The Mommy Blog | Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

This has been a tough decision, but it’s time to narrow my focus to just a few things I’ve got to concentrate on fully, and unfortunately one of my businesses has to go…

I purchased Boutique Community from Dreamy Web Studios at the beginning of February as a one-of-a-kind community site for especially cool and hip online shops and businesses. It’s a lounge where boutiques can hang up a shingle, encourage visitors to sign up for newsletters, and expound on the many brilliant reasons to visit their sites and leave some money behind. It’s a fully-developed site—it already was when I got it, and I’ve added TONS to it—and requires very little to tailor to a new owner. All you need is a little configuration and you’re ready to start inviting boutiques and collecting advertising revenue! (I’ll throw in two hours of professional support to help you along.)

Key features for Advertisers:

Select a Sponsorship ad space for high visibility and premium placement
Add your link to the free link exchange
Start a thread in the forums about your space and meet others with common goals and interests
Promote your book in our special Author’s Nook
Become a Boutique Community Member for $25 and get listed in the directory for the entire year, with your site description and link to your site in up to 5 subcategories. Add a logo for an additional $5 per year!

Key features for the Owner:

Big names such as Naissance on Maternity, Koo Koo Bear Friends, and DP Jewelry Designs reserved space for the first month and were keen to continue. When I first opened this site and invited advertisers in, it sold out in a few days.

At the current rates, you can earn $350 each month from the sponsor slots alone. Then there are newsletter contributions, article contributions, and publication listings, all of which are fee-based. The fees in place at the moment are really very low; you could certainly get more with time to dedicate to sales.

Super Sponsors ~ Top of Main Page: $20/month
Sponsors: Main Page $15
Newsletter Contribution: $5/per event
Article Contribution: $5/per event
Community Boards Ad (125x125): $10/month
Directory: $25/year for Basic Entry (No Logo)
Directory: $30/year for Premium Entry (Logo)

I’ve added a lot of functionality to the site in terms of add-ons and modules, all of which give tremendous flexibility in growing the site. I hired professional developers to give me a start, and was able to take it from there.
Included with the site is the domain http://www.boutiquecommunity.com, two hours of paid assistance and two referrals for excellent future support, including one that offers 90-minute emergency service, so you can operate without down time. Hosting for the site is paid through August, at which time you may take over billing or move to another host.
Through my extensive contacts, I’ve amassed a large list of potential clients, and have a database of those who have already advertised on the site. We already have their contact information, creatives, specs, and preferences.
There is a simple routine for hosting newsletters and sending newsletters of your own.
You can offer paid business directory listings, which with all the other paid advertising can be routed directly through PayPal with minimal administration. Some of the sales are self-serve! You just watch your in boxes for payment notifications!
One of the most popular features on the site is the FREE link exchange section where people can add links to their own sites. They must link back to Boutique Community in turn, and this can be checked automatically from the system. You can’t lose there—it generates tons of traffic!

You’re probably wondering why I don’t just keep it. Truth is, I’m under the gun to find full-time work, and have two other side ventures in addition to this blog and Boutique Community. It’s been so crazy that I’ve had to put BC on hiatus, even with clients asking for continued terms. It’s a shame to let it just sit there, and it’s an ideal business for a stay at home mom or dad. If you play it smart, there’s no reason why you can’t build up to $1,000 each month in revenue as your traffic increases.

Bids for this fully-developed, feature-rich work-from-home business open at $1,500.

I’ll take bids through next week, and let everyone know as soon as we have a winner!

Btw, if you are uncertain about what you might pay to have a site like this developed, ask around. It would be at the least a couple thousand, more depending on how much customization. Feel free to contact me and I’ll connect you with the original developer!

Let the bidding begin!

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Other people who write, BlogHer, Weblogs

Over at Motherpie, Hattie Page has been busy researching and interviewing and weaving ideas together for her article on The Commercialization of the Female Blogs, Mom Blogging: Issues of Identity, Relations and Play.

Had I been paying closer attention, I’d have noticed it sooner. It’s fascinating. This article is the fifth in a series of the MotherPie Blog Study, following:
Introduction
Mom Bloggers: Intensively Engaged in the Blogosphere
Theories of Engaging, Immersing, Linking & Networking…
Blogging Motivations

In studying the content of blogs, several bloggers have begun to enter the commercial arena. One of the earliest and most commercially successful mom blogs is Dooce.com (though not included in this study because of a lack of interactivity on the site with visitors unable to comment) and her blog is part of the Federated Media network that harnesses blogs for marketing/advertising purposes. Also a member of Federated Media network is The Mommy Blog produced by Melinda Roberts who has been blogging since 2003 and is ranked by Technorati 26,112 among all blogs tracked by the service (as of November 22, 2006). The Silicon Valley mother of three just published a book in October 2006, Mommy Confidential: Adventures from the Wonderbelly of Motherhood. She is moving into the commercial realm by becoming involved in consolidated and cooperative networks that will become leveraged in order to capture the advertising dollars. Roberts was involved in starting MothersClick, “The MommyBlog Club” with a prominent link on her site on November 23, 2006. The site requires registration and is ©2006 - MothersClick is a registered trademark of ParentsClick Network, Inc. The site describes itself thus: “MothersClick is about unique social networking, exclusively for moms and those expecting. We’re about group-building, knowledge-sharing and creating meaningful value for your online experience. MothersClick provides the tools for new and existing mothers groups to gather, communicate, and better manage their activities and information-sharing online. There are 1,000 mothers… using the site to connect with others online and face-to-face, said Andra Davidson, MothersClick co-founder and president. “The focus is on building private groups for moms,” she said. “You can search for groups by Zip Code to find one in your area.””

and they said these things would never amount to much

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Me, Me, Me, Weblogs

I was just leaving a comment on a LiveJournal blog, and when I used their spellchecker my eyeballs popped out of my head and rolled under the couch when I saw the results. (From under the couch. Mommies can see everything.)

According to LiveJournal, I had three mispelled words: blog, blogger, and Wonderbelly. They offered many helpful and rather creative substitutes.

Suggestions:
Blog: Bog, Log, Blag, Bloc, Biog, Bldg, Blow, Blob, Blot, Clog, Flog, Slog

blogs: blags, blocs, bloc’s, blocks, blokes, bogs, logs, bilges, biogs, blows, blobs, blots, clogs, flogs, slogs, Belg’s, bulges, belongs, bilks, Borgs, belugas, bog’s, bogus, log’s, loges, logos, bongs, balks, bolas, boles, bolls, bolus, bulks, bolds, bolts, belows, blouse, blob’s, block’s, bloke’s, blot’s, bowlegs, bags, begs, blag, bloc, bugs, bulk’s, lags, legs, lugs, bilge’s, Bligh’s, Borg’s, bong’s, bulge’s, biology’s, beluga’s, bogy’s, bowleg’s, loge’s, logo’s, bag’s, bug’s, leg’s, bola’s, bole’s, boll’s, bolt’s

blogger: logger, flogger, blocker, bigger, boggier, bulgier, bloke, booger, bugger, logier, lugger, blower, blagged, Bloomer, bloater, bloomer, blooper, blotter, blowier, bragger, slugger, blacker, bleaker

blog: bog, log, blag, bloc, biog, bldg, blow, blob, blot, clog, flog, slog

Blog: Bog, Log, Blag, Bloc, Biog, Bldg, Blow, Blob, Blot, Clog, Flog, Slog

Wonderbelly: Wonder belly, Wonder-belly, Underbelly, Wonderfully, Wonderbra, Wonderful, Vanderbilt

So it looks like I have all kinds of latitude with branding and identity! From now on, I shall be called Mindy Roberts, Flogger and Author of The Mommy Bilge: Adventures from the Vanderbilt of Motherhood.

has a nice ring to it

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Weblogs

Motherpie wants to know! And with a name that includes both Mother and pie, we really ought to be paying attention.

Go on over and help with the survey for Hattie Page’s media studies graduate research project for digital media theory. I told her you would! C’mon, don’t make me look like a jerk. A bigger jerk. *cough*

Survey says…

Anyone else hear the ding?

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Weblogs

I’ve been parking that teaser in my left sidebar for a while now, and am thrilled to see that MothersClick is finally live!

Come on by and see us. I even have a feature there called “Ask Mindy: Because she’s got opinions about most things.” Hoo Doggies.

Who is Mindy? Email your questions to: mindy@mothersclick.com.

Ah! Here’s the press release!

feisty

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Weblogs

The very lovely Lisa Stone of BlogHer, Surfette, and Legal Blog Watch sent out an email last night requesting nominations for outstanding weblogs.

Keep in mind that these are not the same BoB Awards I participated in last year—weblogs nominated must be a Weblog or podcast in one of the BOBs’ nine languges (English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Persian and Arabic) can participate in the Deutsche Welle’s 2005 theBOBs—The Best of the Blogs.

“Just a quick note about an opportunity to give credit where it’s due: Do you know a news blogger who should be nominated for The BOBs: The Best of the Blogs Awards, an international competition designed to celebrate international communication and freedom of information?

I ask because I’m on the jury of journalists judging this competition and am eager to cast the widest possible net for nominations. Blogging, as we are all well aware, has exploded in the past year, bringing some exciting new voices onto the Web. I’d really appreciate your help to make sure we see the best of the best as we select the world’s best current-events blogs in the following categories:

Best Weblog
Best Multimedia Blog
Best Podcasting Site
Special Award from Reporters Without Borders: This category is for Weblogs that take a strong stance for freedom of information all over the world.
Best Journalistic Blog: The best blogs written in nine languages will receive this award. The languages for 2005 are: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Note: The BOBs site defines “journalistic” blogs as Weblogs that are not necessarily written by professional journalists but “make use of the journalistic attributes of analysis and commentary on contemporary issues (politics, culture, business, sports) and other hot-button topics.”

Here’s how to nominate a blog: Complete this suggestion form by Friday, Sept. 30. If you have questions or follow-up comments, I welcome them. And I’d love to hear from you?

As I wrote on my personal blog, the public nomination process is the big reason I’m interested in these awards. At a time when international events demand and deserve authentic, independent writing, reporting and insight about current events, bloggers around the world are chipping away at rhetoric to deliver the real thing—even when their governments don’t allow it. Take Hurricane Katrina—you want commentary about real people and news of how failed policy affects everyday lives? These blogs have it .

Thank you in advance for nominating a blog that deserves one of these awards—whether it’s yours or someone else’s.

Best,
Lisa”

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newsy

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Weblogs

Best of Blog (BoB) Awards 2004

After two weeks of feverish work, Genuine and Jay are proud to announce that the Best of Blog (BoB) Awards 2004 are here! Sponsored by WiredHub and Blogmechanics.com, and designed by the wonderful ladies of Ciao! My bella, the awards seek to recognize the best personal blogs in our corner of the blogosphere. (No political blogs allowed!)

Nominations don’t open until Friday, but head on over to the site and check out the various categories in which you can nominate your favorite blog. Then pop back in tomorrow and let your voice be heard!

bobby

Sunday, October 10, 2004

Other people who write, Weblogs

As surely as God made little green ~~tomatoes~~ apples, bloggers are a funny, funny bunch. Funny, ha ha, and funny, what’s that smell? (kidding) Which is what I am sure many of the guests at last night’s Blogmeet at the Fort were thinking when we unleashed ourselves on each other.

Of course, it didn’t help that Lee and I spent the day egging each other on with SpongeBob references (touch…) and by taking pictures of seemingly naked men while we were supposed to be enjoying an outing with Mary and the children at the Old Town Littleton Museum and Petting Zoo and Place Where They Lure You Into Tiny Cabins With Blazing Fires on Eighty-degree-days and Offer You Pickled Watermelon for Your Trouble. It was almost worth tasting, if only to trick Mary into tasting it too and seeing her pull that face when the vinegar-with-a-clove-chaser taste hit her full-force.

Speaking of Mary, (*goes down on one knee*) Mrs. Oh No, the BLOG! is the sweetest, most down-to-earth person you’d ever want to meet. Keep in mind that this is the woman who endured labor while her husband AND DELIVERY NURSE participated in the Haiku Smackdown from the birthing room. We fellow bloggers helped name little Jayne via poll, and some of us were able to see pics of her before she was an hour old. That was the first time being a blog nerd actually brought tears to my eyes (as opposed to, say, to my extended family’s).

And I can’t do Madly and Danger Girl justice here. You’ll just have to go spend a weekend at their house yourself and see what it’s like to fall in love while being lead around the yard, sent to sleep under the fort, called Raja, and told to eat your tiger food. Go on. You’ll thank me someday.

Anyway… on to the big night. Lee and I got all cleaned up and purty-lookin’ and Mary took our picture in front of the living room fireplace. “Uh, this feels a little like prom…” (Pause to pick up Leah for second shot) “And you two look WAY too much like a married couple.” (Hastily drop little girl and scoot out the door.)

We arrived at The Fort and greeted everyone with huge hugs and big, silly grins. It is an amazing thing to meet people for the very first time while feeling like you’ve known each other for ages. None of us pulled out photos of the kids (Look online. Each of us already had.), none of us asked what the other did for a living (read the “about” page. Duh.). We pretty much kissed each other and called to the waiter, “MORE WINE. And keep it coming.”

The restaurant was wonderful, situated in the hills at Red Rocks. The table was in a little alcove with doors to the patio, and there little surprises at everyone’s place. Jim and Michele presented each of us with a festive bag containing a genuine, Genuine Blog t-shirt and CD of music assembled just for us. Autum stunned us all with her personalized gifts of beautiful handmade fleece blankets, one for each blogger, with our names and URLs stitched into the corner. They were perfect for drawing around our shoulders while standing outside, talking, at least until we got drunk enough not to care anymore.

Amber and I were a teensy bit ~~overbearing~~ ~~obnoxious~~ ~~drunk~~ excited to see one another. I don’t have a lot of the photos on my camera that I remember being shot, and perhaps that is a good thing. I do remember getting up to go to the Ladies’ with her, and passing an open display case with buffalo head hats, complete with massive horns and furry flaps that hang down the back. We looked at each other, grabbed the two closest heads, and ran back to the private alcove where our table was. One by one, everyone at the table looked up at us, blinking. There was a second’s pause, and then I have never seen a group of people scramble for their cameras so fast in my life.

Amber inspires me like that.

I have set up a special Snapfish photo album and will send the info to those who were there so that everyone can load thier pics up onto a single site if they like. Some have already started to post pics on their own blogs, so you can always check them out for yourself:

Amber
Autumn
Matt
Lee
Genuine
Mrs. G
Hula Doula
Kira
Anne-Marie

And, as a special reward for those of you who have stuck with this post this far, I give you the snippets of conversation that made us laugh hard enough to wish we’d be able to remember them later. Luckily, I had my trusty GoodLink, and acted as scribe, emailing badly phrased and horrendously spelled quotes to myself all night long. (“Look! I’ve got mail! Oh, it’s from me.”)

Mindy: “Oh! I can’t wait to show you! Lee’s got this HUGE telescope.”
Amber: (snicker) “Well that’s where I’m staying! What did you see?”
Me: (deadpan) “Stars.”

Michele: “Jim will eat anything.”
Jim: “I’m looking at my meat down here.”

Autumn: “I put rosemary here. And it’s wafting up.”
Matt: “Your boobies smell great.”

Lee: “I told my dad that I had a PDA and he said, ‘What does a public display of affection have to do with it?’” (Believe it or not, this was REALLY funny at the time.)

Michele: (reflectively) “He’s got a big wanger.”

Everyone: “Goodybye! It was great meeting you! Drive safe!”
Michele: “There goes Mindy! Bitch. I hope you miss your flight.” (Everyone wanted me to skip the flight and come to the BBQ the next day*)
Me: “Fuck you.”
Michele: “You wish.”
Me: “You are SO not welcome at my house.”

And the one that kept Amber and me giggling sporadically through the night, and which caused her to shake me awake several times so I could remind her of the exact phrasing:

Me:: “For years, Logan had a violent peanut allergy.”
Amber: “A what??”
Me: “A violent peanut allergy. What did you think I said?”
Amber: “I thought you said he had a bilent penile energy.”
Me: “Yes, that would make him fluent in two Lents.”
Everyone: (guffaws, followed by many jokes in the worst possible taste)

*By the way, I came home at lunchtime to a screaming Daphne, who had a raging, stretched-to-bursting, infected eardrum. I would have been too ashamed to live if I had stayed for the party and then come home to such a sick child…

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a strange and comforting sense of belonging

Monday, September 20, 2004

Weblogs

Because, in His wisdom, He knew that we mommies would never be able to get it together suffuciently to become the wildly popular, internationally published, diva celebrities we so richly deserve to be.

Also? Because He knew I would find Jenny of Three Kid Circus so freaking funny.

“Keys!” I say, emphatically. “Daddy has keys…“ventures the boy. He’s quaking under the Eye Of Enraged Mother, but it’s a faux-quake. He cowers so well that we have nicknamed him Gollum. “Please. Get. Up. We. Need. To. GO.” I try again. Lamaze breathing hee hee hee hoo hoo hoo. At this point he bursts into noisy, cartoonish wailing, complete with thrown back head, gaping mouth and tears that project outwards from his eye sockets in visible dotted lines. “Waaaaaaaaah!”

Every time I ask, I get a different answer, ranging from stuffed in the fireplace to eaten by the dog. None of them lead to the keys. Late this evening, I finally found them. In the drawer of our entertainment center, behind all the DVDs. Because, yes, okay. That makes sense. TO A FREAKO.

empathy has never been so frightening

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Weblogs

I was just following a link back from one of my comments, and discovered the fruity goodness that is Testypea. One of the links in her recent post had me laughing sooooo hard (for those of you who know me in real life, it was that loud, hyena-like beauty of a noisemaker). I loves me some Jesus cartoon.

testy

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Weblogs

OK, the shop window’s decorated, the counters are polished, the floor’s swept, the spittoons are emptied (well, except for that gunk at the bottom), and there are fresh tea towels in the loo… what have I forgotten?

Oh, yes… SUBSTANCE. *smacks forehead* As usual, I have been too busy decorating for the party to actually talk to any of the guests or offer any of my own sparkling repartee, but some of my most admired colleagues have served up some choice vittels.

A few of my drinking buddies and I are proud to announce the launch of a new BLOGzine, which in the words of our Head Honcho:

Geronimo Joe’s Rancho Relaxo™ is a place to find good writing in the fields of the short story, the serial, the essay, poetry and various other, as yet, un-pigeonholed forms. A place to find reviews of books, shows, exhibitions, as well as commentary on life and art, and, more importantly, a place to discover how to do sex properly…

I don’t know if I’d go so far as all that (I’m apparently the barmatron whose job it is to polish the counter and tell customers when they’ve had a bit too much), but I can tell you that we have gathered a most impressive and creative buncha blogpokes together for a bloody good debut.

Come on over to Geronimo Joe’s Rancho Relaxo, sit by the fire, have a smoke, settle back for a story, and we promise not to rifle your saddlebags…

P.S. What a way to celebrate passing 75,000 visits (which should happen sometime today)! You rock!!

fired up

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Weblogs

I’m with Wendy, had to stop by and leave something that more than one person would read.

Sunday, July 18, 2004

Weblogs

I don’t know HOW I have not seen this before, but I am embarrassed at how much Scratching the Itch’s Blog Languages made me laugh. Click on the different choices in the drop-down menu in the sidebar, and see the blog translated into Bork Bork Bork, Elmer J. Fudd, Scooby Doo, Pig Latin, Touretts’s Syndrome, Tower of Babel and Plain ol’ English. Mad skin props to the Moxie Girls, not suprisingly.

itchy

Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Weblogs

Whew, that pizza is barking! Heeee. Actually, I was just up reading email. This is about the time that Dylan usually wakes up and decides that he and his trains and his backpack all need to snuggle into mommy’s bed for the rest of the night, and then Daphne flings a limb over me to make sure I don’t stray too far over to my side of the bed…

It was nice to have these last few few solitary hours, though, especially as it gave Chasmyn, Kym and and Kim time to post about our time together! They’ve done all the work! How was dinner? What they said! Was it fun? What they said! In fact, it was everything everyone said, except for the asshat with the briefcase and tie-dye shirt who snapped, “You look like a prostitute!” as I waited outside the hotel for the Big Red Van to swoop me up. Go. Look at the pic to see what I was wearing. Like anyone would troll wearing cords and a ski patrol shirt. As Kim said, “He looks like he’d have to pay for it.”

solicitous and happy, yet heartburny

Tuesday, July 13, 2004

Me, Me, Me, Weblogs

I’m going to Seattle! I’m going to Seattle! I am like a little kid about to be let out for recess, I’m so excited!

Twelve hours from now, I will be having pizza and beer (and possibly bouts of incontinence) with Jay The Zero Boss, Kym from Extraordinary Mundane, Kim from Catawampus, and Chasmyn, The Purple Goddess!!!

*cue Vince Guaraldi*

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