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Brands and Mummy Bloggers: A match made in heaven?

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The Mummy Blogging phenomenon is only in its infancy stage in Australia. A lot of the brands are still not cluey as to what kind of influence a mummy blogger can wield on their sales bottom line. Over in America though, it is a completely different story. Mom bloggers are sought after, brand ambassadorships are formally offered and big name companies compensate them for their consulting services.

It is a whole new world. An exciting one. The one that I hope would come to Australian shores sooner than later.

But, what is it about the mummy bloggers that make the popular brands stop and take notice?

Well for starters most mums are in charge of the family budget. They have the ultimate say on what items should go into their shopping trolley. And if one mum blogs about a certain product and expresses her positive experience about it then chances are her readers would most likely take heed of her opinion. Because they trust her.

It’s as simple as that.

The other side of the coin though would be incurring the wrath of the mummy bloggers. Yes that can happen.

Case in point. This ad by Motrin.

The above ad offended  a lot of babywearing moms. A storm of angry tweets ensued on Twitter. Social media savvy mothers showed their disgust over the ad that corporate giant Johnson and Johnson had no choice but to do a mea culpa and decided to pull the plug on it.

Such is the power of the mum bloggers. They can alter corporate behaviour and bring them to their knees.

These mum bloggers are not your average online journalers. They are digital influencers who know social media like the back of their hands. These mothers are wired. They know their way around Web 2.0. They facebook, they tweet, they YouTube and they blog. A lot. These women are the new mum blogging breed. Some of them run their businesses at home, some of them work part time but majority of them stay at home with their kids. Do not discount the fact though that some of these SAHMs had formal educational backgrounds, some probably had solid work experience before embracing the Stay At Home Mummying title. Some were probably big shots in the corporate world.

And they are taking over the internet one blog at a time.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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The Rise of The Power Moms

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I recently had a chat with a guy in Nielsen Australia as I wanted to get some statistical data on the actual numbers of Aussie Mummy Blogs. Unfortunately, they do not currently have a ranking of “Power Moms” or “Mommy Bloggers” in Australia. He went on to say that “Australians are less enthusiastic about the one-way communications of BLOGS, and are more receptive to leaders in the discussion forums space.  That’s a general thought, and not necessarily a rule.”

Isn’t that interesting?

Australians are more into discussion forums than blogs. Although, I am not really sure about blogs being one-way communications and such. Far from it in my opinion. I guess it all depends on how you interact with your readers as a blogger. Some bloggers engage whilst some don’t. Each to their own.

But let’s go back to the Power Moms. Who are they anyway? And why is it increasingly important for brands to understand their online behaviour and mindset?

According to this Nielsen article, the so-called Power Moms are  ”women ages 25 to 54 with at least one child are nearly twice as likely as the average American Internet user to provide frequent online advice about parenting and family issues (88% more likely), non-food household products (84% more likely), and beauty/cosmetics (82% more likely). These “power moms” are also 51% more likely than average Web users to provide frequent online advice on clothes and fashion, food and beverage products (39% more likely than average), home decorating (36% more likely than average), and health, dieting and exercise (27% more likely than average).”

And where are the Power Moms spending their online time?

But, what do these figures mean to Mr Marketing Person over there?

It is actually a really simple equation. The figures do not lie, Power Moms can make or break a brand . They have their megaphones and they are not afraid to use them.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Backstory Friday

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The Mother Media  (TMM) is about promoting the Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers. We want to get the inside scoop. We want to get to know the writer behind the words. We want to hear their backstories.

Today, the spotlight shines on one of my most favourite bloggers. Say hello to the brilliant Veronica Foale.

Veronica with her 2 kids Isaac and Amy

When did you start your blog?

I started my blog in August 2007. It has changed and evolved, like all blogs should. I’m constantly improving my writing skills and it shows in my blog writing – I can’t bear to read some of my early posts. Also when I first started blogging I was a true ‘mummy’ blog and I think I’ve evolved from that, I’m still writing about parenting my exceedingly difficult children, but I also write about myself and life in general.

What made you decide to start a blog?

Loneliness. I was living in the middle of nowhere, with a sleepless baby and my partner working nights and sleeping days. I had no adult contact at all and then I discovered blogging. The connection I felt to those women was instant and so I was driven to start my own.

How many people follow or read your blog?

On average I have around 10,000 page views a month. I’ve got over 600 subscribers via feedburner and those numbers are growing every day.

How many hours a day/week do you write for your blog/s?

I probably spend 5-6 hours solidly writing and editing and I haven’t been game to count how long I spent networking and just on general blogging things.

How do you avoid the dreaded blogger’s block/fatigue?

I blog in advance. I write everything in advance, schedule it and know that I’m set for a week. Not having to write everything when it’s due takes a lot of pressure off me. It also means that if I’m having a bad day, or can’t think of anything to write about, I can leave the Internet alone and come back when I feel more inclined to. I also spend some time every evening writing down post ideas – you’d be surprised how much easier it is to come up with ideas for posts when you’re not faced with an empty page and a blinking cursor.

How do you handle the trolls on your blog/s?

I sulk first and then I ignore them. Sometimes, depending on what I’ve been trolled about I’ll write a post about it, but mostly I ignore. I’ve been lucky in the last year or so and trolls have been few and far between.

What is your stand on being classified as a mummy blogger?

I don’t mind, you know? I don’t think it’s entirely accurate of my blog, because while I talk about my children often, I also discuss myself, isolation, parenting in general, disabilities, autism and health. Mummy blogger for me, seems to be an umbrella term that encompasses so much more than just talking about our kids on the Internet. It’s also a way for other internet users to classify us and put women with children who blog into a niche. The internet doesn’t like untidiness and by calling us all ‘mummy bloggers’ we’ve got a pigeonhole. Sometimes that’s not a great thing, but on the whole, I’m not too bothered.

What do you think is the main difference between Aussie Mummy Bloggers and American Mommy Bloggers?

12 months ago, I would have listed a whole bunch of things. Now, I don’t think there is any difference – except for the fact that Australia is a few years behind the US in terms of mummy blogging. It’s been a little harder for me than some bloggers, because I’m watching Australian Mummy blogging doing the identical things that US mummy blogging was doing 3 years ago and it’s a bit ‘old news’ for me. Australia is behind in general terms of understanding the power that mummy bloggers hold though.

Why do you think Mums are attracted to your blog?

I’ve always been a big believer in showing reality in blogs. I think they’re attracted because I’m blogging about the things they are going through, talking about the loss of identity that comes with mothering, as well as talking about when things are tough. I’ve got 2 children, Amy (4) and Isaac (21mths).

Do you think today’s mothers are more isolated as compared to their mothers/grandmothers?

Yes. Definitely. 50 years ago, parenting was a community venture. If you had a baby, the neighbourhood women would be there to watch your older children, or to drop food at your doorstep and when kids played outside there was always someone keeping a generalised eye on them. Nowadays parenting is very much a solo venture and there isn’t the support there used to be. I think this is an indication of society as a whole however and our disassociation from our neighbours.

Are parents looking for connections/empathy via blogs?

Yes. Connection and empathy was the thing I craved when I was first blogging and now it’s a lovely to know I can write something and instantly connect with other women going through the same thing. Because my partner was working nights, he was missing the fact that our daughter woke all night and played all day. He didn’t ‘get’ it and I desperately needed to find people who did, for the sake of my own sanity. Knowing that I wasn’t alone helped me get through some very tough times.

Where do you hope your blog will take you?

Oh Internet fame and stardom, obviously. In reality though, I’d like to make a living from ad revenue. I’ve got a long way to go with that. Until then, I’ll continue trying to grow my readership slowly and steadily and I’ll keep enjoying myself.

***

And there you have it folks, our very first Backstory Friday. Thank you to Veronica for taking the time in answering our Q’s. I know for a fact that she has a crazy busy schedule at the moment.

Veronica currently runs three blogs, her main blog, SleeplessNights, a writing blog, with all her favourite pieces of writing and a food blog. You can also follow her on Twitter.

(TMM is on the lookout for more Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers, shoot me an email at brenda@themothermedia.com.au and tell me your backstory.)

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Backstory Friday

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The Mother Media (TMM) is about promoting the Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers. We want to get the inside scoop. We want to get to know the writer behind the words. We want to hear their backstories.

I am so thrilled to have the amazingly talented Tiff of My Three Ring Circus today!

Tiff with her daughter Ivy

Tell us about yourself in the Before Children era.

I’m not sure I remember a time before kids!
Let’s see, I was a shy kid. I grew up in an abusive home, with my brother and sister and my parents. My mother was great and my father was not. I think my childhood was a little all over the place but essentially I was an okay person. Often teased beyond belief, it wasn’t until I hit the middle of High School that I found my feet.
I was always big on drama and dancing and singing and I loved being part of Scouting. Anything I could do to escape home life, really.
That’s where I met David. It was all very sordid at the time but I followed my then boyfriend to his Rover group because he would not spend time with me, I thought I would join in, so then he couldn’t use that as an excuse! I had gone through the whole of the Girl Guide system and was a Brownie leader, so Scouting was kind of like a sideways step.
David was there.
He was shy and kind and sweet.
We started hanging out more and more because the boyfriend was off doing his own thing (I’m sure it was Dungeons and Dragons conventions and the like, heh heh, what can I say? I have a penchant for the geek).
One thing led to another and well, we just moved beyond friendship.
Of course, I was still officially going out with the boyfriend so there was big scandal amongst the scouting circles! LOL! Me, a two timer!!
It really wasn’t like that at all. Dave was there when my whole world was imploding. My father was awful, my brother died from a drug overdose and my sister was into drugs too, in a big way. My mother couldn’t cope and one day packed up everything and left the family home.
He was so loving and gentle and so unlike anyone I had ever met and nothing like my father at all.
I finished year 12 and went onto uni to do a psychology degree but I hated it, so I did my childcare certificate instead but that didn’t hold my attention for long. I went into nursing and found that I really loved it. Of course, by then Dave and I were married (I married young, I was just 20) and Immy and Maddy came into my life when I was almost 24. After a while I went on to become a midwife and that is where I really felt I belonged. I loved being with families as they welcomed their babies into the world. I loved everything about it and I miss it every day.

When did you start your blog?

I started blogging in March, 2007. It seems so long ago now, although I know there are bloggers out there who have been writing much longer.
I guess my blog started out more like a diary, where I talked about the little things that were going on. I wanted to chronicle life, so the kids could look back on it one day. I never imagined people would read it and that people would comment. When I started nobody knew about blogging and when I spoke about my new hobby, friends and family would look at me like I was something from a Sci Fi convention.
My blog has changed alot, for different reasons.
Now I use less words, I was quite long winded when I started! Also, I think I have a writing style now, whereas before I didn’t. It was more conversational.
I guess it’s like everything, there is an evolution. My subject matter is still the same though.
I haven’t changed the look of the blog for quite some time (quietly, I think it might be time to shake things up from that perspective).
When I started blogging it was less interactive and I would never have dreamed of raising money for a worthy cause or raising awareness about something – both of these are things I’ve done this year.

What made you finally decide to start a blog?

In 2004, my son William died and in 2005 Ivy and Noah came along.
With the grief of losing Will
mixed in with the responsibility of two premature babies,
I fell into this horrible post natal depression.
I had been journalling since William died but one day Dave suggested I start a blog.
I’d never heard of such a thing.
He found a free platform and set me up.
He said it was an easy way to journal and document my feelings
and that is how I started.
It was for therapy purposes.

What do you love the most about blogging?

There is so much I love about blogging.

Firstly, it’s the community.
We live in a very small part of NSW and Ivy is immune deficient, so we are very isolated from ‘real life’.
I love that I can write my heart out on the blog and feel carried by all of the amazing people out there.
I might be on my own in the physical sense but I am never really alone.
When you are dealing with things that seem overwhelming, it’s nice to know there are people out there who care.
I also love that I can use blogging as therapy, to push words out into the universe is very comforting for me.
It’s an out, if you like, a way to process things.
I love the creative aspect of blogging,
I can write and take photos and express myself in a way that I often find difficult in society.
I’m a shy person at heart and I have terrible phone skills
but when I write I am definitely more eloquent and confident.
I like being able to be that person,
if only through words.

What do you hate the most about blogging?

I think it’s the nasty people out there, the trolls, if you will.
They come along and make hurtful, sweeping statements and I find it really hard to shake those off.
I guess it’s easy to feel that you are in some kind of competition with other bloggers too and that gets me down sometimes.
I don’t like feeling that I can’t keep up with all the new things that are happening in the blogging community.

How do you handle the trolls on your blog?

It depends, you know?
Sometimes, I just let it go but that is extremely hard to do for me.
I might debrief on twitter or to a few other bloggers, who I have come to see as my friends.
Sometimes, I write them an email, answering their accusations or thanking them for their point of view and letting them know I will give it the consideration it deserves. That’s tricky though because then they have my email address and it sometimes makes them think that they can then pound me into the ground with horrible and hurtful words.
Other times, I will blog about it.
If I’m really upset by something or if I can’t work through it on my own, I’ll put it out there – like the time one troll suggested that I killed William and was now trying to do the same thing with Ivy, or the time I was told I was selfish for not considering that Doctors had better things to do than worry about my child.

It’s hard to deal with and I have come close to shutting the whole blog down because of them.

With 7 children, how do you find the time to blog?

A good question.
I’m kind of a fly by the seat of my pants girl. I don’t really commit to number of hours and I’ll draft posts that then end up staying just that.
I usually blog either very early in the morning or late at night, when everyone is asleep or settled, although if something is rumbling around in my head, I might just write it out then and there.
I have bad times, where so much is happening, I can’t see my way to blogging and then I have weeks when everything just comes easily.
I think I probably average a post every second day and it depends on the post as to how much time I spend on it.
Again somedays, the words come easily and others, I struggle to express myself.
Posts with lots of photos in them take the longest, sometimes four hours and I don’t like to sit on a post, once I’ve started it.
I tend to finish and publish it, rather than leave it overnight because I’m very critical of my own work and more often than not, if I sit on a post, I end up deleting it.
The best thing is that the kids all support my blogging, in fact one has taken it up herself.
They love to look back on the entries and they’ll often come in and ask me to read a post to them.

Tell us about Team Ivy.

I would love to tell you about Team Ivy!
Ivy is my daughter. She has an immune deficiency, which means she can’t mount a response to infection, like you or I.
She spends so much time in the hospital, that she often refers to it as home.
I often get emails from people, who follow Ivy’s story. They want to donate money and send gifts to her and to our family. They want to be able to help us in some way. I’ve always thanked them but could not accept because I felt we always had enough. Gifts have snuck through though!
I will always be so grateful to those people who have brightened up my life (and all of the family’s) with their goodness and overwhelming generosity. It really is so amazing to know that there are such kind people out there.

Last March, we had to spend two weeks in the little medical ward that Ivy stays in. We are always in an isolation room and the bed was quite rundown. I learnt that there were some rooms without beds at all and that I was one of the lucky parents. It was not the hospital’s fault. They always did the very best they could. I mentioned it on twitter and people started emailing me, telling me I should ask for donations.
I’d never ever done anything like that before
but David’s work also had a charity pool, where they would donate to the employees charity of choice and so the seed was planted and
Team Ivy was born.
On the first day that I opened up donations, we had an amazing response! People from all over the world donated and tweeted and blogged about it.
I was totally blown away.
People started offering their services as prizes for donation
and then companies started coming on board.
Nuffnang offered to donate the last $500 when we reached $4500!
In less than three months we had reached the first goal of $5000, most of the donations had come from bloggers and our wonderful online community.
It was humbling and at a time when there is so much financial difficulty and hardship, people still donated.
Humanity at its greatest.
After that, our local community joined in and the High School that my older children go to had a Team Ivy Day. With their help, we raised another $2600.
Team Ivy finished in September, although donations are still coming in, we’ve already raised over $8000 for the ward.
The nurses are just beginning to use the money that Team Ivy raised now.
It started out as wanting to be able to give something back, for all that we have been given – the help and kindness and respect that has been allowed our family but it became so much more.
It restored my faith in people,
it taught my children about giving and seeing beyond themselves.
It taught me many things and for Ivy, well, I think it brought a little bit of magic into her life, it certainly did mine.
Now it looks as though team Ivy may become an annual thing.
The local schools are coming together to hold fair days all in the name of Team Ivy and to raise money for the hospital.
I feel as though I’ve done something good, really good and I have blogging and the wonderful friends I’ve met along the way, through this medium, to thank.

You also run Blue Hippo Photography, how is that going for you?

Well, it’s taking off now!
It’s very exciting and scary all at once and still very new.
Again, it was the blogging community that convinced me that I could become a professional photographer.
I’d always loved photography but it wasn’t until I was forced to leave midwifery, due to Ivy’s illness, that I started to consider it as an option for a career.
I would put my photos on the blog and people would comment that my photography was emotive.
It always gave me tingles to read that I could portray something with a photo.
I decided I wanted to be a better photographer and late last year opened up blue hippo.
I’ve been so very honoured to have my photo on the front of a book
and on some websites
beyond that, I am starting to take photos of families and babies and I’ve shot two weddings as well.
I feel incredibly grateful to be able to find something that I can do that works in quite well with the kids and also with Ivy.
I also love meeting the people and trying to capture their spirits in a photo.

There is still alot to do, to work on so that blue hippo can be successful but I’m happy to be doing it.

If there is one tip that you would give to a newbie blogger, what would it be?

Blog from your heart.
As a personal blogger, I think it’s one of the most important things.
If you are honest and upfront, people will be the same with you.
I have had some of the most wonderful people come into my life through blogging because I chose to share my life online.

***

Thanks Tiff. You inspire me. You truly do. Never ever stop writing!

You can check out Tiff’s blog here. Her Blue Hippo Photoblog here. And follow her on Twitter here.

(TMM is on the lookout for more Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers, shoot me an email at brenda@themothermedia.com.au and tell me your backstory.)

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Vox Populi Vox Dei

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Social Media whether you agree or not have permanently altered the way we think and act as consumers. Print and TV adverts are still ruling the game but, we as consumers have grown savvier as to how we accept their “buy my product now” messages. We are no longer just silent participants in the sell and buy cycle. We are making our voices heard in a way that brands have never seen before.

I’ve recently read a post on Mashable on “Why Social Media is Perfect for Brand Ambassador Campaigns.” And in there, they’ve highlighted “five successful brand ambassador campaigns from the last 15 years that have made a big impact on their respective brands, as well as the marketing landscape.”

The campaign that really caught my eye though was the one about the Walmart Moms.

I think Walmart have done a pretty good job in reaching out to ‘everyday’ Moms. They have built a strong mom community, which at the moment stands at over 23 million! The Walmart Mom Community is headed by a diverse  team of 20 mom bloggers. These  mom  bloggers have come together with Walmart to “celebrate moms, share experiences and create a community.”

I say good on Walmart for working with these mum bloggers. Good on them for recognising the fact the mum bloggers are the perfect ambassadors that would make  a brand more human, more accessible, more trusted and more loved.

What do you think?

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Backstory Friday

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The Mother Media (TMM) is about promoting the Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers. We want to get the inside scoop. We want to get to know the writer behind the words. We want to hear their backstories.

Today I thought we’d do something different. Instead of my usual Q and A’s, we’ll let the lovely Corinne of “The Daze of My Life” share her thoughts on how blogging changed her life as a writer, as a friend and as a mum.

Corinne with her two kids

A few years ago, I remember reading in the Sunday paper about  a new fad called blogging, I really didn’t understand what it was or why people were doing it. I was a journalist, editing and writing on newsstand magazines.  I didn’t need to put my private thoughts up on the web, it just sounded a little strange to me. I worked in a busy office where I spent a lot of time reading, writing and chatting to my colleagues. My life was full enough.

Then, I had my first child and I discovered what a lonely existence motherhood can be. The office felt like another universe away. My friends were busy, living their single, child-free lives. I was stuck at home with a baby who cried and didn’t sleep. For the first time in my life, I felt really isolated and disconnected from the world. Around this time I discovered internet forums, which helped me get some tips of child rearing, but I usually just read, never participated as I found the environment very aggressive and cliquey.

When my second daughter turned one, I started to think about getting back to work. I hadn’t done much writing so I thought it wise to do some practise. I decided to start a blog. I really believed that no one would read it, it would simply be a place for me to hone my writing skills and maybe let off a little steam. A place where I could tap out a few paragraphs and see if having babies had killed off my brain cells. Instead, what I discovered changed my world.

Not only did people start reading my blog, but I started reading their blogs. I found a whole world of marvellous folk every time I opened up my laptop. I’ve made friends – real, deep friendships that I know will last a lifetime. I’ve learnt about topics I had only vaguely heard of before, best of all I was hearing it firsthand, from people who were living and experiencing whatever they were writing about. For the first time in a long time, I felt really connected to the world and I felt like I was making a contribution in return. I wasn’t passively soaking up what I was reading, I was writing my own blog and commenting on others and it’s this feeling of being part of an active and interactive community that I’ve found so intoxicating.

As fast as the world is moving, blogging is right there with it. You’re reading what is happening this minute in people’s lounge rooms, backyards or workplaces. Their ideas, thoughts and values are right there on your screen, they haven’t been diluted by what a journalist or publisher wants you to read. It is better than any opinion piece, feature article or soap opera can serve up.

Most importantly, blogging has completely changed my outlook. It’s made me see there are a million new possibilities for me – as a writer, a friend and a mum. The opportunities are only limited by my imagination.

Thank you Corinne for sharing your amazing journey with us. You can find Corinne’s blog here and follow her on Twitter here.

TMM is on the lookout for more Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers, shoot me an email at brenda@themothermedia.com.au and tell me your backstory.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Who reads this stuff anyway?

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Our first guest contributor on The Mother Media is my good bloggy friend Lori from Random Ramblings of a SAHM. She used to be a clown, magician and  a kid’s entertainer. She misses being all those things but blogging is her new career now. Just don’t tell her Man about it.

Lori the Mummy Rambler

When I reveal to people in my Real Life that I write a blog, there are two very common questions I’m asked. The first is “What’s a blog?”. After I finish explaining that and assure them that I am not, in fact, a geek, I usually get asked,

“Who reads this stuff, anyway?”.

And the answer to that question is slightly more complex.

In short, the demographic of readers for most ‘mummy blogs’ is other mums, other dads, other women and men; at home or at work; with kids or without. The demographic for my blog is, specifically, other women, other mums, at home, with kids.

Most ‘mummy bloggers’ will confess that, at one point or another, their husband has told them to “Get off that damn computer!”. Things have changed. Where my mum, at home, 20 years ago, would have watched a midday movie and chatted on the phone to a friend, trailing 20 feet of phone cable behind her so she could house-work while she chatted; in the year 2010 mums log onto FaceBook, Twitter, forums and blogs while our children are sleeping or playing outside. Loneliness is less of a problem for stay at homes mums in this technological age. We have the blessed advantage of being able to go online and log on to a social life when we can’t leave the house.

It’s an accepted sociological fact that women are communal creatures. Surely, you’ve wondered why women go to the bathroom in pairs…? That’s just how our brains are wired. We like to chat, to gossip, to form friendships, networks and social circles. While we all know this can lead to catty in-fighting by immature people, for the most part, the communal, sharing women of nature brings us strength and solidarity. It’s in the nature of women to share and swap stories, ideas and experiences.

And all of this becomes even more important once we have kids.

A hundred years ago, human beings in the western world were intensely tribal creatures, much more than what we are now. The 21st century has seen most women go back to work, and families move vast distances from one another. While again, this has it advantages (especially the families-at-vast-distances bit), it also means that women are often lacking the family network that once existed. There are no grandmothers at home to help pick up the slack of a mum with a newborn. There isn’t a neighbor next door with small children, who you can laugh with, who’ll reassure you the worst will soon pass.

In this day and age, mums get all that online.

We turn to FaceBook and Twitter to share casual conversations and day to day events with those in the same situation as us. We log on to parenting forums for advice on breastfeeding, discipline and sleeping problems.

We use our blogs to vent our frustrations, to celebrate our triumphs, to engage our adult selves in a place more creative than our lounge rooms. We read the blogs of others to feel enlightened, to gain perspective, to learn, to share and to grow.

These blogs, these online social networks that we form, they serve as our community of like-minded women, as our social circle of writers, mentors and other mothers. The traditional model of women in society has changed, and we are grasping for something to steady ourselves.

The Internet becomes our community. It’s real, it’s powerful. And the bonds we form here can be as strong as those formed In Real Life.

Who reads this stuff, anyway? Other women, other men, other mother, other dads. Other bored, frazzled parents, who are reaching out for something more.

***

Get to know more about Lori and read her latest ramblings here. You can also follow her on twitter here.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Backstory Friday

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The Mother Media (TMM) is about promoting the Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers. We want to get the inside scoop. We want to get to know the writer behind the words. We want to hear their backstories.

Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Nicole aka The Planning Queen. She is an inspiring blogger. And I am proud to call her as my friend!

What was your life like before becoming a mum?
I worked for a big corporate company, lived in the inner city, went out loads, spent too much money and planned very little! I only really got organised after I had kids.

What inspired you to start blogging?
Two things really. Firstly I had been out of the paid workforce for 7 years and I felt like I wanted to learn some new skills. But with 4 kids at the time, I didn’t want to lock myself into a course that meant I would have to leave the house and run to someone else’s time lines. Secondly I had started to read a couple of blogs and could see what a wonderful medium they were to share knowledge. I figured I had accumulated some knowledge over the last 9 years that others might find helpful, so decided to give it a go.

How would you describe your blog?
Planning With Kids is a resource for families with young kids. I aim to give readers ideas resulting from the benefits of my hindsight. I share tips and plans that have helped make our family life easier. What I share isn’t anything ground breaking, but it is stuff that I have learned only from experience. The sort of things that I know now, but I wished I knew when I had my first or second child.

On average, how many people read your blog?
2010 has seen some amazing growth on the blog and in October it had over 85,000 page views and 50,000 unique visitors.

With 5 children, how do you find the time to blog?
Week ends. I have a six month content plan for the blog that I follow. I will add posts here and there, but I basically know what I am going to write about in advance. I will check my plan at the start of the week and see what I am writing about. When I get a few minutes peace, like in the shower or at the gym, I will think about the content for the topics. This ferments over the week and I often have the posts almost written in my head by the time I sit down to write them.

I will start writing Friday night and depending on the sporting commitments of the kids, finish them Saturday or Sunday. My husband Phil is a terrific support. When I am in the study blogging on week ends, he will be the “on duty” parent and he cooks dinner on Saturday nights. But I do need to be effective with my time management. When writing my posts I shut down my email, tweetdeck and any other distractions so I can focus. Currently I aim to write three for the week (any more is a bonus) and I did a call out for guests posts a little while ago, so for the next month or so when I am going to be super busy, I will be having a guest post nearly once a week.

To help improve my productivity, I have been using focus booster for most of this year. It has been incredibly helpful in making sure that I maximise the time I do have for blogging. It is based on the Pomodoro Technique for time management. You choose a task that you want to complete, set the timer (25 minutes) and get to it. You then have a short 5 minute break, then start another 25 minute session. Once you have been through this cycle 4 times (about 2 hours) you then have a longer break. This has helped me reduce significantly the amount of time I spend writing my posts.

What’s your take on protecting your kid’s privacy online? Do you reveal their names or show their pictures on your blog?
I did post our family Christmas Card last week, but I usually don’t show photos where you can see the kids faces. I don’t use their names either. I started using their nicknames that we had for them at the time I started the blog, but some of them have actually out grown their nicknames now. Now I am tending to use their age, like my 9 year old son said this or my 6 year old daughter did that.

For me, I just didn’t feel comfortable putting so much identifying information out there about them. Once it is in the interwebs it is there forever really and I made a choice to want to blog, but my kids didn’t. My kids all have kind of unusual names, so I just wanted them to not have a permanent record from such an early age. If I am going to talk about any of the school kids in detail in a post, I will ask them first if they are okay with it. They mostly say yes, but I have had “no” a number of times and imagine I will get even more “no’s” as they get older and I will respect that. Some of their friends mum’s read the blog, so the information doesn’t just stay in the online world, it creeps into their real life and I need to understand the consequences of that for them.

You consider yourself a part-time problogger, any tips on how to best go about becoming one?
I am not an expert in this, but I have been blogging for almost three years now, so I have learnt some things along the way. The first is that rarely does it happen overnight. It takes time, hard work and dedication. Things that I think help along the path to being a part time problogging are:

Plan! – Blogging can take up so much time, so plan how much time you are prepared to commit to the blog. The key to a successful blog is always going to be its content and the community of readers that it draws to the blog. A content plan is super helpful to make sure that you have consistency with your posting schedule and it allows you to take advantage of seasonal topics.

Engage – Respond to your community and to other bloggers. Share links that are worthy and help promote other bloggers where you can. Find a forum or online group that you can participate in.

Design – Moving to a premium theme with a personal design was the best thing I did this year (changed my design in January to Thesis). The blog looks more professional and it means that very often people stick around for a second glance.

Consider your online presence – Be real, be yourself, but remember that on social media, everyone can see what you are up to. Some of my biggest opportunities have come via twitter. I subscribe to the old adage that mum drilled into me at home “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then say nothing”.

Do you think bloggers are ‘selling-out’ once they start generating income from their blog?
There has been so much talk about this recently in the blogosphere. I think ‘selling out’ is such a subjective call, but I don’t believe that the basic premise of making an income from a blog is selling out. People start blogging for all different reasons. I think it is much better not to be judgmental.

Most bloggers pour hours into their blogs providing free resources and/or entertainment. There are direct costs (hosting, domain name, theme design etc) associated with blogging and then there is the time put in by the blogger. It seems more than fair to me, that bloggers receive some remuneration for this.

Not many people may know this but you have just signed your first book deal. How does it feel to be an almost published author and could you tell us a little more about it?
I oscillate between being incredibly excited to being a little freaked out! I have committed to having the manuscript ready by the end of the year, so that the book will be released in time for Mother’s Day.

The book will have the same philosophy as the blog – plan for the bits of family life that you can, so you can better cope with the unexpected. It includes some content reworked from the blog, but loads of new tips to help get organised at home. You might not believe this, but I have a daily plan extending to the end of the year which details what my work load is to meet the deadline.

What is the next stage for you now as a blogger?
I really do love blogging! I will be starting a new blog in the new year, which will also offer some services – a first for me. My focus for Planning With Kids will be to continue providing helpful content and create useful products for my readers.

Thanks for the interview Brenda, you are always such pleasure to work with!

It was my absolute pleasure, Nicole. And thank you for all the tips! If you want to learn more about Nicole and her awesome planning techniques, check out her blog here. Talk to her on Twitter here and like her on Facebook here.

TMM is on the lookout for more Awesome Aussie Mummy Bloggers, shoot me an email at brenda@themothermedia.com.au and tell me your backstory.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Blogs versus Magazines

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Say hello to our Guest Contributor Corinne of The Daze of My Life. Corinne thinks exciting times are ahead between parenting magazines, mum bloggers and their readers.

Ex-mag writer Corinne with her 2 kids

As a former magazine writer and sub-editor and now a blogger, I often get asked if I think blogs and social media are making journalists redundant? A few years ago, this question would have had me reeling.

When I was working full-time in magazines I used to get driven mad by friends and people I met asking: “I’m going travelling, I think I’ll do some freelance writing to help pay my way round. Can you give me some contacts?”

I used to cringe. Did people think that writing a feature article for a magazine took no skill? In my mind it was like me saying to a plumber “I might do some plumbing work as I travel round Australia, I hear plumbers are always needed.”

I felt like I had worked hard for many years to learn about writing for and producing magazines. It was more than stringing a few pretty words together.

Thankfully age has softened me a little and my views aren’t so strong (plus all those people never sold a single story), but when I first heard about blogging I must admit I had a similar reaction. Was being a writer or social commentator so easy that any old person could bash out a few words and post it on the internet? Was journalism becoming disposable? I now see that my view was very much blinkered. I didn’t fully understand the potential of blogs or social media, and I think that many magazine journalists are still only just coming around now.

I now believe that there is a very valid place for social media and blogging in our world, and that view is proven by its success and popularity. Also, I don’t think of blogging as solely a form of journalism, though blogs can be a very useful tool for media outlets.

Blogs are also so much more than a one-way tool to communicate a message. They are a way for like-minded people to connect. They are a way for people to share ideas. They are a way for people to let off steam. They are a way for people to be creative.

In regards to journalism, blogs and social media offer a world of information about readers. Publishers spend huge amounts of money trying to find out who their readers are and what they want to read. Blogs, forums, Facebook, Twitter now offer limitless amounts of this vital data in an instant. This gives a better product for their readers. This interactivity also has the potential to breathe new life into journalism, as long as media outlets are willing to jump on board. I think this slowly starting to happen more and more, but publishers didn’t jump and take advantage of it as quickly as they could have.

Having worked on the country’s two biggest parenting titles, the potential of the mummy blog to work hand-in-hand with mummy magazines is huge. The one thing that all mums like to do is share their experiences with those who understand, which is why I believe mummy blogs have become so popular. Blogs and forums are the missing link to the parenting magazine experience. Magazines can offer up-to-date advice and stories, but they do lack the interactivity that blogs have. Real-life stories have always been the most popular features in parenting magazines, so blogs combine that real-life aspect along with an avenue to interact with other readers.

The parenting titles are beginning to realise this potential and are starting to expand their websites and include blogs, forums and Facebook pages. It’s only the tip of the iceberg. I think there could be exciting times ahead for parenting magazines, mummy blogs and their readers if they allow their imaginations to run wild. I truly believe it’s the savvy mummy bloggers who are going to show the magazines just where this alliance could lead them.

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You can find Corinne’s blog here and follow her on Twitter here.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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Bloggers – The Voices of the Future

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Blogging is the future. Read what Aussie Mummy Blogger Megan has to say about it…

We speak our minds, we tell it like it is.

We make the mundane interesting, the boring funny, and the sad relatable.

We put hidden day-to-day lives out there. We laugh at ourselves, share our down moments and rejoice in the happy times. We make our readers laugh, cry, and nod along with understanding.

We’ve created a community – our modern version of the support past generations had.

We are all over the country, but physical distance means nothing to us.

We’re talented women. Some are amazing writers, some brilliant photographers, many have a great sense of style, others have a great mind for business, or are website geniuses. Some are all of the above.

We love what we do, and people relate to it and see that passion shine through.

We are Australian mummy bloggers – a term that used to be cringeworthy, but is now something to be proud of.

As people become more aware of blogging, what it is and what it involves, the questions we’re asked are changing. When I first began blogging, only a year ago, I was often asked ‘Are you really that bored?’ or ‘Who wants to read about someone’s day-to-day life?’

The answer is: lots of people. Personal blogging is the no-holds-barred version of an opinion column, it’s the reality of life that we all need to hear about.

More than that, these are the voices of our generation.

I admit, I had no idea of any of this when I started blogging. All I knew was that I wanted to write, and this was the only way I could think of that didn’t involve having my dream crushed by rejection after rejection. I could write anything, play around with different topics and styles, hit publish and see what others thought of it.

And for a writer (or a wannabe writer!) instant feedback and connection with an audience is invaluable.

My blog has become a platform for endless opportunities. Within a few months, I was writing for other websites and print publications. Now, I’m beginning to earn a modest living from my writing, and more and more doors are flying open.

But I don’t view my blog as just a platform to other things. Blogging is a skill in its own right, a creative outlet and a way to connect with others. There are skills involved, and time needs to be taken to build on those skills.

Just as they say you can’t be a writer unless you read, I don’t believe you can blog well unless you read other blogs. Taking that time to look at what else is out there, learn what can be done with a blog, push yourself out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself, is so important.

Through doing this myself, I’ve learnt so much and met some amazing people. I’ve made new friends, created contacts, and added something wonderful to my life.

The questions I’m now asked are more positive. When I say I blog, people will ask, ‘What do you blog about?’ or they’ll say, ‘That sounds like fun’. It’s becoming more widely accepted.

Bloggers’ voices are getting louder – and that is a great thing.

This is the future.

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Megan loves to spend her time writing, reading, travelling and photographing.She has a beautiful, energetic toddler and blogs at WritingOut Loud about all manner of things that pop into her head.

You can find her on Facebook here and catch up with her on Twitter here.

© The Mother Media 2010.

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