I have to admit to being a little flustered recently. All this talk around mumosphere about the British mummy blogging community getting too competitive and too commercial. How the heck did this happen?
Money, or the misconception that money can be made from blogging, seems to be one of the drivers. Can I just clarify one thing: THERE IS NO REAL MONEY IN BLOGGING. Did you hear me? Unless you are Dooce, your blogging intake will not get near any tax threshold. I've been in the top 10 the past year and I've made barely enough to fuel my Cafe Nero coffee habit. I make 100x more as a marketing consultant (and it takes less time). There are occasional freebies, but really how useful is a coffee mug, a wall clock, or another naff plastic toy? Some are nice, but do you really want all that extra stuff in your house?
Erica wrote a good article about combating blog fatigue, and there's an excellent post at Edenland about blogging for yourself. I highly recommend reading it. Eden gives some good suggestions and basically says to write whatever the heck you want. It's your blog! Someone will listen.
As the founder of the largest online community of British parent bloggers, I feel a bit responsible. I gathered everyone in a room, and now the room is supercharged. What would be really nice is if we could point all that energy in a positive direction -- such as a unified voice for mums, or for children that don't have one, or a campaign to help shake the stigma of working mums.
People are listening ladies. We have an opportunity to do something good. Let's take it.
