Wonderbelly

Tracey Serebin of FamilyMatters Talk Radio interviewed my along with Genevieve Thiers from SitterCity.com on hiring a child care provider.

One of the most important decisions a new parent makes is choosing someone to take care of their child when they are working. This week I am speaking with Genevieve Thiers, Founder of Sittercity.com, America's largest and most trustworthy online souce for caregivers, about what new parents need to be aware of when hiring a child care provider for their new baby. Also joining me is Melinda Roberts, mother of three children and author of TheMommyBlog.net, sharing her experiences in hiring a nanny for her first two children.

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The benefits of staying local for cheap vacationing - It’s no surprise if your vacay plans have been downgraded from jet setting and beach hopping to um, Netflix.
According to Christi Gallagher, senior communications manager and publicist of Wal-Mart, it’s not only prudent to stay local this summer for the price factor but for the ability to spend quality time with more people, too. “Staycations are great for spending time with the ones you love. Being close to home allows everyone – grandparents and extended family included – to join in on summer staycation fun!”

Plus, by enjoying an exciting summer at home you’ll also reduce gas emissions to cut down your carbon footprint. “It is certainly a win-win situation when you can celebrate a great summer at home and help the environment at the same time.”

In order to have a splendid staycation, there are several ways to enjoy treasures in your ’hood to reap mental benefits of a holiday without a hefty price tag. For instance, at Walmart.com/staycations, their widget encompasses 101 daily updates with ideas for summer including turning your backyard into a water park, inviting neighbors over for a backyard drive-in, having a super soaker contest, and hosting a backyard neighborhood soccer game.

If staying at home 24/7 literally gives you cabin fever, there are ways to stay close to home while saving those greenbacks, too. Pack a picnic basket for a relaxing lunch at a nearby park, go retro and buy a badminton set to play outside or take your kids to a playground that may be a few towns away. The key is you’re doing things you normally wouldn’t do and having fun in the process.

Melinda Roberts, a single mom, recommends opting to stay home and glamming it up by cooking gourmet meals. Or two. Or ten. “One August while the kids were visiting family out of state with their dad, we scoured the net looking for cheap vacations and in the end, instead of paying close to $3,000 for a week in Mexico, we stayed home.”

Her boyfriend is a chef so they decided to eat glamorously every day for a week. “It only cost a fraction of what a vacation cost and suddenly your house looks a whole lot different as you approach it as a vacation rental.”

Essentially like Roberts, if you ditch the routine, the bills, the chores, the grocery shopping and mix things up by approaching your home as a hotel without a hefty bill, chances are you’ll save a few bucks and garner a lot of smiles in the process. read article »

Disclaimer: I'm one of the 15 bloggers going.

Giant Calls Them the 'New Influencers'; Will Recruit Up to 15 to Headquarters

Published: July 14, 2008
BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Procter & Gamble Co.'s Pampers is bringing as many as 15 top "mommy bloggers" to the company's Cincinnati headquarters later this month in what appears to be the company's biggest effort yet to reach online influencers.

That it's doing so with all-expense-paid trips could place P&G in a controversy similar to those that have confronted other marketers, such as Microsoft, in years past. But P&G sees the move as an emerging standard industry practice to inform bloggers, rather than buy their loyalty.

"It's official: Mom bloggers are the new influencers," said Bryan McCleary, director of external relations for P&G baby care.

Bloggers weren't really "on the radar screen in a major way" when P&G first began focusing heavily on "influencer marketing" more than five years ago. But at least in baby care, he said, the company is elevating them to the level of celebrities, mainstream media and health professionals in terms of influencer importance.

It's hard to put a precise number on the audience size represented by the invited bloggers, he said, "but it's substantial and growing." read article »

New Video Blog Series Showcases Revealing Conversations with Prominent Digital Media and Technology Experts about Travel, Adventure and Life Outside of Work

SAUSALITO, Calif. (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) February 19, 2008 -- Doug McConnell, longtime host of “Nissan’s Bay Area Backroads” on KRON-TV, and host of OpenRoad.TV with Doug McConnell -- The Traveler's Video Guide to the American West (www.openroad.tv), and OpenRoad.TV co-founder Carl Bidleman have recently launched a new video blog series called “Life Outside the Box” (http://openroad.tv/blog/category/life-outside-the-box).

In the ongoing feature, McConnell meets up with successful people in the world of digital media and technology and invites them to talk about their favorite places and activities when they finally get a break from the computer. The series will soon expand to include interviews with interesting leaders from a variety of backgrounds.

...Previous “Life Outside the Box” profiles include conversations with... Mindy Roberts, author of “The Mommy Blog”; Natalie Zee Drieu, senior editor of craftzine.com; Guy Kawasaki, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author; and Brad Day of “Weekend Sherpa,” an e-mail newsletter on outdoor pursuits in Northern California. read article »

I picked up my deadtree version of AdAge, and found to my surprise, a great case study on the use of blogs by J.C. Penney. The key was aggregating content around a community of blogs (in this case, mommy blogs), and reaping the search engine rewards without investing heavily in their own SEO.

The site aggregated content from blogs such as Heather Armstrong's Dooce, The Mommy Blog and Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. JC Penney didn't have rights to review or influence content. The site launched mid-September; a few of the contributing bloggers mentioned it on their blogs, some did not. But traffic started to grow. Federated execs started to notice traffic coming from places such as StumbleUpon, a social-bookmarking site, and RSS readers, which meant people were beginning to subscribe to the content. read article »