The Happy Mother

..I've twa bonny bairns the fairest of a',
They cheer up my heart when their daddie's awa';
I've ane at my foot, and I've ane on my knee,
An' fondly they look, an' say, "Mammy" to me..

Alexander Laing, The Ballads of Bairnhood, 1913 (first published 1894)

Do you need a translation?

More About Top Mommy Bloggers

Thanks to Scribbit, I've discovered a whole other world of top mommy bloggers at MamaBlogga. There are 40 blogs on the list. You can even submit your own blog. But, wait a minute, you gotta have over 100 Bloglines subscribers just for starters. Well, I guess I just learned something; I'm not even sure I heard of Bloglines before! Most likely knowing what constitutes a top blogger is the first step to becoming one. Not that I'm saying I have a goal here or anything, the question is, do YOU have that goal? If you do, how are you going to get there?

MamaBlogga just happens to offer personal consulting for bloggers. For a very reasonable cost she'll help you figure out your next step. If you're interested, take a look at her testimonials. I just happen to be offering my readers something similar, without the same technical expertise (for the moment at least). I offer my "take a look and provide feedback" service for free. Maybe you only get what you pay for though. It all depends what you are looking for and whether you can spare a little cash. If I hadn't just slashed my budget I'd be in the market for MamaBlogga's services.

Learning From the Top Mommy Bloggers

After reading Scribbit's article about mom bloggers this morning I got curious and just had to learn more. I mean, who exactly are the top mommy bloggers and what can we learn from what they do? The trail took me to an article in the Wall Street Journal, an article about a blogger known as Dooce. I'd never heard of Heather Armstrong or her blog at Dooce.com. To me that's one of the idiosyncracies of the blogging medium, it's actually pretty hard to figure out who is getting the attention/readership unless you follow the blogging trail. Back when I first started blogging I wanted to figure out who the top bloggers are because I thought I could learn something from them. I tried Googling for things like top blog, but the results which came up really weren't all that helpful.

Well, according to what The Wall Street Journal had to say back in April of 2008, here are the top ten motherhood blogs:

• Dooce.com
• 5minutesformom.com
• designmom.com
• parenthacks.com
• scribbit.blogspot.com
• fussy.org
• notesfromthetrenches.com
• stirrup-queens.blogspot.com
• izzymom.com
• suburbanbliss.net

Now for the thoughtful analysis part. At Wiep.net you can learn about linkbaiting. Basically one tried and true way to go up in the blogging world is to get others to link to you. Every link is like a spoke on a bicycle wheel. The person who's blog is at the center will be the one getting noticed. It seems to me that to become that center hub you need both good writing and wide appeal. Otherwise, you can get a lot of links by offering a community or service to other bloggers (blog challenges, carnivals, awards and resource sites spring to mind). Not only that, you need to have a "hook". The article at Wiep.net goes into hooks in great detail. So let's look at the hooks these top mommy bloggers are using.

News
The main news mommy bloggers use is mommy news. You're more likely to find them reporting on is what is happening within their family and with the families of other bloggers than to get a report of the latest sensational world news or scientific discovery. Now I'll admit that I've not done an exhaustive reading of the ten top mommy blogs, and Scribbit is the only one I'm currently following. Occasionally the outside world of news creeps into mom blogs, but it sure doesn't seem to be the main hook. How refreshing, news of real people taking care of the everyday issues that we, as moms, are most likely to face :-)

Education, Information and Resources
Moms are good at sharing their tips and top mommy bloggers do quite a lot of this. You'll see everything from crafts and recipes to tips and motivation. 5 Minutes for Mom is a great place to find all kinds of information, Parent Hacks is all about parenting tips and both Design Mom and Scribbit post their share of inspiring craft projects.

Entertainment and Controversy
Who'd want to visit a blog that is not even vaguely entertaining? Top mommy bloggers are tops at entertainment. The news they give about their daily life really does catch your attention. It's no accident that the top mom bloggers are practiced writers with a good sense of humor. Women used to rely on gossip over the garden fence to keep them smiling, but now they can visit Dooce, Fussy, Notes From the Trenches, and Suburban Bliss. Scribbit is pretty entertaining at times too. Call it entertainment, or call it controversy, but ranting and being irreverent surely stir up some interest and Dooce has got to be a master.

I'm pretty sure that being a top mommy blogger is not all a garden of roses and it's surely not on the cards for every blogging mom. Make no mistake, it's hard work, day in and day out, and not for the faint of heart. However, if you enjoy writing and want to stick with it and go up in the ranks, think about your goals, figure out your hook, and make sure you convey it instantly to new visitors.

What's your hook?

Blogging items in association with Amazon.com.