say that I think Barbara Jones, Allison Worthington, Isabel Kallman, Michelle Lamar, Janice Croze & Susan Carraretto, Kristin Chase & Liz Gumbinner and Maggie Mason need to get squeezed onto this list somewhere (I say for fear of forgetting another awesome mom myself!).

Filed Under Blog, Social Media Moms · 10 Comments  

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