Dooce 1, Pundits 0

Maybe it is just me but if your blog is your business and your business is to make money off your blog then why would advertisers come to you? Wouldn't you go to them selling space in your blog because you believe that your blog can drive traffic to their product?

 I understand that it gets tiring to see the advertising that is so traditional that only appeals to the proto typical female but as long as that is what sells that is what will stay. If female bloggers are to become better entrepreneurs it would make more sense for them to say yes or no and change the environment instead of expecting the advertisers to do that for them.

I think more people comment on Paris because she's so mainstream that even those in Peoria "get" what's she's about, and because she is so meaningless.  Talking about politics, health care, the environment all take more time and consideration.

I found the numbers and topics on the NYTimes article disturbing, but honest. The topics may not be where we want them to be, but the fact that Moms are given their respect as a media is a huge market shift and one well worth celebrating.

I think we should go for scaring them: we should from henceforth be known as Big Mouth Bloggers. They should know that the real force is here, and it's rising.

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com ( http://www.rebelliousthoughtsofawoman.com/ )

I think women were the first ones to coin the phrase mommybloggers (I think it was Jenn! ( http://www.mommybloggers.com/ )), but many in the media have co-opted it exactly as This Time, It's Personal has suggested.

By referring to us in the diminutive, it suggests that we don't have to be taken seriously. Just as many in the MSM tried to paint a picture of Hillary Clinton as the nagging witch, if our words and thoughts are portrayed as just a little hobby of some bored mommies, no one has to take the revolution (36 million +) seriously.

We need to take the phrase back with a vengeance.

Perhaps it's because I happen to live in Utah at this time, but I have noticed that society is still not comfortable with outspoken, powerful women who share their opinions on "serious" topics. Calling female bloggers "Mommybloggers" and focusing on their traditional roles makes them seem less threatening as a whole. While motherhood is important, and Mommybloggers as a group are doing a phenomenal job with bringing awareness to the importance of women and women's issues in society, MSM and others are still wary of actually breaking them out of a mold. Keeping the focus on what women "should" be and are "expected" to be -- even in cyberspace -- makes the whole thing much easier to stomach. Besides, they can tout their focus on women while ignoring those SINKs and others out there that may not be Mommybloggers. As scary as MSM and others in society may find the rising power of Mommybloggers, I'm certain that they find other types of powerful female voices even more intimidating.

On another topic, thanks for the mention in this post. I'm flattered that you believe my thoughts are worth sharing.

YieldingWealth.com ( http://www.YieldingWealth.com )

This Time, It's Personal ( http://www.bloggingprofessional.blogspot.com )

.... if Gloria Steinam had had a blog back in "her day!"

... to me that advertisers like to lump us in one category and are missing out on chances to grow their revenues.

Thanks mod*mom!

.... I guess we need to take this on!  Advertisers, we're here ... don't miss out on an opportunity!

www.suzyoge.com ( http://www.suzyoge.com )

The same is true for women entrepreneurs ( http://www.womensbusinessinitiative.net ).  The media always loves to showcase women starting cutsie little mommy business, targeting only other mommies and babies, of course!  As if enough women don't come up with these ideas already.  Mommypreneurship ( http://suzyoge.com/tag/mommymanager/ ) is reaching an epidemic.  

If more women would start serious businesses in diverse sectors, women (entrepreneurs) would be taken more seriously!

I feel like the mainstream media is missing the boat because they iike the cutesy term Mommybloggers and it looks good in headlines. It's become a cliche angle if you ask me. 

 But, I believe there is a quiet feminine political revolution going on - in large part because blogging has truly given all women a really public form of free speech for the first time ever. 

I'm seeing women who were never before politically active - because they didn't understand how it worked or how to take action - get political through campaings like Momsrising.org, Emily's List, The White House Project and BlogHer and Kirtsy. Politicians are getting more mail from women demanding respect and better law and policy than they've ever seen. We vote. 

Advertisers and the mainstream media might be a little unaware of this revolution or a little afraid of it - I have to wonder how many "sponsors" Gloria Steinham had. 

Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me ( http://www.traceesioux.blogspot.com )

Blog Fabulous ( http://www.blogfabulous.com )

I was a bit disheartened by the Times article as well, but the issue doesn't just relate to Mommybloggers.  I'm a SINK---Single Income, No Kids---and I spend money for my household. 

Yo advertisers?  You listening?  I buy stuff.  

I also write some serious stuff and some fluffy stuff.  And you can't tell me there aren't women out there like me who do read the serious and the fluffy.  We're not all so easily pigeon-holed.

Megan Smith ( http://www.blogher.com/haystackprofile/viewprofile... )
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/msmith )
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock ( http://www.megansminute.com/ )

 it took a long time for mom bloggers to get attention of marketers,

so i bet things will evolve + you smarty pants mom bloggers will be HOT next year :)

 you're already HOT to me joanne, but it takes big business slower to catch on 

Link Text ( http://modmom.blogspot.com )mod*mom

modmom.blogspot.com

This seems to me to be a classic case of Web 2.0 fears.  People want things to be simple, to be easy and to be straightforward, especially in marketing and advertising.  They're afraid of all of the massive changes even MSM has to undergo in order to be able to keep up with the web, and they're hoping that by denying its impact, they can invalidate the progress that's being made (ie Amanda Chapel).  It's the ultimate in hiding under the blanket from the scary monster.

 Working for a company with the desire to integrate Web 2.0 practices but none of the no-how and very little of the staff, I see this kind of thing on a daily basis.  But, I do have some good news: the trend is shifting.  Younger generations have a lot to thank our predecessors for, but I can honestly say that things are getting better.  My personal blog, a post about marketing on the web and integrating social media, got picked up by Online Marketer Blog's writer, and linked to on Twitter.  It didn't matter that I was a young woman...it just mattered that it was a good post.

 So yeah...things kinda suck sometimes.  But hopefully, progress will continue. 

Here, here...

I am frustrated by the lack of attention that
the media pays to non-mommy bloggers, and that is not intended to slam
mommy bloggers, but to echo your sentiments that additional issues of
substance to women aren't acknowledged by advertisers or MSM.

Honestly,
I sometimes feel disappointed when I arrive at the BlogHer webpage to
be greeted by the ivillage daily essentials ads that urge me to click
through to read more about a new weight loss technique, or
housecleaning tips.  And, as a blogger, there is more to me and my writing than the fact that I'm a mother.

Just Margaret ( http://maurhoffbarney.blogspot.com )

~Margaret

Maybe through the way all the different topics are set up, advertisers will realize women can be reached through avenues other than make-up and fashion.  We're not just one thing, but many marketers think we are.  Thanks Jory!

... that more advertisers don't realize where else they can reach us in larger numbers.  As we make more noise, maybe that will change??

... is that there are still so few women at MSM outelts who are making the assignment and editing decsions on stories and making the call on where to spend the ad. dollars.  Once we get more women in those positions, maybe things will change.

...You know, the interesting stuff that doesn't get the ad dollars. A big part of the motivation behind BlogHer is to include all of our interests. As a magazine writer, I always found it frustrating that I'd have to write a puff piece to pay the rent, but the really good stuff (to me) never paid.

Jory Des Jardins, BlogHer

Personal Blog Pause ( http://www.jorydesjardins.com )

We may be mothers, but that's not the only way to our hearts. We were intelectual and concerned beings long before giving birth, and for so many of us giving birth has made us more concerned about the world we live in and how this all plays out. Thanks for reading my mind!

 Laurie J. Storey-Manseau

www.walkinginmysleep.com ( http://www.walkinginmysleep.com/ )

www.storeymanseau.com ( http://www.storeymanseau.com/ )

It's just so shortsighted of advertisers. Unless they can reach out to women through "traditional" topics - like beauty and celebrity gossip - they don't want to bother. It's laziness. The Times article also had a line about Jane magazine, which they said failed because they could not attract advertisers. (I admit that I was not a big fan of that magazine - it was no "Sassy" - but at least they sort of made an attempt to cover feminist topics.) Not that I want advertisers following me around everywhere, but it would be nice to have acknowledgment that women like topics of both silly and serious matter.

Suzanne Reisman ( http://blogher.org/member/suzanne ), Contributing Editor - Feminism & Gender ( http://blogher.org/topic/feminism-gender )
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants ( http://cussandotherrants.com/ )

(Can I be struck down for saying that?) 

If there are so many blogs by women devoted to topics other than motherhood, then, HELLO, we are interested in other things. And if there are many blogs by women that do not mention make-up, rearranging furniture, and food, then we are interested in other things. The "problem" is that the advertisers think that if we don't sit around thinking about our purchases all day, then we are not purchasing. They need to wake up and smell the patchouli. 

An observation: On Blogher, there was a posting by Carly Fiorina about mccain's health care plan up for about a week, which received no comments. A posting about none other than Paris Hilton had many many comments within a day. I didn't read either, but it was interesting to watch the "score."

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com ( http://www.rebelliousthoughtsofawoman.com/ )