Mommy Bloggers Will Not Be Broken!

I am not a rock star mommy blogger and honestly if it takes selling out to be on top , I’m out !
I am opinionated, sometimes snarky, but never vulgar. (see Girl Raised In The South)
If they (or anyone (ahem)) offers to publish my book, I’m all over it.
I do not consider celebrity gossip sites w/7 paid editors a blog.
If they (or anyone) tried to hire me, I would consider it (dangling participle and all).
I Love Comments (seriously I do).
I have 1 dog, 1 cat, kids, grand-kids, a husband (sometimes) & a melange of extended relatives.
I don’t know if I like dogs, cats, kids, husbands or relatives.
Being frugal doesn’t mean being broke. It keeps you from being that way.

With that said. I made the mistake, and I say mistake because the printed word can often be misunderstood, of commenting on a blog post yesterday that was in many ways spurred by a conversation I was witness to but, had no part in directly. All things being equal, another conversation I had in prior days, with a client brought the same issues up. When, Christine bravely posted her The Truth About The Walmart ElevenMoms, she was trying to quell a firestorm that she clearly witnessed on twitter as well. Her post, beautifully written, detailed her relationship with the Walmart Corporation, including compensation for her “consulting” services, reviews and more. She took the step up and put it all out there. Sadly… she put it all out there.

Let me say now, I haven’t been approached by WalMart and honestly, I don’t fit their demo. Don’t think that I would ever be considered for anything they do. (slight a greeter position, I’m over 50 you know) So, there’s no jealousy of any of the WalMart Moms, (all 22 of them now) on my part. I have at times questioned why, WalMart doesn’t see my age demo as valuable, but as to my being a part of this group. NOT Happening!  Disclaimer out of the way, Christine did detail her various forms of compensation from the company for what ever it is that she’s working on at a given time.  Liz from Mom101 commented  as follows:

…I still believe “products” are not compensation, however, nor are plane tickets. You do a job, especially for a large corporation, you should get paid for it. (And I’m not talking about product reviews which I continue to believe should not be compensated.)

When we as moms–all of us–are willing to work for links or “exposure” or gift cards, we make it increasingly challenging for those who follow us to be valued for their work.

I agreed with Liz’s comment and then I stepped into the POO. I  questioned the  seemingly tied in affiliation with Lifetime. Now, again, since words don’t carry tone, its up to the commenter to use proper punctuation and phrasing, so that a question, doesn’t come out sounding like a statement. I screwed up there.  Yet another project that I have no interest in being a part of. I don’t watch Lifetime. The channel holds no interest for me. I’m probably not their demo either. So what.  I was told in no uncertain terms that it was a mere coincidence that the same women who were part of the Walmart project were also a part of the Lifetime project. Ok. No harm no foul.  I was accused of diminishing these women (albeit unfairly) and that was never my intent. I’m sure, because I know these women, (most of them anyway) that what they say is the absolute, unvarnished truth. They are all hardworking moms, beautiful writers and I commend them for their sometimes heart wrenching posts, and the beauties that they are.

Lets do get one thing perfectly clear. No matter WHO you are. I don’t care about your compensation or the compensatory relationship that you have with any company in detail. If however, you put that information out there, YOU detail it. Then the door is open for comment. Not only from me, but from the rest of the interwebs, the media and well you get my drift. I still think you’ve short-changed yourselves. But you are happy and that is all that matters in the grand scheme.

I am not a hater of mommies, I am one. I am not jealous of the Wal Mart moms, read the above paragraph. Talk to me, I honestly don’t care. I will admit that there are those who are jealous and to those people, I say, get off your lazy backside and work.  The work that a blogger does to get noticed on the vast plane that is PR and Publicity is hard work. It doesn’t just happen over night, I don’t care who tells you it can be done. (ok maybe once it has happened) But the pros and I’m sure these women will be glad to tell you that they’ve worked hard, grown their networks, made the connections, engaged in the conversation, sacrificed time that they would have loved to spend otherwise and have made names for themselves. Now, if you still think its easy, call me. I’ll show you step by step what it takes. I’ve had clients quit. Give up mid project because they thought it was going to be easy. Its a business, folks. If you’re game for the business, then say you are. If not, then shut up and sit down.

There are things that the WalMart Moms and I will never agree on, there are a lot of things we do. To the ladies I regularly communicate with, and respect, if my comments were misunderstood and you felt slighted, I apologize. That was NOT my intention nor my message.

Recent blog posts, newspaper articles, radio and tv news reports, video and more are all leading with a negative message. Are we giving them reason? Damn straight we are!

Just check any of these links and you make your own decision. Like it or not, its gotten down right ugly!

Do Mommy Bloggers Need to Grow UP?

Threatened At BlogHer

Don’t Call Me A Mommy Blogger

Not All Bloggers Are Like That

The Age of Mommy Blogger Discontent

The  Year That Shame Died

“Sponsor Me” Smackdown

In Which I Piss Off Lots of People and Do Not Care

The Mob Mentality of Mommy Bloggers (Ok, Loren is an ass. I’ll mince no words, but once you get past his attitude, you will understand what’s being said)

There are great women in the community, doing great things. More often than not, they’re not getting their fair share of attention because of the “negatives” that are continually being reported.  The ladies behind Blog With Integrity have gotten great response from the community. If you still don’t know about the program, I suggest you go there now, take the pledge and begin living by the ethics.  If you have a blog, not a review site,  step back before you reply to a commenter who disagrees. If you run a review site, consider the ramifications of the FTC regulations, don’t forget to disclose properly. And the next reveiw you take on writing, put some real thought into it. Copy and pasting from a press release just sucks. If you’re not creative, or just can’t figure out how to word a post, ask for help. There are loads of great writers in our community. Lots and lots of creative individuals who would be more than happy to help you with ideas. ASK.  Above all, conduct yourself in a professional manner. I’m not talking just to moms, I’m talking to the women of the blogosphere.  Sad, that in this day and age it has to be the case that a woman has to be the “better man” in the room. But its true. You are and will be held to a higher standard. (not by me, mind you)

To further my case for Mommy Bloggers, I’m resurrecting Remarkable Bloggers©.  Randomly,  I will  present Remarkable Bloggers© , devoted to bloggers who are arresting, bold, conspicuous, eye-catching, marked, noticeable, observable, outstanding, pointed, prominent, pronounced, salient, and striking.  Is that you? Do you know a Remarkable Blogger©?  Leave a link for me, send me an email, tell me about why you think that blog is remarkable. I’ll visit and you just might see  that blog in the next few weeks. I’ll start you out. Go through my blogroll and grab a new blog.

Related articles by Zemanta

• ‘Mommy bloggers’ vow to avoid ethical conflicts (cnn.com)
• Mommy Bloggers Debate a PR Blackout (blogs.wsj.com)
• Thin Mint-y Gate: Wal-mart’s Socia Media Opportunity (AuthenticOrganizations.com)
• How Brands Balance Their Diet With Social Media Supplements (web-strategist.com)
• My new Gig…Lifetime Moms (rockandrollmama.com)

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