A Mama's Rant

My List of Top 10 Product Review Mom Blogs at blogs.com

The folks at Blogs.com/Six Apart asked me to sent them my top 10 list of product review blogs done by moms.

There are so many terrific mom reviewers out there, may who I work with at Mom Central, Parent Bloggers Network, and Family Review Network, it was hard to pick. My goal was to pick some of the mom bloggers that I thought did a great job reviewing products with thoughtful, well written posts.

Motrin gives me a headache

You've probably heard about the Motrin ad backlash by now. If not see Company caves to moms' Motrin ad backlash - Motrin ad pulled after blogging moms sling barbs at firm.

In response, Motherhood Uncensored did this:

You may need a dose of Motrin for those sore ribs you get after laughing too hard. But seriously, the controversy isn’t all that funny.

It was covered by my friend Jim Turner at the Social Mediasphere on BlogTalkRadio last night.

Good discussions and nice to see so many people I knew in the chat room. (I was in and out due to a conference call.)

You can read all about it on Twitter and on USAToday, too.

Sound Off in the Mom Central National Mom Blogger Survey - Win an Amazon Gift Card

Mom Central is inviting all mom bloggers to participate in their Mom Central "National Mom Blogger" survey.

If you've been blogging for awhile, you're probably getting emails from companies and publicist trying to promote their products - sometimes badly! Mom Central wants to change that.

Mom Central knows that mom bloggers are a unique and varied group of women who have quickly grown into an influential force in the marketplace. Mom Central has developed great relationships with many mom bloggers out there, and respects your opinion and powerful voice as a Mom Blogger.

They have designed the "Mom Blogger Survey" to help both Mom Central, as well as brands and companies, to deepen the dialogue with and better understand Mom Bloggers. For example, they would love to know: What are the top mistakes brands or companies make in soliciting your blog attention?  In your opinion, what constitutes a "true" blog? How important is it to you to make money from your blog?

As a thank you for your time - the survey takes 5-10 minutes - and valuable feedback, the first 500 completed surveys will receive a $10 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

All information obtained through this survey will be kept completely confidential and used only to better understand general trends in the larger community. Mom Central promises to never share or distribute your personal information with any outside parties.

And as an additional thank you, they look forward to sharing key highlights of the final survey report with you once the results have been analyzed. Click here to begin!

(Full disclosure - I've been a reviewer for Mom Central since 2007 and recently signed up with them as a social networking consultant.)

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MotherVerse Anthology: Mothering Out Loud: Moms Tell the Truth About Blogging it All

The editor at MotherVerse has put out the call for submissions on two proposed print anthologies - one for mom bloggers and the other on the global motherhood experience.

Blogging It All

The first proposed anthology is Mothering Out Loud: Moms Tell the Truth About Blogging it All. MotherVerse is looking for mama bloggers interested in opening up in a proposed anthology to be edited by the founder of MotherVerse Magazine and The MotherVerse Blog.

The anthology will focus on the behind the scenes lives of moms who blog their lives. The book will address questions such as why moms blog, what motivates them, the challenges they face, how they manage the personal/private dynamic of blogging about family and what impact mom blogs are having on a global societal level. Finished essays will need to be approximately 2000-4000 words in length.

The Global Motherhood Anthology

MotherVerse is looking for mothers who are living across the globe for a proposed anthology/research book on motherhood experiences in countries/cultures/political and religious environments around the world. Looking for mothers (writers or not) who would like to share stories and be part of an exploration of the diversity of motherhood experiences. If you are interested in becoming part of this project please write editor at motherverse dot com with “Global Motherhood Anthology” in the subject line.

Click here to read the full submissions call on the MotherVerse site.

Enter HP's "What do you have to say" theme contest and create a design for TypePad

I've been blogging with TypePad for over four years now. My biggest complaint was that their designs were limited. So I created my own at my various blogs like This Mama Cooks! and The Write Spot, and I think I've done pretty well tweaking what TypePad had to offer.

But due to pressure from outside sources (I'm guessing WordPress, both self-hosted and on WordPress.com), they're finally coming out with a bunch of new designs. I won't be changing my designs since like what I've created here on my TypePad blogs. And for my self-hosted WordPress blog, I've hired Girly Blog Designz to redesign my former TypePad blog at ClubMom.com, My Readable Feast.

However if you're looking to change your TypePad blog and have some design skills, you should enter the HP “What do you have to say?” theme design contest. All you have to do is design a theme that showcases your personal style and creativity. The winning themes will be made available to millions of bloggers on TypePad, Vox and LiveJournal. If your theme is chosen as the winner, you will get some cool prizes from HP.

Click here to find out how to submit your design. You have until April 4 to do so. First Prize is an HP.com gift card ($1,000.00 face value).
Second Prize is a $500 HP.com gift card and Third Prize is one for $300.

So far there aren't that many submissions and while what's on there is good, I've seen better. Really, if you're a blog/web/graphic design, get working and enter the HP “What do you have to say?” theme design contest.

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Take a survey and (maybe) go to BlogHer for FREE!

I don't care if you love me or not. But if you're a blogger, you should take BlogHer's annual reader survey.

The survey is short, and doesn't insult your intelligence. Plus, if you complete it, you will be entered into a random drawing to win a FREE PASS to the BlogHer event of your choice.

Asking for YOUR OPINION. Just another reason why BlogHer rocks!

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Take the social media survey

If you're a blogger - either for personal use or for business - you know that social media is rapidly becoming a factor in society and business.

Do you think it will change the way we communicate? Do you think it will change the way we do business?

Give your opinion at Content Connection LLC's survey at
http://www.contentconnections.com/socialmedia/. You don't have to be a problogger to take it. Mommy blogger, craft blogger, tech blogger, food blogger - I'm sure they want to hear from us all.

I took the survey. It was very interesting, especially for someone like me who is trying to earn a living blogging and who writes at many blogs.

You will be entered in a drawing to win one of five iPod Nanos that will be given away at the close of the survey.

Content Connection plans to share our results early in 2008 via YouTube and a downloadable Executive Summary. Can't wait to see the results!

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Get paid for blogging with Smorty

Yesterday, I talked to a dozen writer's at a Northern Colorado Writer's Association (NCWA) workshop about how to start blogging. I barely touched on making money through your blog. Still, people are so interested in the topic that the director of the NCWA has asked me to give a talk at the April conference on just that.

I plan to talk about joining blog networks (ad revenue share), using affiliate programs, and running advertising on your blog. But another way to make money from your blogging is to sign up with a service that works with companies that want to do blog advertising and pay bloggers to write about websites, services and products on their blogs.

Have you taken the Blogging Mothers Survey Yet?

Judith Stadtman Tucker, the editor of The Mothers Movement Online, is conducting a blogging mothers survey to help her write a foreword for a new anthology on maternal blogging. (Can't wait to read her book!)

She writes:

I'm looking for feedback from members of the "momosphere" about the quality of your blogging experience. I've created an online survey and would be extremely grateful if you would (a) take a few minutes to complete the survey, and (b) share the survey link with other mother bloggers in your virtual and real-world communities.

Your blog need not be related to motherhood or parenting to participate in the survey -- if you're a mother who blogs (or a former mother-blogger), I'd like to hear from you! The survey will be open for one month (August 15 to September 15, 2007), or until I receive the maximum number of responses (1,000). Many of the questions have yes/no answers. Several involve selecting one or more choices from a longer list of options. Nearly all questions may be skipped. The survey is also set up so you can return to it if you are not able to complete it in one session.

Judy will be sharing a summary of the survey results with the motherhood blogging community when the final responses have been collected.

I took the survey just now and there's only one problem with it. The survey assumes you only have one blog. For many of us "moms who blog" that's hardly the case, though I don't think most mom bloggers write for as many blogs as I do. (Some write for more!)

So are you going to take the blogging mothers survey?

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Do You! this Summer

In Russell Simmon's Do You!: 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success he writes that he believes in the power of meditation. Russell says that the most important message in his book is to get people to meditate and do yoga, something he does on a daily basis. As Russell told the New York Times, meditation helps him get closer to God:

To be awake is to be fully present, no noise, just you and God.

I've been experimenting with meditation and yoga this summer but on a less spiritual level. I'm taking a yoga class and getting massages to make my back and hips feel better and have downloaded meditation podcasts on my iPod to help me sleep better. In my case it's less about getting close to God and more about shutting off the noise in my mind and the pain in my body.

Yet I appreciate Russell's take on getting your mind fit before working on your body, relationships, or the way you make a living. You can't get your life in order without getting your mind in order. And that's what I'm trying to do this summer with my writing, getting fit and losing weight, and trying improving my health.

So it's been a summer of reading inspirational books like Do You! and Doing Me. I hope Russell inspires you to Do You! this summer, too.

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