When I first started this site, I had no idea that there was this whole movement of “mommy bloggers” out there writing blogs and reviewing products. I actually originally started What’s That Smell? as more of a parenting and work-at-home-mom advice site with a totally different name and not even on a blog platform. I didn’t get much beyond the initial web design when I started to notice blogs and specifically, mom blogs. So I completely changed my focus, came up with a catchy name (whatsthatsmell.com is owned by someone else, though not used) and a “hook” – Accidental Mommies. This all happened near the end of 2007. By April of 2008 we had launched What’s That Smell? and never looked back.
Fast forward to today.
Let’s face it, there are a TON of blogs being started every day, many of them by moms. And while there is an opportunity for all of us to shine in our own way, the real hard part is figuring out what “our own way” actually is. How do I stand out from all the others? What makes me, not better (because EVERYONE has something valuable to share), but memorable?
I “hang” with a particular group of mom bloggers (that is growing every day and it is wonderful) over at Momdot and quite often people ask what they can do to grow their blog, increase their traffic, and attract more PR reps for those interested in reviewing products. The basic origin of this question, though, really needs to be “how do I stand out from the crowd?”
I read an article this morning over at John Chow dot com that I think all mommy bloggers should read. The article is titled “10 Ways For Bloggers To Stand Out From The Crowd” and was written as a guest post by Eric Hamm of Motivate Thyself and Sean Platt of Writer Dad. They are also co-authors of a site called Blogopolis Blueprint.
Go read the article on how to make your blog stand out. I’ll wait…..
Mom blogs are a HUGE herd, and while we should certainly support one another (because probably half our readership is other bloggers – not sure of the statistics) we also need to discover who we are and let it shine through. Just because we are a part of a herd, doesn’t mean each one of us can’t run in front every once in awhile.
About Kim
Hi Kim,
I concur with many points in the article, but the most important one for me, as a new mommy blogger (DagmarBleasdale.com), is No. 1, don’t worry about other blogs. There are so many other great mommy blogs out there, but many of them are mostly review- and marketing-driven sites that I am not really interested in. I believe in being a great resource to my readers, a la Steve Pavlina, I write about what works and doesn’t work for me in hopes that other moms benefit from it; that is my mission. So if I don’t think other moms will benefit from what I have to say that day, I don’t post it. I think if you stick with your original vision for your blog, you’ll succeed because people can tell that you are genuine. Like you said – let yourself shine through.