8 Factors Which Motivate Me to Blog

I took part in a recent survey conducted by one of the blog PR affiliations I've joined, and one of the questions was (essentially) "Why do you blog?" I'd already touched on this when I wrote my About page this past Spring, but as I sat there considering my answer, a lot more came to mind. Here's a wordier version of what I ended up jotting down: 

• Blogging helps define my role as a mother - Manager to Mom is, above all else, a mom blog. I write about parenting topics, review baby-centric products and engage in relevant discussions with other moms (and dads too!) All in all, I think mom blogging helps foster my connection to my new identity.
  
  
• (Related to the point above) Blogging enables me to connect with like-minded individuals. Through M2M, I've had the pleasure of discovering many other interesting and informative blogs, engaging in great discussion, sharing helpful tips and getting to know some wonderful and inspiring people on a more personal note. 
  
  
• Blogging is a great way to track and share my daughter's development - I've had a lot of fun writing the monthly development posts for S and it's super to hear from friends and family members that they are enjoying them as well. Going back to review what she was like at a particular point is quite poignant and nostalgic, and I'm glad I decided to preserve the memories this way. 
  
  
• Blogging introduces me to awesome brands and products, via my own reviews/giveaways as well as features going on at other blogs I follow. So many of my current favourite baby gear, household and other items have originated (in some way or another) from my blogging experience, and for the first time ever I feel like I'm *not* going to be running around at the last minute finishing my Christmas shopping as I've already nailed down the majority of what I'll be getting everyone. w00t!
  
  
• Blogging enables me to make a positive impact on people and companies. It always makes my day when a reader comments that they loved a post, when a QOTD topic stirs up some interesting discussion, or when a winner is super-excited about their prize. It truly, truly does. If I'm having a tired, crappy morning and a reader simply says "Great tip! I'm gonna try that!" I'm instantly floating. Similarly, when I've had the chance to review a terrific product or business, I love that I can use my blog as a vehicle to spread the word to others. Hearing back from one of my PR contacts that they have been more than satisfied working with me provides terrific reinforcement as well. 
  
  
• Blogging keeps my working skills (and mind!) sharp - As a PR-friendly blogger, I write, think critically, manage email, engage with clients and endeavour to keep up-to-speed on social media and other web technologies. This is all very relevant to my career (high-tech management and consulting), and also great "food" for my brain! :) 
  
  
• Blogging is a way to "build something bigger" - Within a span of several months, M2M has grown from relative obscurity to a significant player in the mom blogging space, and continues to grow in terms of readership and statistics (web rankings, traffic, etc.) This gives me a feeling of accomplishment, and it's exciting to think how prominent my blog may become in the long run!
  
  
• Blogging is fun! Not even so much writing the articles themselves (this part is the hard work ;) but everything around it - checking out the latest PR opportunities from one of my affiliates, hearing back from a brand I've pitched, reading and responding to blog and FB comments from my readers, checking my blog stats and search hits, reviewing contest entry comments, etc. Kind of addictive, really. ;)

You may have noticed that I didn't list "earning money" as a factor. While things could certainly change in the future, I have no desire to monetize Manager to Mom at this point. Blogging is currently a hobby for me, and I like maintaining a clean, easy-to-navigate, ad-free page (and apparently you appreciate this as well!)

So, a question for all my bloggin' followers out there - what motivates YOU to blog?

....And to my non-bloggin' followers - what motivates you to follow other blogs?

The Fans Have Spoken! (Follow-up from M2M's 1 Year Giveaway)

What an amazing turnout for my 1 year anniversary giveaway! 1115 entries and 192 unique entrants. Wow!! I just finished going through all your feedback and it was great to hear everything you love about M2M as well as many helpful suggestions, general encouragement and how you first discovered my blog. It makes me feel warm & fuzzy to know that all the time and effort I put in is appreciated by so many people! :D

I thought I'd share a summary & some highlights from all of your comments. Enjoy!!


New Followers & Where You Found Me:

• The $25 Amazon giveaway alone brought in 67+ new followers. Welcome everyone! I hope you stick around for more great giveaways, product reviews and other fun stuff!
• A whopping 29 of you found me on www.online-sweepstakes.com. (Note to other review/giveaway bloggers - this is a TERRIFIC place to list your giveaways! I've had lots and lots of traffic from OLS.)
• About a dozen of you found me on the following sites (1-2 referrals each): Facebook, Twitter, Contestgirl, Picket Fence Blogs, Baby Giveaways Galore, GreeN MaM-a JaM-a and Canadian Giveaways.
• 3 of you found me cruising other blogs 
• And finally, 3 of you mentioned that you were recently referred here by a friend. I'm so happy that some of you enjoy my blog enough to recommend it to others - now that is the biggest compliment of all! :D 

Feelin' the Love!

• 17 of you love my giveaways. Awesome! I really try to work with brands who I feel are a great fit for this blog, and it sounds like I'm doing alright here!
• 9 of you enjoy reading my reviews, with a few of you adding that you love how comprehensive they are. This means a lot to me, as I really do believe in the "quality over quantity" philosophy and I also think it's important to highlight both the positive points and the constructive criticism for a product or company in order to present a fair & honest picture.
• 16 of you are into the cloth diapering and/or eco-friendly content here. Sweet, as there'll be a lot more where that came from! Stay tuned!! :)
• 7 of you like my site layout and/or design. It has definitely been a goal of mine to maintain a clean, simple and easy-to-navigate layout with minimal clutter, so I'm glad that my followers appreciate this! In terms of design, credit goes to a good friend of mine for my header image - thanks Chrust!
• 6 of you appreciate the Canadian-friendly nature of my content and giveaways. Sounds like I'll need to participate in #TGCBB again next year, eh? :) And I plan to continue ensuring that all giveaways I host are open to Canucks, so no worries there!
• 5 of you love Rafflecopter for giveaways. That's great, because I do too! It's definitely here to stay at M2M! :)
• 3 of you enjoy my menus and recipe posts. Great to hear! Although it's not the primary focus of my blog, I love doing these and would ideally like to do more of them moving forward (time permitting).

 Suggestions:

• A few of you want to see more time management and thrifty living content. Definitely a couple topics I want to continue writing about and I have a few loose ideas on the radar.
• A couple of you want to see easy recipes. Another great topic and I'd love to dabble in this more, however it's hard to find the time amid my regular review/giveaway posts, my daughter's development updates, etc. I'll try to sneak a few of these in periodically, however there are many great blogs out there dedicated to this, so I recommend taking a look around out there!
• One of you suggested a bit more colour in my blog sidebars (perhaps a light blue). I'll definitely consider that - thanks!
• One of you would like to see a monthly post dedicated to my daughter's development. When I read this, I wasn't quite sure whether to take it seriously as this is something I already do! (Which reminds me - I'm overdue for her 10-month update. Hopefully I can get to this within the next couple days!)
• One of you would like to see printable coupons. This is probably an area I won't be getting into myself, however there are many, many, many dedicated coupon blogs out there so I recommend searching/browsing to find some that you enjoy!
• In terms of review suggestions:
• 2 of you would like to see beauty product reviews - to be honest, this probably won't be happening here as I don't (often) wear makeup or use other traditional beauty products. I do enjoy a good manipedi and I've been known to get hair ripped off my body in various places (ahem...now we're getting into TMI territory) but that's about it. :)
• 2 of you suggested electronic/technology reviews - again, something that probably won't happen here as a) I'm somewhat technologically illiterate (ironic since I have a Computer Science degree and work in software, but I digress) and b) I would prefer to keep my reviews and giveaways to more of a family and eco-friendly nature. Again, though, there are many blogs out there which conduct excellent reviews of these products.
• One of you suggested reviewing a Babyhawk carrier. I hadn't heard of this brand before but it looks awesome! I'd definitely be up for this. Perhaps I'll shoot a note over to see if they're currently in the market for some blog PR!
• One of you would like to see more reviews of green cleaning/health products and gluten-free snacks and foods. Definitely in scope and I'd be up for reviewing products in these categories.
• One of you would like to see a Tupperware review. I just took a look at their site, and actually the Twistable Peeler looks pretty neat-o. I'd love to try that out! ;)

Comments:

• I've only been following a couple days, but you site is great and you're not just an inspiration to moms, but us dads too.  Thank you. (M2M - Nice! Glad to hear there is at least one Dad happily following me! Welcome and enjoy!! :)
• I'm a new follower.  I definitely like the concept since so many women are in the work force and face the decision of working during motherhood. (M2M - Thanks! And indeed, this is a tough decision. I've been lucky in that I've been able to take a full year off on maternity leave, but many other mamas are going back already after several weeks. This must be so challenging and I admire those who go back early and manage to keep everything balanced!)
• I started reseacrching everything about cloth diapering my daughter and found you through facebook! I can't remember who reccomended you! lol I've loved reading through all of your old posts! :) (M2M - So glad you have been enjoying my posts, and I hope my cloth diapering info was helpful in your research! I have more cloth diaper reviews/giveaways on the horizon and plan to write some more articles as well, so keep checking in!)
• I love seeing the different giveaways and review.  There are so many companies out there that I have never heard of before.  Gives me a whole new online shopping choice! (M2M - I totally hear you! I felt the same way when I discovered the world of online giveaways. I feel like I have so many more great options for the holidays this year than I did in previous years!)
• I don't remember when I started following, but it was probably related to a cloth diaper giveaway. :) I love all your reviews & giveaways, and I especially love seeing the pics of your adorable daughter. I look forward to the monthly recaps you share, too. (M2M - Thanks so much! I have fun writing up all of these types of posts, so glad you're enjoying them all! :)
• Great blog... I enjoyed your review on Rockin' Green... and the artwork post with your daughter's masterpiece.  :-) (M2M - Thanks! I tried another art project with her recently but she wasn't too interested in it. She's too busy wreaking havoc on everything we try to keep organized - books, diapers, DVDs, etc. Love our li'l monster!)
• LOVE your blog - love reading about like minded familys, (natural parenting, BF, CDing etc)  Here is to many more years of blogging!!! (M2M - Thanks, and CHEERS Mama!)
• I have a friend who will be having her first baby soon.  I don't know how much she has thought about using cloth diapers, but I want to tell her about your blog and hope that she will seriously think about using cloth diapers instead of the disposible ones. (M2M - If my li'l blog can play a factor in "converting" someone to cloth, then it's all worth it! :) If you did point her my way, I hope she found the information helpful and I'd be happy to answer any questions she might have!)
• I started following you after I discovered your cloth diaper round up that had giveaways open to Canadians. Thanks for all your help when I was trying to find out how to host my own reviews and giveaways! :) (M2M - It was my pleasure. You're doing AWESOME now, girl! Way to go!)
• Come on...what am I going to say! Love catching up on S when I can't see her EVERYDAY like I would like to! Also love when Avery gets a cameo appearance! You really are doing a great job!!! (M2M - Awww, thanks T! I'm sure there will be many more cameo opportunities as the gals grow up together! :)
• I'm a fairly new subscriber. Just read your birth story. Babies aren't in my life plan, but your story made me well up in tears. I already like your attitude and spunk. (M2M - My daughter's birth was truly an amazing experience and I'm happy I captured it while it was fresh! Glad that it touched you, and thanks for your kind words!)
• I like your blog, especially your article on your life. It was super to read and you have a lovely family. (M2M - Thanks so much! It was a lot of fun to write!)
• I just want to say that I won one of your giveaways and instead of just being short in your emails, you took the time to make it personal and to share a conversation with me... I REALLY liked that!!! (M2M - I'm glad you appreciated that! I love contacting my winners. From being on the other end, I know how awesome it is to receive that "You've Won!" email and I'm happy to be able to provide this excitement for my own followers. Even better when it opens the door to a conversation, as this is a great opportunity to get to know my readers a li'l better!)
  

Well that was lots of fun! Many thanks to everyone who took the time to share their feedback. Manager to Mom wouldn't be the success it is without all of YOU! Cheers, and hope to see all your smilin' faces back here again and again!! :D

Protecting the Goods: Three key blog changes I've made

When I first started blogging a little over a year ago, I didn't think too much about what I was putting out there for public consumption. After all, it was only really family and friends who knew about my blog and I barely received any search hits. As my blog started to grow in readership and search prominence, however, this became much more top of mind as I realized (through personal consideration as well as following other blogs) there were some significant risks I was not guarding against which are part & parcel of creating a family-friendly online brand. As such, I've been making some modifications here at Manager to Mom to help protect myself and my family. Here are the top three changes I have made and why I believe they are important:

1) Registering my domain name - When I first chose the name "Manager to Mom" for my blog back in January, I was amazed that it wasn't already adopted as I thought it had such a snappy ring to it, and surely there were other "manager to mom"s out there who had decided to begin blogging? In any case, I loved it and I was excited to gain exposure for my new brand! My readership steadily grew and I began hosting reviews/giveaways in May which promoted another jump in traffic and new followers. Around this time, I thought hmmm, maybe I should register myself? Go Daddy said that manager-to-mom.com was still available, and it was cheap, so really I had no excuse not to register at that time. But I procrastinated, and it wasn't until early July that I took the leap and Manager to Mom had its own Blogger-independent URL. I was definitely lucky that it was still available at that point, as I had about 200 GFC followers, had worked with several brands and was getting some substantial Google traffic. How much would it have sucked if someone had snapped it up and either created their own brand there or charged me an arm and a leg to buy it from them? And that easily could have happened. So again - I was definitely lucky, and I encourage any serious blogger out there who has not yet taken this step to do it ASAP. It's a quick, inexpensive initiative that can save you a lot of head & heartache in the future! For the record, I used namecheap.com which I wholeheartedly recommend. Clear & straightforward, good rates, a year of free WhoIsGuard privacy and minimal upselling techniques.

2) Branding my photos - In my early blogging days, I happily uploaded pictures of friends, family and important events as is, without batting an eyelash. This past Winter when I started entering reviews/giveaways, I noticed that most bloggers added their blog name and/or URL to all of their photos. At first I thought geez, it already takes long enough to write a thorough blog post. But to edit all of my associated photos as well? As a new mama, I don't have time for that! And how important is it, anyhow? But then logical me said to time-crunched, mama-brained me - "Well, not important - if you don't care about people out there stealing your work." Hmm, good point, me. And while personal photos certainly merit protection in their own right, this really hit home when I began partnering with brands on review/giveaways. For two reasons. First of all, it was *my* hard work and diligent photography going into the review write-up, and secondly, this provided visual evidence of my PR partnerships which could play a role in future brand networking. And guess what? It takes about 20 seconds to brand a photo. Or less. So lack of time is certainly no excuse!

3) Obscuring our child's name - This is the most recent change I made, and the one I oscillated on the most. The thing is, there is no "right or wrong" approach when it comes to how much personal information one decides to put on his/her blog, or on the internet in general. There are many different considerations, as this informed and astute Mommy blogger articulates. I personally felt (and still feel) that using my child's real name is more honest & genuine, however I eventually decided that the reasons against doing this had more weight. The biggest issue for me was the fact that our daughter's name is very unique - so unique, in fact, that doing a Google Image search on her first name alone drew up a veritable collage of her life. When I first noticed this, I was a bit creeped out and it has continued to bother me since. So eventually I pulled the trigger and changed her name throughout every blog post and FB page image. The process made me a bit sad because I love her name and it warms my heart every time I read or write it, but I do feel better having taken this step. For those of you who already know her real name, well, consider yourselves privileged, and let's keep it on the down low. ;) From this point forward, she will be known as "S" - simple, secret-agent like (which is kinda cool) and easy as dirt to type. And still just as cute, don'tcha think? (On this note, yes I am still posting family photos -  which is a whole other consideration, perhaps to be discussed another day.)

So how about you? 

• For those of you who blog, are there any other steps you take which I haven't mentioned above to protect your brand and its associated property? Do you use your children's real names on your blog? Why or why not? 
• For all of my readers, what is your level of comfort when it comes to submitting personal property & information (e.g. names, photos, events, etc.) on social media / sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter and Flickr?

Registering my domain name: In progress!

Super quick update to let you know that I'm in the process of registering my own domain name (www.manager-to-mom.com). Within a day or two, Blogger should automatically redirect my current .blogspot.com URL to my new domain and email subscriptions should work correctly. As always, however, I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst. :) So if anything is wonky in the interim, this is why and it should be resolved quickly. (And my apologies in advance if this happens!)

New Design!!!

I now have brand, spanking new header and button images thanks to my awesome and talented friend Chris at altovenue.com! If you've previously added my button to your blog, pretty please take a moment and update it with the new one on the left sidebar. Thanks!!

Memorable Monday: The Inaugural Edition

I've invented (I think) an alliterative weekly blog event! Yay me!

What I'm going to do each week is showcase recently read blog posts in other journals which were, well, memorable to me in one way or another. Perhaps they were hilarious or touching, they hit home in a personal way, or they revealed an excellent tip which I plan to incorporate into my own life.

I thought of naming the event "Memorable Mama Monday" to extend the alliteration, however I wouldn't want to exclude the daddy and child-free bloggers I'm following as you guys rock too! :)

(And yes, I realize it's no longer Monday, however I came up with this idea late last night just before hubby & my snuggle / Ally McBeal time. :) )

Without further ado, here's this week's listing!

The Mrs - a newly discovered (for me) Canadian mommy blog, Mrs makes the list not only for having an incredibly engaging and hilarious writing style in general (she manages to work in her maple candy addiction every three sentences or so) but also for her bare-it-all documentation of Project Grocery, in which she strives to stay under $120/week on grocery-related expenditures. Her Oatmeal Time installment in particular was memorable, as I didn't realize you could make oatmeal ahead and refrigerate it for up to a week! I'm totally doing that. :) Finally, she reminded me to do the laundry late at night - surprisingly, this'll save us some $$$!

Hobo Mama (another new blog on my reading list) for her frank synopsis of post-partum sex. Without going into detail, I can certainly relate! I highly recommend this one if you've recently had a child and are disheartened at the resulting changes in this area.

Mommy Only Has 2 Hands! just wrote an excellent tutorial on how to continue with Blogger after purchasing your own domain name. This is something I'm considering, so I'll definitely reference her article if I do take this step.

The Connected Mom for her compelling article on Elimination Communication (EC) myths. I've been intrigued by the idea of EC, especially since I have good friends who practice this with their son. I'm not sure we'll take the plunge (no pun intended) with S, however it would more likely be something we'd look at for child #2 (assuming he or she "happens"!)

To round things out, Everything Cloth earns comic relief points with her graphic EBF blow-out story. :D She had me LLOL (literally laughing out loud) several times with that one!

Feel free to join me with your own Memorable Monday posts - let's let those bloggin' gems out there really shine!

Added follow options - FB, Twitter, RSS and email!

Facebook page is up! Appreciate any and all follows; will be sharing great giveaways on the fly as well as other steals 'n' deals, news, blog posts, discussion topics, etc.! Will also look to host giveaways when I hit particular follower milestones.

Also see the top right for additional ways to follow me via Twitter, RSS and email!

New design & FB page coming soon!

I've decided that my kludged together blog & button images have gotta go, so a multi-talented friend of mine is helping me redesign these elements. Can't wait til they're finished and live, as they'll certainly give my blog a more polished look!

Also will be firing up a FB page shortly where I'll list great giveaways as they come up, post new blog posts and discussion topics, etc. This'll help segregate my bloggy, giveaway, mommy presence from my regular FB profile so I'm not spamming those who don't want to see all this stuff! Now just need to find some time when I'm NOT entering giveaways, heh!

Stay tuned!

Changed my blog name & URL

Bellies & Babies was entirely too generic & heavily used, and Chris isn't really into the blogging thang. Manager to Mom is much more relevant and has a nice ring to it. w00t - can check that off the ol' list! Now I just need to replace the rather boring clouds with something more visually tantalizing, and Bob's your uncle! (Or mine?)