How to Promote Your Parenting Blog Using CafeMom

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By mommykerrie
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (32 Ratings)

Blog on, girl!

CafeMom, a social networking site for moms, started in 2006 and grew to become the #8 fastest-growing site in 2007. It receives more than 8 million visitors per month. One of CafeMom.com’s co-founders is Andrew Shue (for those of you old-timers, that’s Billy from Melrose Place!). Below, find out how to promote your parenting or mommy blog using this great site.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Computer with Internet connection
A parenting or mommy-type blog

Step 1

Sign up at CafeMom.com. Make sure you enter “blogging” as one of your interests.
Step 2

Put your blog address as your outgoing message signature. When you reply to a post or start a new topic, always click on “Yes” so your signature line shows up to all readers.
Step 3

Go to the Groups pull-down menu and click on Find Groups. Join groups that pertain to your blog and/or lifestyle. You can join all kinds of groups or start your own. Currently there are more than 60,000 groups.
Step 4

Join the groups titled “CafeMom Moms Making Money on eHow” and “Blogging Moms.”
Step 5

Once your membership is approved by the group “Mom Bloggers,” add your blog address to the Blog Roll. Start checking out blogs by your peers in “Mom Bloggers.” Try to visit a couple of new ones every day. If you enjoy a blog and there is an option to become a Follower, sign up. Some may also have the option of subscribing to the blog. I prefer to become a Follower so that other readers of the blog can see who I am and click on my picture to visit my blog. Also, if I have a particularly funny or humiliating post, I put the link in a new CafeMom post for my fellow Blogging Moms to view.
Step 6

Click on Group Settings once you’re in your Group’s page to receive a daily Group Digest E-mail. That way, you only receive ONE e-mail per day from each group with the top posts. You can easily click on a message you want to respond to so you will be directed to the thread (all reply messages as well as the original).
Step 7

Respond to as many messages as you can. If you have specific helpful advice on your blog, paste the link on your reply message to someone’s dilemma post. For example, I write on parenting issues like breastfeeding, co-sleeping and NFP with a humorous twist, so I’ve joined groups that discuss those topics. When someone posts a “Help! My baby won’t get out of my bed” topic to the group, I send a reply which links back to a post in my blog talking about cosleeping and how it truly does not go on forever.
Step 8

Use Journal Posts on your Profile page to enter sample blog posts (make sure you put in a link back to your blog). You could also enter just the first part of a juicy post and have the viewer link to your blog to read the rest.
Step 9

Add friends

Look for friends, make new friends, add friends. Invite friends who you send messages back and forth with often in CafeMom. That way, when you have new journal posts, you will show up on your friends' Journal page.